Traversing the Northwest Passage
1 - 27 September 2025

12 September 2025: Day 12

Cruise Day 5: Beechey Island and Radstock Bay

Introduction

Beechey Island is probably the most important historical site related to the Franklin Expedition in all the Arctic as it holds the graves of three of Franklin's men and the grave of a man on one of the search expeditions. (it also now holds the graves of three others who were rich and vain enough to be buried here without permission). We anchored in the sheltered Erebus and Terror Bay behind the island early in the morning and after breakfast we boarded the Zodiacs heading for the beach. The bay was sheltered from the wild wind in Lancaster Sound, which is why Franklin, Ross and other explorers set up a base here. Franklin's expedition wintered over here: his searcher Ross built his main camp here which he named Northumberland House.

Beechey Island - Franklin graves and Northumberland House

We stepped ashore below the Franklin graves and spent some time looking and reflecting on the hardships this expedition had endured. The fourth grave is from Ross' later expedition who was searching for Franklin.

Today there is a fifth grave, without a headstone, that contains a wealthy individual who, according to Jerry Kobalenko, an Arctic adventurer "at least 50 years ago, decided to have himself buried at this historic site, beside Franklin’s men. There was no law against it then, and there seems to be no law against it now. Why have yourself buried in an ordinary graveyard when you can achieve a measure of posthumous notoriety by making yourself part of a story that you have nothing to do with?" Explorersweb. Jerry refers to this and other unauthorised graves on Beechey Island as "Arctic Grafitti" - and he is right. We saw too much of it here, it was hugely disappointing. and disturbing. Near the Franklin graves is more "grafitti" - a small cairn that some French sailors decided to add to the beach 2012. It appears to be to Joseph René Bellot, but this is a pretext to record the names of the modern sailors. The genuine Bellot memorial is above Northlumberland House.

From here we walked west across frozen, patterned ground to the ruins of Northumberland House and more "grafitti" includes the graves of two more individuals with no business being here.

Beechey Island is joined to Devon Island by a tidal tombolo

Landing on Beechey Lsland

The Franklin graves

John Torrington (1826-1846)

William Braine (1814-1846)

John Hartnell (1821-1846)

Thomas Margan (-1854)

The fake Bellot cairn below the cliffs on Beechey Island.

A group of people for scale

Patterened ground cause by ice polygons.

The fake Bellot cairn..

and another piece of "grafitti".

More patterned, frozen ground

Those who took the "longer walk"

White whale?

..iceberg.

The real Bellot memorial

Rusty tin cans in the shape of a cross

Plaque to Davis the explorer..

and a tripod of "grafitti" that doesn't really belong here.

The remains of Northumberland House

Barrel hoops are all that remains of the water barrels.

Noticeboard about Northumberland House

Time to go...

the beach

Back to the ship.

Radstock Bay

After returning to our ship in an increasing wind and rough sea we warmed up with a good lunch. Plan A for the day was to sail east along the coastline of Devon Island and into Radstock Ba, then to take the Zodiacs for a cruise and attempt a landing. The weather worsened with strong winds so Plan B kept us onboard as we sailed around the bay. The coastline was spectacular and the strong wind made for interesting cloud formations over the headlands. Sharp-eyed watchers (with binoculars and fancy camera lenses) spotted a herd of musk ox, before we continued east.