The Franklin Expedition's two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, were state-of-the-art vessels retrofitted with steam engines and reinforced hulls for ice navigation. Despite this, they became trapped in notoriously thick pack ice near King William Island. A note later found revealed Sir John Franklin died in 1847, and the surviving crew, led by Captain Crozier, abandoned the ships in a doomed attempt to walk to safety. Inuit oral histories, long dismissed by British authorities, provided crucial