The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.
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Tracing One Warm Line
Rogers’ song refers to Sir John Franklin, one of the best known of the explorers as, having led two missions to try and find the passage, he set out on a third journey with two vessels the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus in 1845. The ships were last seen in Baffin Bay, and in spring 1847. There are later accounts stating that Franklin died in June 1847. As you can imagine, the crews of two ships that had seemingly vanished into thin air captured the imagination of many at the time.