Posts Tagged ‘Arctic exploration’
University of Calgary Celebrates Arctic Explorer
John Rae festivities set for Canada, Orkney
John Rae has legs. His contemporaries knew that. They hailed him as the greatest snowshoe traveler of the Victorian era. Here in the 21st century, the peerless Arctic explorer has been carrying Fatal Passage overland for more than a decade. He has turned it into my all-time bestselling book, and for that I am grateful.…
Read MoreOur Hero brings John Rae back to Calgary
In 1999, when he was working as books editor at the Calgary Herald, Our Hero traveled to the Arctic with a fellow Calgarian to erect a plaque at the spot where explorer John Rae discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. He told that story in his award-winning book Fatal Passage, which became an…
Read MoreJohn Rae lives!
As you can see from this poster, an international conference on Arctic explorer John Rae is happening in Orkney this September. Rae solved the riddle of the lost 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin, and also discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. Yes, I will be in Stromness during the conference, serving as…
Read MoreMore Arctic Journals of John Rae . . .
An expert review here of . . . The Arctic Journals of John Rae Selected and Edited by Ken McGoogan Victoria, BC: TouchWood Editions, 2012 312 pp. , $19.95 Reviewed by Russell A. Potter The welcome publication of the journals of Dr. John Rae, the man who filled in the last crucial blanks in the…
Read MoreWhy John Rae and NOT Sir John Franklin
So folks are (still!) debating the accomplishments of John Franklin and John Rae over at Russell Potter’s blog, where I have been driven to offer the following thoughts . . . .:http://visionsnorth.blogspot.ca/2012/09/a-navigable-northwest-passage.html Greetings, Russell. Nicely done. But we do not yet see eye to eye. We agree, I think, that John Rae discovered Rae Strait.…
Read MoreThe Nervous Breakdown Interview
Our hero turns up at The Nervous Breakdown, a wonderfully edgy site based in California. Here, besides the self-interview (punch that link) and the travel yarn below, you can find excerpts and more links. Hey, you gotta love it! HISTORY Following in the Wake of Elisha Kent Kane by KEN MCGOOGAN BEECHEY ISLAND 10 March…
Read MoreCelebrating a Buried Treasure
If you missed it in the Globe . . . Buried Treasures / An Arctic adventurer worth remembering Elisha Kent Kane was a superstar adventurer and writer in the 19th century but is remembered today only by specialists and aficionados KEN MCGOOGAN Globe and Mail February 28, 2009 Back in New York City after spending…
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