Arctic Return Expedition backs Orkney vision of a John Rae World Heritage site
While announcing the 2019 Arctic Return Expedition, which will follow in the footsteps of Arctic explorer John Rae, team leader David Reid spoke of yearning to do something about the dilapidated condition of Rae’s birthplace in Stromness, Orkney: the Hall of Clestrain. “Clestrain stands as an example of something once proud, dignified, and strong,” he…
Read MoreArctic Return Expedition will seek Northwest Passage in the footsteps of John Rae
“A snow storm of great violence raged during the whole of [April] 14th, which did not prevent us from making an attempt to get forward; after persevering two and a half hours, and gaining a mile and a half distance, we were again forced to take shelter.” — John Rae on his 1854 expedition In…
Read MoreGeologist finds relic from Franklin search
Canadian geologist Francis Manns was prospecting for lead and zinc. The mid-summer day was bright and literally endless — 24-hour sunlight. Manns was working his way along the Abbott River in the middle of Cornwallis Island, some distance north of Resolute Bay, when he spotted a cairn on a ridge or pinnacle. “It was two…
Read MorePolar Bears explain the Fate of Franklin
What happened to the Franklin Expedition? Researchers have been debating that since 1847, two years after Sir John Franklin disappeared into the Arctic with 128 men. From the note found at Victory Point on King William Island, we know that in April 1848, 105 men left the two ice-locked ships. The note tells us that…
Read MoreSay goodbye to defenders of the Royal Navy narrative of the Northwest Passage
A few days ago, in the comments section below the Globe and Mail review of Dead Reckoning, I placed a link to my rejoinder. The review’s author, Janice Cavell, has responded in that same forum. She says nothing about my two main criticisms, and so apparently concedes — first, that her review short-shrifted the Inuit,…
Read MoreArctic expert Kenn Harper sings the unsung in solidarity with Dead Reckoning heroes
Over at The Arctic Book Review, Kenn Harper begins by declaring that I have “produced yet another worthy northern book.” Harper, an Arctic historian and formerly Denmark’s honorary consul in Nunavut, continues: “Dead Reckoning sets out to tell, as its sub-title proclaims, “The Untold Story of the Northwest Passage.” The book is peopled with the…
Read MoreDisdain for the Inuit won’t fly in Canada when Franklin exhibition moves to Ottawa
The disdain for the Inuit is palpable . . . and worrisome. We can only hope that the people bringing this project to Canada are planning major revisions. Yes, I have laid hands on a copy of Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition / Lost and Found by Gillian Hutchinson (Bloomsbury). It grows out…
Read MoreOur Hero sacrifices modesty to preserve insightful review in Cyberspace
Dead Reckoning offers lively account of Inuit contributions to discovery of Northwest Passage Review by Charlie Smith (Georgia Strait, Oct. 22, 2017) Charles Dickens is deservedly seen as the greatest novelist in Victorian England. The author of such masterpieces as David Copperfield and Great Expectations was also an influential social activist, campaigning for various reforms,…
Read MoreSailing the St. Roch through the Northwest Passage
Here I am in the St. Roch, steering the ship through the Northwest Passage. OK, OK, so I am hard at work in the St. Roch Wheelhouse Experience, which is nearly the same thing, right? This is at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, where tonight I gave a talk called Breaking the Ice: Dead Reckoning in…
Read MoreDead Reckoning hailed as transformative masterpiece
By Dave Obee Victoria Times-Colonist Oct. 15, 2017 Dead Reckoning: The Untold Story of the Northwest Passage By Ken McGoogan HarperCollins, 438 pp., $33.99 The Arctic is not the place it used to be; climate change is taking care of that. It is still a challenging part of Canada, but warmer weather and the relative…
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