The Franklin story has always been at the centre of a historical tug of war
GJOA HAVEN , Nunavut — Full fathom five John Franklin’s ship lies and of its bones are stories made.
With apologies to William Shakespeare, few shipwreck tales have seen as much sea-change as that of the HMS Erebus. The tug of war over how Franklin history is told is almost as rich and strange as the story itself.
“There is a set of facts. Those men all died,” says Adriana Craciun, a Boston University professor who has written extensively on portrayals of the doomed expedition.
“But there’s never just one Franklin disaster.”