Listen to the second part of the Franklin mystery. Answer the questions:

• What did people suppose happen to Franklin?

• Who wanted to know what happened to Franklin for sure?

• When did she send an expedition?

• What did they find one year later?

• What was there near him?

• Why couldn’t they move?

• How many men had already died?

• What happened to them?

• Was the mystery really solved? Why (not)?

Scroll down to read the text as you listen to it

The Last Message

In England, many people wanted to know more about Franklin. Some people said that Franklin and his men were living with the Eskimo people or “inuit”. Other people said that Franklin was certainly dead.

Jane Franklin was John Franklin’s wife. She wanted to exactly what happened to her husband. In July 1857, she snet an expedition to the Arctic. A year later, on an island in Baffin Bay, they discovered one fo Franklin’s sailors – ten years too late. He was lying in a boat at the edge of the sea – dead. Near the dead man, they found a small stone house. Inside the house they found a note. It was the last message from the Franklin expedition.

“April 25th, 1848

We arrived here in September 1846 – nineteen months ago. Our ships are trapped in the ice and we cannot move. The men are dyng – 25 men are already dead. Captain John Franklin died on June 11th 1847. We left the ships two days ago. Our only chance is to walk.”

So, Franklin and his men died in tge Arctic – three years after they left England. Without any food, their only chanewas to walk to their deaths in the ice.  The Franklin mystery was solved.

But was it solved? Why were so many sailors dying when they left the seas? Franklin had excellent maps of the area? Why did he take the wrong route? There were still questions to answer…