Northwest passage

Since it's on TV these days, I was wondering: what if Franklin had actually found the passage some 60 years before Amundsen?

Even if it was navigable only for a reduced period of the year (as opposed to today, supposedly on account of global warming), would it have made a difference for shipping?
 
I really can't imagine it would have. I mean it wasn't successfully navigated until Amundsen. And that was with a small ship and it took like 2 years. Even now with warmer temps and much better ships than in the 19th century its still not used for transit
 
Franklin probably could have done it, he chose the poorest route that rarely thaws back to open water (in his era). He basically proves that it's unnavigable though by succeeding.

The knock-off effects are fairly minor and mostly Arctic related. His failed attempt probably garnered far more Arctic exploration than his success would have... there were several expeditions that went out in search of Franklin's expedition. These never happen if he succeeds and the area likely is explored only decades after it happened OTL without them needing to know what happened to him.

The greatest of the polar explorers of the era, John Rae, never has his career and legacy scuttled because he reported that a good and God fearing British crew broke down and resorted to cannibalism.

The surviving crew probably all die of lead poisoning several after their return. The lead concentration in their bodies was absurdly high, even beyond what the canned food could have gotten them (many suspect it had something to do with the way they stored and purified water).
 
Ironically, by where they found the second ship and their death march led them, they probably did "find the passage". Parties had explored the shoreline from the west to nearly that point already.
 
Top