In the Arctic, Christmas was never just a holiday. For officers, it was a carefully engineered ritual-meant to fight depression, enforce discipline, and keep men imagining a life they might never return to. Decorations, theatre, feasts, and hymns transformed frozen ships into temporary illusions of home.
Why Christmas Mattered in the Arctic
Officers explicitly used celebrations to:
prevent depression during the polar night
break monotony of rations
reinforce obedience without open brutality
distract men from fear of starvation or scurvy
keep sailors imagining a return to English life
Edward Parry-Franklin’s predecessor and model called such amusements “as necessary as the provisions in our hold.”
Franklin followed that philosophy.
Decorations & Stagecraft
On the Arctic ships, men decorated the lower deck with:
colored bunting
flags
improvised greenery made from paper or cloth
chalk drawings
painted slogans
These decorations transformed the ship into an artificial “English winter home.” Some officers worried that too much realism would worsen homesickness, so the focus was on comedy and spectacle.
The Theatre Royal on Board
Franklin and Parry each authorized a full amateur theatre—the most famous being the Royal Arctic Theatre, set up on the Hecla and Fury, and later imitated on Franklin’s own voyages.
Features included:
printed or handwritten playbills
wigs, female costumes, and makeup
comic sketches mocking officers (carefully-never seditious)
farces and sentimental plays
naval bands supplying music
The theatre opened a new season on 5 November (Guy Fawkes Night) and always staged a show on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. In the dark midwinter, when the sun vanished, these were the most anticipated evenings of the year.
Rear-Admiral George Fisher, a chaplain on a Franklin expedition, told his fellow officers that theatre was “more valuable than sermons for preserving contentment.”
The Christmas Feast in the Ice
Franklin-era banquets tried to manufacture extravagance from rations:
Staples:
preserved beef or pork issued at double rations
potato concentrate or pea soup
preserved carrots and dried onions
plum duff (the signature Arctic festival food)
raisins saved for months
sugar carefully hoarded
sometimes port wine or sherry from the officers’ stores
During Franklin’s first land expedition (1819–22) across the tundra, he could barely feed his men and Christmas became grim-but aboard ships in the 1845 expedition, food was plentiful early on, so the feast was generous.
In Parry’s ships, and likely Franklin’s, menus were posted as though in a London tavern, another psychological trick.
Drink—and Discipline
Rum was issued freely, but Arctic commands viewed drunkenness as a threat. So the custom was:
an extra grog issue
supervised toasts
humorous speeches
then the casks locked away again
Officers sometimes allowed men to stay up until midnight-an unusual relaxation of rules.
Christmas Services in the Polar Night
Religious observance was more prominent than on tropical stations, because it doubled as emotional management. Franklin, deeply evangelical-encouraged:
Christmas prayers
sermon on endurance and Providence
hymns sung collectively
candlelit readings
Franklin believed that spiritual order balanced the psychological risks of total isolation.
Gifts & Exchanges
In the Arctic, sailors used leisure time to carve objects from:
walrus or narwhal ivory
whalebone
wood from packing crates
metal scraps
Christmas became a natural exchange point. Officers sometimes gave tobacco, mittens, or extra warm clothing.
Handwritten comic “newspapers” were also created and read aloud Parry’s North Georgia Gazette (1819–20) is the prototype Franklin admired.
Games in the Arctic Darkness
Where ice conditions allowed:
sledging races
foot races over the ice
mock athletic competitions
dancing on deck
These were staged directly after the Christmas dinner to counter lethargy.
Franklin’s 1845 ships also carried musical instruments, and dancing was considered exercise against scurvy.
Melancholy and Pretending Not to Despair
Diaries from Franklin-era Arctic voyages show a pattern:
Christmas was described as “cheerful beyond expectation”
followed weeks later by depression when the novelty faded
Men wrote about missing home, imagining family dinners, and fearing that they would never see England again. Officers tolerated sentimentality on Christmas, but suppressed it afterward.
Hierarchy Temporarily Softened
For a few hours:
punishments were suspended
officers joked with men
toasts unified the ranks
But the relaxation was carefully staged. The purpose was to reinforce loyalty, not autonomy.
By Boxing Day, full discipline returned.
The Dark Twist—Franklin’s Final Expedition
On the 1845 voyage of Erebus and Terror, the first Christmas (at Disko Bay or near the ice edge) was almost certainly festive-food was abundant, spirits high, and the men still believed the expedition technically easy.
But:
no record survives of that or any later Christmas aboard the trapped ships
by the end of 1846 the ships were beset off King William Island
1847 likely passed in fear and uncertainty
1848 brought the abandonment and death march
So the familiar rituals of plum duff, theatre, and jokes gave way to starvation, lead poisoning, scurvy, and fatal desperation. The holiday spirit that once supported morale could no longer counter physical collapse