Iqaluit (Apr 04/05) - The search for British explorer Sir John Franklin was recreated earlier this month on the sea ice outside Iqaluit.

Irish documentary maker John Murray, whose films have been produced for National Geographic, visited the Nunavut capital for one week and employed about 14 residents to help him recreate the search for the doomed explorer.

During one pivotal scene, European explorers encounter Inuit who are wearing a metal band stripped from the lost ships.

"That was the first indication where they were, and that they all died," said Murray.

Franklin left the Thames River of London, England, on May 19, 1845, with two ships in search of the Northwest Passage. He never returned. Murray was first drawn to the search for Franklin because of the number of Irish connections, he said, listing off explorers like McLintock, Crozier and McClure.

"I thought it would be nice to do a definitive documentary," he said.

Murray describes the Franklin expeditions as "the be all and end all of polar expeditions," akin to the Apollo 11 voyage of the far side of the moon.

Warm weather during the weekend caused the iglus built for the shoot to collapse. One fell on the director. "We were directly affected by the use of fossil fuels," Murray joked.

Eric Nutarariaq was one actor employed to dress in caribou skins and run along a dogsled during the weekend. "It was like old times," he said.

The film, titled "The Lost Expedition," should be finished by the end of the year and will be shown on the History channel.