Posts Tagged ‘arctic’
First review hails “rewrite of Arctic history”
By Dave Obee Editor/Publisher Victoria Times-Colonist Sir John Franklin has been one of the most controversial, and misunderstood, figures in the history of exploration of Canada’s north. In this book, Ken McGoogan provides a fresh look at what made Franklin tick – and the factors that caused him to send so many men to early…
Read MoreAdventure Canada Book-Tour Extravaganza
The headline doesn’t do it justice. Full title: The Adventure-Canada, Searching-for-Franklin, Ocean-to-Ocean-to-Ocean, Book-Tour Extravaganza. Yes, we’re launching my new book, going voyaging in the Northwest Passage, and offering YOU a chance to win a $5,000 voucher to come sailing with us. Let’s break that down. My publisher, Douglas & McIntyre, has produced a splendiferous objet…
Read MoreNWP voyagers visit John Rae Plaque
Earlier this week, about 50 Northwest Passage voyagers landed on Boothia Peninsula to pay homage to explorer John Rae by visiting the John Rae Plaque and Cairn. Marine biologist Pierre Richard, pictured above taking a selfie at the site, was the one who let me know. Over the years, while sailing with Adventure Canada, I…
Read MoreToronto Star searching for Franklin
Images: Edwin Landseer & Sheena Fraser McGoogan From the Toronto Star, August 19, 2023 By Ken McGoogan The Franklin search season is almost upon us. Last year, during eleven days in early September, Parks Canada underwater archaeologists retrieved 275 artifacts from HMS Erebus. That ship was one of the two recently located wrecks from the…
Read MoreWas I wrong to cite the Quartet?
Was I wrong? That is the question. Whenever I publish a book, I revise my business card, putting the new opus on the front. Over the course of a year, I must hand out, what? ten or twelve of these cards? That’s my idea of effective advertising. Highlight the new book in all things. But…
Read MoreShackleton? Endurance? Why so excited?
So what is it about Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance? Why so much excitement about the recent discovery of an old wooden ship at the bottom of the Antarctic ocean? In my book Celtic Lightning, I devote a chapter to Irish-born Shackleton, noting that once upon a time, he came that close to becoming an…
Read MoreGrounding of expeditionary ship in the Arctic evokes memories but no worries
Sorry to hear that the Akademik Ioffe ran aground in the Arctic. But the expeditionary cruise ship, on which I have sailed, has already been refloated. The last time something like this happened, with the Clipper Adventurer back in 2010, we were on the ship, Sheena and I. It wasn’t fun, obviously, but we were…
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 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…
Read More