Frozen in Time by Owen Beattie and John Geiger - Book Report #299

I remember when the news of the U of A's expedition to Beechey Island and the discovery of how lead poisoning played its part in the demise of the Franklin Expedition of 1845-48.

The 19th century expedition is arguably the most famous and disastrous of the era's arctic explorations.  The Northwest Passage obsessed governments and explorers alike.  How many lives have been lost by throwing ill-equipped wood vessels against the ice?

This book chronicles the forensic research done by the University of Alberta in the mid 1980's when they exhumed the three bodies of men from the ill-fated expedition.

What was staggering was how well preserved they were.  It must have been a heart-breaking experience to look into the faces of men who'd been dead for over 130 years.

This was an excellent book and I kept going back to it at every opportunity.


Owen Beattie's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Beattie

John Geiger's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Geiger

John Geiger and Owen Beattie