If you hear a pin drop in any screening of this, I'd be terribly surprised. It transfixed audiences and won Best New Zealand Feature, Best Directing, Best Editing and Best Cinematography at the festival. There were also awards for directors, editing and cinematography – and no wonder - NZ Listener It's the interviews with four police officers who carried the burden of the experience on their own which hit home. This important and absorbing watch helps us comprehend - and says a long-overdue thank you. The doco about the police team sent to recover the bodies from the Erebus crash was a hellish story told hellishly well. What this docudrama did so harrowingly well was to look at how it felt to be one of the people who had to go in and tidy up. It was extraordinarily good TV.extraordinarily powerful and evocative. The best local programme of this and many other years, this seamless mix of interviews and re-enactments has a powerful moment. Just, wow! - Irene Gardner - National Radio When Hartnell’s cap was removed, they found his hair completely intact, which was later used to determine that his body contained large amounts of lead at the time of his death.It was a film so well made and so real it probably still haunts anyone who saw it. Hartnell’s incredibly well-preserved, mummified remains surprised the archeologists who exhumed his grave. He was one of the first casualties of the expedition, dying of suspected zinc deficiency and malnourishment during the expedition’s first year. He was assigned to HMS Erebus with his brother, Thomas, as able seamen on the Franklin Northwest Passage expedition. John Hartnell was born in Gillingham, Kent, in England, to a family of shipbuilders. William Braine’s facial reconstruction and his exhumed body John Hartnell Recent scientific research has suggested that Braine’s body showed symptoms of tuberculosis and lead poisoning prior to his death. His corpse was found to be in the worst condition among the Beechey Island bodies, having been gnawed at by rats before burial. Subsequently, Braine was assigned to HMS Erebus during Franklin’s Lost Expedition. He was enlisted in the Royal Marines during the 1830s. William Braine was a British explorer who was born in Oakhill, Somerset, in England in 1814. Sacred to the memory of John Torrington who departed this life January 18 AD 1846, on board of HMS Ship Terror. John Torrington’s facial reconstruction and his exhumed body His cause of death was determined to be pneumonia. Scientists melted the ice covering Torrington slowly to avoid damaging the body.įurther scientific research suggested that John Torrington had been very sick and weighed only 38.5 kilograms at the time of his death. Upon opening the coffin, they were struck by how well the body was preserved. They dug 1.5 meters deep into the frozen ground to reach the coffin. In 1984, with the consent of Torrington’s descendants in England, a crew, led by archeologist Owen Beattie, commenced their work on Torrington’s grave. Torrington was perfectly preserved and his eyes were open, looking straight at excavation crew. His barely decomposed body shocked scientists who exhumed it in 1984, more than a century later. John Torrington died 7 months into the expedition and was buried on Beechey Island, Canada. He was a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy who was assigned to the catastrophic Franklin Expedition as stoker at the age of 19. John Torrington was born in Manchester, England in 1825. The graves of John Torrington, William Braine, John Hartnell on Beechey Island, Canada / Photo by: Gordon Leggett – Wikimedia Commons John Torrington Besides their historical significance, these 3 British sailors are considered to be among the most well-preserved mummies ever found. They died at the start of the expedition and were buried in Beechey Island, Canada. These 3 seamen mentioned above were John Torrington, William Braine and John Hartnell. No one ever heard from these sailors again and, except for 3, none of the other sailors’ bodies were ever found. In 1847, the crew abandoned the ships in hopes of finding settlements nearby and reaching mainland Canada. The two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, with the crew onboard ended up getting stuck in the ice for 2 years. 129 British sailors, under the command of The Royal Navy, were sent for an expedition to explore the Northwest Passage which connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans in the Northern Canadian Archipelago. History enthusiasts will be familiar with the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition. Disclaimer: This article contains images of deceased people.
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