Beechy Island

The three graves of the men from Franklin's lost expedition and the fourth of a rescuer.

Dylan White armed as a bear guard.

The steep climb to the plateau.

The view from the top of the hike and the 'tombolo' connecting the island.

A view of the 'tombolo' from Tom Cochrane's drone.

Hiking across the Beechy Island plateau to the cairn.

John and I at the cairn made by the members of Franklin's expedition hoping for rescue.

Loading and unloading zodiacs.

View of the bay, the 'tombolo' and our ship.

The slippery slope back to the beach.

The remains of the Northumberland House.

The Northumberland House and the cliffs and plateau of Beechy Island.

Enjoying a barbeque on deck in zero degree temperatures.

John and Dr. Marc St. Onge, the geologist.

Thursday, September 7^th. Beechy Island

Woke up feeling the boat rocking around a bit. The walk to the Nautilus for breakfast was one where walking in a straight line was a challenge, but all good. We are at historic Beechy Island. We are behind the protective wall of a ‘tombolo’, a natural thin line of rocks and gravel between two points that acts as a breakwater which makes calmer water behind it. We off loaded at 8:30 for our visit to the historic sites of Beechy Island where three of Franklin’s men were buried during their journey trying to sail through the Northwest Passage. We got off right by the graves, which is an iconic and sad reminder of the Franklin disaster. There are four graves there, three for the three unfortunate men who died of tuberculosis one year into the expedition. The fourth is for a member of the one of the rescue ships that went looking for Franklin when he didn’t return. Then John and I went on the ‘extreme’ hike up to the top of Beechy. It wasn’t too bad but given that I was only about 70% I found it challenging enough. I told John not to worry about me and to go at his own pace. He said, ‘if I went at my own pace I’d be there already.’ We walked up over loose ‘scree’ (broken rock) and climbed up a steep grade for about 650’ to the top of the island. Then we walked a couple of kilometres to Franklin’s cairn. On the way I did one of my patented tuck-and-rolls as I tripped over a rock and thankfully didn’t hurt myself or my camera which was hanging around my neck. Franklin’s men erected this cairn on the south side of the island hoping that another ship would see it and come rescue them. It was a desperate hope as not many ships ever came this way and the top of the island is often encased in fog or cloud. Usually with a cairn like this there would be a note or directions hidden in it to say where they had gone or which direction to look. When it was discovered, there was no such note. We hung out there for a bit admiring the view before continuing around the top and then down the same slope we came up (which was actually harder as the rocks slipped on each other). When we got down, we walked another kilometre or so to Northumberland House where the ships searching for Franklin three years later built a storage building for supplies for all the ships and possibly for Franklin if he was around. The building has been smashed to bit, supposedly by bears who could smell odours of food. Then we returned to the ship where the crew had prepared us bbq lunch out on the back deck. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, windy and quite cool, but we toughed it out. But it did mean any hot food became instantly cold when put on the plates. We talked to a retired doctor named Ken from Montreal during lunch. Then it was time for the afternoon program. JR put on a presentation called ‘Why do Polar Bears Have Long Noses?’ Turns out it is because that allows them to circulate the cold air and warm it up before inhaling it, and it gives them a sense of smell 1500 times better than ours. The second talk was presented by Janet about permafrost, what it is, what’s happening to it and why we should care. The short answer is that it is permanently frozen ground beneath the surface all through the polar regions, which is melting as the climate warms, and it is causing lots of problems for buildings and infrastructure that are beginning to sink into the ground, and it is releasing megatons of carbon into the atmosphere that is contributing to the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. The world’s scientists are just beginning to try to figure out what can be done. Then it was dinner time. Mark St. Onge asked if he could sit with us. He is the geologist on board and is married to Janet. We had a great time talking to him about lots of stuff including our impressions of the journey, geology and about our lives. The last activity was a group activity game where four panelists gave definitions for weird words and in teams, we had to figure out who was telling the truth. The answers were very funny and sometimes quite rude, but lots of fun. Janet was on our team, and we came in last with only two correct answers for ten questions. Then off to sleep in a bed that is rolling pretty well tonight.