May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition

Mary Williamson, Medieval History with Archaeology MA (Hons) 1982

May We Be Spared presents a privileged glimpse into the private correspondence of the officers and sailors who set out in May 1845 on HM ships Erebus and Terror for Sir John Franklin’s fateful expedition to the Arctic. Through these letters, never before assembled in one volume, we follow the expedition from its inception to its departure from the river Thames, its progress up the eastern coast of Great Britain to Stromness in Orkney, and thence as far as the Whalefish Islands off the western coast of Greenland. Here, the last letters were written, and the ships forever departed the society which had sent them forth. Eventually, as the realisation dawned that something was amiss, heartfelt letters to the lost were sent out with the many search expeditions and those letters, returned unread, tell poignant stories of hope.

The Franklin Expedition continues to excite enthusiasts and scholars worldwide. As more artifacts are retrieved by the Parks Canada underwater archaeology team from the wrecks of Franklin’s ships, some known to have been used by these same letter writers, and as more skeletal remains are identified using DNA analysis, so too will these letters provide new insights into the personalities of those on board during the early, optimistic, phase of the voyage.

Through this remarkable collection of letters, we peer over the shoulders of these men; we experience their excitement and anticipation – along with their grumbles and trepidation of the journey ahead – and finally, feel the anguish of the loved ones left behind.

ISBN: 978-0-2280-1139-2