Inuit people fear curse of 1845 voyage reawakened after deaths
The doomed 1845 Arctic voyage of Sir John Franklin to the Northwest Passage was one of the greatest disasters of British polar history, ending in the deaths of 129 crewmen.
Now the Inuit community where the wreckage of the HMS Terror and its sister ship, the Erebus, were found say its curse has been reawakened – and is claiming lives in the tiny indigenous settlement.
Fear has gripped the remote settlement of Gjoa Haven, on Canada’s King William Island, amid claims of ‘‘non-human’’ beings stalking the ice.
The wrecks of Franklin’s ‘‘lost expedition’’ were only discovered recently by Canadian divers near Gjoa Haven – Erebus in 2014 and Terror in 2016.
Divers have been removing artefacts from the wrecks which are expected to go on show at a local museum. But six unexpected deaths in two weeks has led to a belief among the 1000-strong Inuit community that the wrecks should not have been disturbed.
Jacob Keanik, whose brother and nephew drowned in a boating accident after the ships were found, told Canadian radio: ‘‘People are superstitious. They feel there is a connection between the deaths and disturbing the wreck sites.
‘‘My late mother told me, even before these wrecks were discovered . . . the whole King William Island has non-human people that we cannot see.
‘‘It’s a funny feeling when we get on the other side of the island. You sense that somebody’s around you, but there’s nobody around you.’’
Other deaths included a vehicle accident and a heart attack.
Tamara Tarasoff, an official with Parks Canada, the government agency protecting marine conservation areas, said the community ‘‘feel the wrecks are cursed and should not be disturbed’’. – Telegraph Group