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Hey y'all,
My spouse and I recently watched S1 of 'The Terror', and like all of you, absolutely loved it. I knew a bit about the expedition going in, but I've been a little obsessed with the story (book and series) as well as the actual historical expedition for about a week now.
One place my mind keeps wandering to is whether the men on this mission were truly doomed or if they could have made it through their admittedly dire straits if they had adequately prepared, assuming the admiralty had been willing to dish out a little more cash. I think the following 4 things could have greatly increased the expedition's chances:
1) Inuit guides. I think that this was probably the #1 key to surviving long term in the winter. Suitable candidates should have been recruited in advance, before the expedition even started. People who knew the topography, survival strategies, local flora and fauna, and who had social connections that may be willing to assist should the worst come to pass.
2) a rendezvous party meeting them at a predetermined time and place on the Western side of the passage to confirm their status.
3) an overland mission backup plan. Should the expedition fail to meet the original rendezvous party, a plan for an overland excursion with several different meeting points for rescue should have been established, where a small party could travel (relatively) quickly in the following year to dispatch a larger rescue mission to the trapped expedition. A local guide could certainly help on that front. I do think that outfitting the ships for the entire crew to take an overland expedition is unrealistic, but a small party should have been practical.
4) the no-brainer, ensuring that the crew was adequately provisioned. The one thing I think we can be sure of is that their food was tainted. I'm 50/50 on the whole lead poisoning thing, I've heard multiple experts say that the lead levels in recovered Franklin bodies were nothing unusual for the time. Botulism, scurvy, and zinc deficiencies seems credible to me. If the expeditions whole survival strategy was to hunker down and live on these canned goods, then they should have been exceptionally well-provisioned, both in quality and quantity, but evidently they were not.
How would you save the expedition? Please roast my plan or add your own!
Re: #1 (guides), I think their knowledge goes far beyond hunting. They could provide insight on which sort of plants could alleviate vitamin deficiencies and where to find them (local plant-based medicine), provide knowledge on how to traverse difficult terrain, and through their social connections act as a liason to get other things that could have assisted in survival (e.g. knowing which items would be especially valuable to someone who may be willing to trade a dog sled team), or who may be willing to provide short term respite for a small rescue team. Among MANY other things. In my plan, the Franklin expedition has enough calories, just not enough vitamins!
Re: #2 (rendezvous party), I was envisioning a small overland envoy to confirm their arrival, not to re-provision them. At that point in history there were several trading outposts in what is now the Northwest Territories and the prairie provinces. A small party of experienced arcric explorers could have made their way North pretty quickly utilizing sled dog teams and horses in the summer of 1846/47 to the West part of the Northwest passage.
Love your points though. Indeed this whole tragedy is coated in the hubris of man.
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I believe the plants that Ross grew to prevent scurvy were mustard plants and it was marginally effective. Good call on that one.