Shackleton? 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…

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Polar 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…

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Dead 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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Sailing Out of the Northwest Passage launches Dead Reckoning

More Dead Reckoning events are in the works. But at this point, Our Hero is sailing with Adventure Canada Out of the Northwest Passage from Sept. 7 to 23. After that, the confirmed schedule looks like this: Sept. 27: Toronto: Ben McNally Oct. 1: Stratford Writers’ Festival  Oct. 14, 15: Calgary Wordfest Oct. 17: Victoria:…

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‘Franklinistas’ are surfing an Arctic tsunami

KEN MCGOOGAN Special to The Globe and Mail Published Saturday, Mar. 18, 2017 Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition, by Paul Watson. M&S, Penguin Random House, 384 pages, $34.95. Minds of Winter, by Ed O’Loughlin. House of Anansi, 481 pages, $22.95. The headline is telegraphic: “How quest for Northwest Passage turned into…

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Celebrating Farley Mowat at his boat-roofed house

To kilt up or go Arctic. That’s the dilemma I face. It’s prompted by the moving of the Farley Mowat boat-roofed house in Port Hope. Come October, an international crew of professional stone-wallers will arrive in that town, 100 km east of Toronto. They will dismantle and then reassemble the boat house, placing it at…

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Who owns the Arctic?

Meanwhile, at the Globe and Mail, we find a review of Who Owns the Arctic? Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North, by Michael Byers, Douglas & McIntyre, 147 pages, $22.95 Reviewed by Ken McGoogan Published on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010 For Arctic explorers seeking to enter the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic, one of the…

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