Posts Tagged ‘Fatal Passage’
An Open Letter to Explorer John Rae
Dear Dr. Rae: You have been gone from us since July 22, 1893 – precisely one hundred and twenty-nine years. I write from the future to mark the day of your passing. What to report from 2022? Six years ago, I relayed the news that searchers have found the two long-lost ships of Sir John…
Read MoreLouie Kamookak discovers John Rae’s cairn
The late Louie Kamookak has rightly been celebrated as a searcher for John Franklin. But more significantly, in my view, Louie was the man who discovered the cairn that explorer John Rae built in 1854, marking the final link in what would prove to be the first navigable Northwest Passage. I touched on that in…
Read MoreRemembering Louie Kamookak (1959-2018)
The official obituaries I will leave to others. I feel driven to remember Louie Kamookak as my friend. Louie is well-known now as the foremost 21st-century champion of Inuit oral history – that history which, in 2014, led searchers to discover John Franklin’s long-lost flagship, HMS Erebus. For decades, Louie dedicated time and energy to…
Read MoreBringing John Rae to Robert Burns Country
Next week will find me giving talks in Robert Burns Country. I mentioned previously that, thanks to a new “friendship bridge” extending between the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, I have fallen heir to a whirlwind, four-day speaking tour. Now, in response to popular demand, I can provide details. My illustrated…
Read MoreKen and Sheena’s Excellent Adventure in the Scottish Highlands
In Perth, we had dinner at the Hightower Hotel with my long-lost, DNA-found cousin Jim McGugan. In Sutherland, we visited Dunrobin Castle, the most politically incorrect edifice in Britain. In Helmsdale, by about an hour, we missed coincidentally encountering our Orcadian pal, historian Tom Muir . . . and so failed to meet his new…
Read MoreWe’re voyaging Into the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. Are we excited yet?
Three Facebook friends from different corners of the world have drawn my attention to a call for presenters aboard a celebrity sailing in the Arctic. While I really do appreciate their thinking of me, this does make me wonder if I haven’t made sufficient noise about how, this August, Sheena and I will be voyaging…
Read MoreSailing into the Northwest Passage in 2016. Are we excited yet?
This particular voyage is going to sell out, make no mistake. So for those interested in Arctic exploration, this is a heads-up. Adventure Canada’s voyage Into the Northwest Passage 2016 is going to be special — not because Sheena and I will be aboard (though we will), and not because we will visit Beechey Island, probably…
Read MoreExplorer John Rae lives! Still going strong at age 202. . .
In Stromness, Orkney, the John Rae Society will unveil a plaque this afternoon (Sept. 30) at the Hall of Clestrain on the occasion of Rae’s 202nd birthday. Born in 1813, yes! the explorer lives on. Awarded by Historic Scotland, the National Commemorative Plaque recognizes Rae for having solved the two great mysteries of 19th-century Arctic…
Read MoreJohn Rae sweeps Our Hero into the Polish Times
You can read the whole story of John Rae at Westminster Abbey by clicking here — but only if you read Polish. Me, I can read, in the highlight paragraph, not just my own name but the book title Fatal Passage. I find this noteworthy because we have two grandchildren, ages five and two, who…
Read MoreCreative Nonfiction micro-readings underway at King’s College MFA
Micro-readings are the only way to go. We saw that again tonight at University of King’s College in Halifax. Writers involved in Canada’s only MFA program in Creative Nonfiction took the stage at the University Club. All right, it was in the pub downstairs. Five minutes each, that was the rule. And it worked. Ten…
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