Updated Franklin exhibit opens in Saskatoon

Saskatoon is the first stop in a tour of an updated version of the exhibit Echoes in the Ice:Finding Franklin's Ship.It includes photographs and videos from the discovery of one of Sir John Franklin's lost ships, HMS Erebus, last fall.

Franklin and his crew perished during their search for the Northwest Passage, launched in 1845.

The exhibit delves into the mysteries of their disappearance, and also examines arctic exploration both past and present through artifacts, images, audio-visual presentations and art.

Saskatoon great-grandma has personal link to exhibit

Lynn Tait was on hand for a sneak preview this morning, at the Western Development Museum.

The Franklin expedition has personal meaning for her. Her great-grandmother is the niece of Sir Leopold McClintock, whom Lady Franklin dispatched to find her husband.

"To find out whether he was dead or alive, because Queen Victoria had sent out earlier ships and they didn't find anything," Tait explained.

Tait said McClintock determined that Franklin had perished.

We're slowly revealing more and more of the mystery- Warren Clubb, Western Development Museum

"They found some of his men that had perished in the ice. They found some of the relics from the ship," Tait continued. "And my understanding is they were able to put a flag down and say that actually he had found the Northwest Passage."

Warren Clubb is research library co-ordinator at the Western Development Museum, and the person responsible for bringing in travelling exhibits.

"What happened to them? They (the Franklin crew) had the latest technology," Clubb said. "The British navy was the envy of the world at that time .... It's that mystery, and we're slowly revealing more and more of the mystery."

The exhibit opens to the public tomorrow and runs to July 5. It then moves on to the WDM in Moose Jaw, running from July 5 to September 27. It's next stop is at the WDM in North Battleford, opening there in January.