Beechey Island

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Beechey Island, is an island located in the inland Arctic archipelago in Wellington Channel at about 74º43'N 91º51'W.

The island was discovered in 1819 by Captain William Edward Parry and was named for Frederick William Beechey (1796-1856) who was then serving as Parry's lieutenant.

Beechey Island in 2004. Grave sites are visible in foreground.

It is the site of several very significant events in the history of Arctic exploration. In 1845, the British explorer Sir John Franklin, commanding a new search for the Northwest Passage aboard HMSs Erebus and Terror, chose the protected harbor of Beechey Island for his first winter encampment. The site was not discovered until 1851 when British and American search vessels anchored nearby. They found a large stone cairn, along with the graves of three of Franklin's crew -- John Torrington, William Braine, and John Hartnell -- but no written record or indication of where Franklin planned to sail the next season.

In the 1980s, Canadian archaeologist Dr. Owen Beattie exhumed the three bodies, finding them to be (externally) remarkably well-preserved. Autopsies determined that lung disease and lead poisoning were among the probable causes of death; the lead appeared to come from the thousands of lead-soldered tins of provisions with which the Franklin expedition had been supplied.

Beechey Island was declared to be a "site of territorial historical significance" by the government of the Northwest Territories in 1979. Since 1999 it has been part of the newly-created Canadian territory of Nunavut.

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