I’ve been indulging on sale priced Breyers ice cream this week since my west coast weather hit 29⁰ C. 30⁰ C will be expected today and the next few days before trending slightly cooler. My diet limits allow me a little over three tablespoons of ice cream.🍨
“Black birds tend to like shiny things.” ~ The Bloody Raven
With this coin named ‘Franklin’s Lost Expedition’ John Horton designed this vision of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with a sense of sadness. The serene waters, calm atmosphere, the sky clear, It’s as if the two ships set sail into the sunset or heaven itself. But the reality their valiant crew's sojourn into a hellish solitude in keeping with the namesake of their ship HMS Erebus, the Greek mythological personification of darkness.
I will refrain from the saga and circumstances around the crews of this doomed expedition and reserve it for another coin forth coming that would be more appropriate. And focus more on the ships themselves.
In the fall of 1846 in Victoria Straight west of King William Island two ships remained trapped in the ice despite the summer months that year has been unseasonably colder the usual. A 50 year record cold snap meant that both the Erebus and the Terror will remain trapped in the ice another year.
My sense of dark humor imagined; "It is precisely midday Mr. Hoar." The Steward's breath still visible in the cold air. Edmund’s weary eyes stared into the eyes of the Captain’s Coxswain Mr. James Ridgen. The skin around his face had become aged, eyes sunken as the dreary months of constant cold slowly took its toll if it were not the terrible quality of the rations remaining aboard. A gust of wind picked up again. The sudden chill forced the two men to instinctively button up their coats. Nothing much was said. The Steward pulled down his scarf to speak. “Cold enough for you Mr. Ridgen?”
I couldn’t attribute the original use of this quaint idiom even with help of Google’s AI so I will for historical fiction sake accredit Mr. Hoar for this case. If I can venture a guess it could be Russian or Finish of origin, but for now claim it as Canadian 😉 Since this is my Canada Day coin for 2025.
The HMS Erebus was originally a military Hecla class Bomb vessel functioning as a mobile sea platform of mortar artillery used in attacking enemy coastal emplacements and fortifications. The tremendous recoil of the mortars required a more robust framework and sturdier hull structure, the primary reason why this construction design was idea in dealing with the arctic pack ice.
HMS Erebus
|Specifications|Data|
|-|-|
|Built in Wales;| Pembroke Dockyard|
|Launched;| June 7, 1826|
|Length;|105 ft. or 32 m|
|Beam;| 29 ft. or 8.84 m|
|Displacement;|715 long tons|
|Tons Burden;| 372 Tons|
|Propulsion;| Sail, Steam engine|
|Installed power;| 30 HP nominal|
|Complement;| 67|
Prior to this Vesuvius Class Bomb Vessel, Terror’s re-assignment as a polar exploratory vessel, she did participate in the War of 1812 and at the Battle of Baltimore in the bombardment of Fort McHenry.
HMS Terror
|Specifications|Data|
|-|-|
|Built in Topsham|Devon|
|Launched;|June 29, 1813|
|Length;|102 ft. or 31 m|
|Beam;|27 ft. or 8.2 m |
|Tons burden;|325 tons|
|Propulsion;| Sail, Steam engine|
|Installed power;| 30 HP nominal|
|Complement;| 67|
She did serve as an Arctic under Captain George Back in 1836-1837 having surveyed the waterways from Southampton Straight and Hudson Straight when ice floes trapped the Terror for about ten harrowing months. In July the Ice broke up enough to free the HMS Terror and the Back expedition to return home.
After the refit into an exploration vessel the HMS Erebus with the HMS Terror were dispatched to New Zealand for an Antarctic expedition Captained by explorer James Ross on November 21st 1840. This January 1841 Ross expedition was successful in the discovering, identifying and surveying Victoria Land, Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf of the Antarctic. Ross resumed the next year in 1842 to attempt further navigating the Ice shelf, then returning again later in 1842-1843 conducting biological and oceanographic studies.
This further proved that these ships were well suited for Arctic conditions.
The Franklin expedition was billed to be a pinnacle of English technological and scientific achievement. The Erebus and Terror were outfitted with steam engines, so that the ships need not only rely on wind and sail. The engine also provided hot water heating throughout the ship providing warmth from the deep cold. Food canning was discovered to remarkably preserve food quality for up to three years or more, becoming the mainstay for the crew’s nutritional needs. Amenities like a library, musical instruments, props, fine china, a football etc. were stocked aboard for the mental well-being of the crew.
A mild mannered Sir John Franklin is charged with finding this elusive North-West passage, a man approaching the status of a celebrity on the heels of three previous expeditions, if anyone can't find that passage, Franklin will!
"By God, what could possibly go wrong?"
The discovery of a wreck was found on September 2nd, 2014 by Remote Underwater Vehicle close to where the ships were reported abandoned. The wreck was confirmed as the HMS Erebus in the following month of October.
The HMS Terror was found on September 12, 2016 about 50 km from the Erebus, having apparently drifted south for some time before she sank.
The wreck sites were designated as National Historical site of Canada. The U.K. gifted the ships to Canada with the exception of a few relics, any gold and the right to repatriate the human remains.
Stacking Precious metals and Crypto for those dark stormy days!
The #piratesunday tag is the scurvy scheme of Captain @stokjockey for #silvergoldstackers pirates to proudly showcase their shiny booty and plunder for all to see. Landlubbers arrrh… welcomed to participate and be a Pirate at heart so open yer treasure chests an’ show us what booty yea got!
References & Sources
Parks Canada; Wrecks of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
Royal Canadian Mint Archive, Franklin’s lost Expedition.
CBC; Hallowed space, Recovered Artifacts from the HMS Erebus.
Wiki; HMS Erebus.
Wiki; HMS Terror.
Photos are my own shot with an ancient 2018 Samsung SM-A530W or otherwise indicated.
P. Image under Pixabay
W. Wiki Commons
☠️🎃 Page Dividers by thekittygirl. ❄️🌞
Cameo Raven Brooch from The Black Wardrobe.
Map Background; Reader’s Digest Illustrated Great World Atlas, ISBN 0-89577-988-9, Pg. 151
Physical precious metals bullion stacking is only a part of my personal overall financial strategy. Meanwhile, collecting numismatics are a different set of objectives and strategy. Unless you are a complete nutcase as I am please, do your research before deciding to buy into any bullion or numismatic products.