Why did I write this ‘big Franklin book?’

Early afternoon in Gjoa Haven, everyone gravitates to Qiqirtaq High School, a big modern building, for a cultural presentation. September 2017.  I’m sailing in the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada as a resource historian, giving talks as we travel. I’ve been rambling around Gjoa looking for Louie Kamookak, my old friend and fellow traveler. As…

Read More

Parks Canada en route to the fate of Franklin

Wonderful to see that CBC Yellowknife is all over the search for the long-lost Franklin expedition. First, thanks to producer Peter Sheldon, they did a radio interview asking me about items salvaged from Erebus last summer. That spawned a TV interview on Northbeat, and then a news story in print, widely distributed through Canadian Press.…

Read More

Arctic adventurers recreate trek to Rae Strait

The Arctic Return Expedition is all systems go. A reconfigured four-man team will set out March 25, 2019 to recreate the most successful Arctic overland expedition of the 19th century. On his 1854 surveying adventure, accompanied by an Inuk and an Ojibway, Orcadian explorer John Rae discovered both the terrible fate of the lost Franklin…

Read More

The Terror? Hailing the hell-bent original

My review of the original novel turned up in the Globe and Mail a decade ago. In response to popular demand, voila, here it is again . . .  The Terror: A Novel, by Dan Simmons Reviewed by Ken McGoogan The most impressive achievement of this brilliant historical novel is that the author manages to…

Read More

Beechey Island whiteout inspires Dead Reckoning video

Scenes from September, voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage with Adventure Canada. Day 8: Beechey Island For visiting Beechey Island, the best-known historical site in the Arctic, the day was perfect: cool and overcast. We went ashore in zodiacs and climbed the rocky, snow-swept slope to the graves of the first three sailors to die…

Read More

Parks Canada expects to find human remains on Franklin ships

Voyaging Out of the Northwest Passage last September with Adventure Canada. Day 3: Simpson Strait “I expect to find human remains.” So said Marc-Andre Bernier this morning in response to a question about diving on the Erebus. “Most likely bones, skeletons.” He noted that Inuit testimony speaks of at least one body on what would…

Read More