Frozen in Time passages
I just finished a book about the lost Franklin Expedition, and in a way, it's even worse than The Ghosts of Cape Sabine (cannibalism D:). Every one of the 129 people died, either from lead poisoning, scurvy, etc (last year the wreck of one of their ships was finally found, which was exciting lol. I don't think all of the bodies were ever found). I'm not super squeamish, but the pictures of the bodies they exhumed to study were CREEPY..they were incredibly well preserved, which just makes you shiver
Before I get to the book, I found this on Wikipedia: "On 18 June 2015, a study accepted for publication in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology concluded that in addition to the de-fleshing of bones, 35 "bones had signs of breakage and 'pot polishing,' which occurs when the ends of bones heated in boiling water rub against the cooking pot they are placed in", which "typically occurs in the end stage of cannibalism, when starving people extract the marrow to eke out the last bit of calories and nutrition they can." Wow, those poor people D:
"So new was the technology [of tinned foods] that no one had yet invented the can opener; the cans had to be cleaved open with an axe." ("I WANT MY DINNER ALREADY!!!" *smashes tin apart*)
"...the first case of scurvy was reported on 1 January 1820. Parry tried to conceal it from the crew, and set about curing the victim by starting a tiny garden of mustard and cress on the warm galley pipes of the Hecla. (Nice :P)
"Back's ship, the Terror, like the Victory, was caught in the Arctic's thrall of relentless ice. At one point it was hurled 40 feet (12 metres) up a cliff face, only to be mauled by an iceberg." (OMG lol. Bad iceberg, bad!)
"At one point the ice reached up alongside to form a cradle, then, after holding the ship tight in the air, the floe let go its grasp and the vessel plunged into the sea. Back was astonished to glimpse in those moments a mould of the ship 'stamped as perfectly as in a die in the walls of ice on either side.'" (Whoa!!!)
"It was so cold inside the Advance that one man's tongue froze to his beard" (*shivers*)
"Unable to secure adequate supplies of raw meat in the fall, [scurvy] returned even more virulently. The symptoms were gruesome. One man had the flesh drop from his ankle, exposing bone and tendons." (WTF?!? D:)
"They had found the first physical evidence to support Inuit accounts of cannibalism among the dying crewmen.
While studying the right femur found at the site, Beattie confirmed that three roughly parallel grooves measuring .02-.04 inches (.5-1 mm) in width and up to 1/2 inch (13 mm) in length had been cut into its back surface. The cut marks were made by a metal implement, suggesting intentional dismemberment. Fracture lies indicated that the skull had also been forcibly broken; the face, including both jaws and all the teeth, were missing. Evidence that the body had been intentionally dismembered was further supported by the selective parts of the skeleton found: the head, arms and legs" (*shudders*)
"The Inuit reported finding boots 'that came up as high as the knees and that in some was cooked human flesh--that is human flesh that has been boiled'" (D:)
"So cannibalism follows a pattern: once the decision is made, the initial sections removed from the body are the meatier areas like the buttocks, thighs, lower legs and arms. Recognizably human parts, such as hands and feet, are not eaten at first. As time passes and hunger continues to tear at the survivors, the options of where the flesh comes from are reduced, and bone marrow, organs, arteries and skin are consumed. Removal of muscle tissue is usually done with a knife or other sharp object, and this can leave butchering marks on the bone. Removal of bone marrow requires the bone to be smashed open. The brain is either pulled through the base of the skull or eaten after the face is cut off." (!!!!!!!!!!!!??!! That's ok, I didn't need to eat dinner anyway O______O)
"Cannibalizing the trunk of the body would have given them enough strength to push on. The head, arms and legs, easily portable, were carried along as a food supply" (nooooooononono *whimpers*)
"With his trowel, Carlson scraped the delicate, dark green vegetation aside, revealing a series of bones immediately recognizable as a virtually complete human foot. Continuing his excavation, which lasted into the early morning hours of 13 July, Carlson found that most of the thirteen bones from the left foot were articulated, or still in place, meaning that the foot had come to rest at this spot and had not been disturbed since 1848" (whoa!!)
"Whereas Torrington had embodied a youthful, tragic innocence, John Hartnell reflected the harsh realities of death and suffering in the Arctic: his was the the face of a sea-hardened nineteenth-century sailor. His right eye socket appeared empty and his lips were rigidly pursed, as if he were shouting his rage at dying so early in his adventure. John Hartnell's last thoughts and the intensity of the pain he suffered during those final moments of life had been captured--literally frozen--on his face" (wow..poor guy!! :()
Undoubtedly the most amazing aspect of the Beechey Island research was the discovery of the near-perfect preservation of soft tissue. In effect, the unbroken period of freezing from early 1846 to 1984 suspended any major outward appearances of decay, allowing John Torrington to look very much as he had in life, right down to the flexibility of the tissue" (WOW!)
"Remarkably, bacteria dating to 1846, and once part of William Braine, is still alive today" (wow!!)
Before I get to the book, I found this on Wikipedia: "On 18 June 2015, a study accepted for publication in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology concluded that in addition to the de-fleshing of bones, 35 "bones had signs of breakage and 'pot polishing,' which occurs when the ends of bones heated in boiling water rub against the cooking pot they are placed in", which "typically occurs in the end stage of cannibalism, when starving people extract the marrow to eke out the last bit of calories and nutrition they can." Wow, those poor people D:
"So new was the technology [of tinned foods] that no one had yet invented the can opener; the cans had to be cleaved open with an axe." ("I WANT MY DINNER ALREADY!!!" *smashes tin apart*)
"...the first case of scurvy was reported on 1 January 1820. Parry tried to conceal it from the crew, and set about curing the victim by starting a tiny garden of mustard and cress on the warm galley pipes of the Hecla. (Nice :P)
"Back's ship, the Terror, like the Victory, was caught in the Arctic's thrall of relentless ice. At one point it was hurled 40 feet (12 metres) up a cliff face, only to be mauled by an iceberg." (OMG lol. Bad iceberg, bad!)
"At one point the ice reached up alongside to form a cradle, then, after holding the ship tight in the air, the floe let go its grasp and the vessel plunged into the sea. Back was astonished to glimpse in those moments a mould of the ship 'stamped as perfectly as in a die in the walls of ice on either side.'" (Whoa!!!)
"It was so cold inside the Advance that one man's tongue froze to his beard" (*shivers*)
"Unable to secure adequate supplies of raw meat in the fall, [scurvy] returned even more virulently. The symptoms were gruesome. One man had the flesh drop from his ankle, exposing bone and tendons." (WTF?!? D:)
"They had found the first physical evidence to support Inuit accounts of cannibalism among the dying crewmen.
While studying the right femur found at the site, Beattie confirmed that three roughly parallel grooves measuring .02-.04 inches (.5-1 mm) in width and up to 1/2 inch (13 mm) in length had been cut into its back surface. The cut marks were made by a metal implement, suggesting intentional dismemberment. Fracture lies indicated that the skull had also been forcibly broken; the face, including both jaws and all the teeth, were missing. Evidence that the body had been intentionally dismembered was further supported by the selective parts of the skeleton found: the head, arms and legs" (*shudders*)
"The Inuit reported finding boots 'that came up as high as the knees and that in some was cooked human flesh--that is human flesh that has been boiled'" (D:)
"So cannibalism follows a pattern: once the decision is made, the initial sections removed from the body are the meatier areas like the buttocks, thighs, lower legs and arms. Recognizably human parts, such as hands and feet, are not eaten at first. As time passes and hunger continues to tear at the survivors, the options of where the flesh comes from are reduced, and bone marrow, organs, arteries and skin are consumed. Removal of muscle tissue is usually done with a knife or other sharp object, and this can leave butchering marks on the bone. Removal of bone marrow requires the bone to be smashed open. The brain is either pulled through the base of the skull or eaten after the face is cut off." (!!!!!!!!!!!!??!! That's ok, I didn't need to eat dinner anyway O______O)
"Cannibalizing the trunk of the body would have given them enough strength to push on. The head, arms and legs, easily portable, were carried along as a food supply" (nooooooononono *whimpers*)
"With his trowel, Carlson scraped the delicate, dark green vegetation aside, revealing a series of bones immediately recognizable as a virtually complete human foot. Continuing his excavation, which lasted into the early morning hours of 13 July, Carlson found that most of the thirteen bones from the left foot were articulated, or still in place, meaning that the foot had come to rest at this spot and had not been disturbed since 1848" (whoa!!)
"Whereas Torrington had embodied a youthful, tragic innocence, John Hartnell reflected the harsh realities of death and suffering in the Arctic: his was the the face of a sea-hardened nineteenth-century sailor. His right eye socket appeared empty and his lips were rigidly pursed, as if he were shouting his rage at dying so early in his adventure. John Hartnell's last thoughts and the intensity of the pain he suffered during those final moments of life had been captured--literally frozen--on his face" (wow..poor guy!! :()
Undoubtedly the most amazing aspect of the Beechey Island research was the discovery of the near-perfect preservation of soft tissue. In effect, the unbroken period of freezing from early 1846 to 1984 suspended any major outward appearances of decay, allowing John Torrington to look very much as he had in life, right down to the flexibility of the tissue" (WOW!)
"Remarkably, bacteria dating to 1846, and once part of William Braine, is still alive today" (wow!!)