POTSDAM – In 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin of the British Royal Navy led 128 men on two iron-plated steam ships, Erebus and Terror, into the Arctic, where they eventually disappeared. The voyage was the culmination of four centuries of failed attempts to navigate the Northwest Passage – a direct route from Europe to Asia across the Arctic Ocean – and remains one of the greatest tragedies in the history of polar exploration.
波茨坦——1845年，英国皇家海军上尉约翰·富兰克林爵士率领128人，乘两艘蒸汽铁皮船厄瑞波斯号和恐怖号驶入北极，最后不知去向。这次航行到现在仍是史上极地考察最震撼的悲剧之一，也将长达四个世纪西北通道（跨越北冰洋实现欧亚直航）失败的探索努力推向了高潮。