Posts Tagged ‘Franklin expedition’
Searching for Franklin goes on the road
The big Toronto blow-out at the Tranzac Club on November 7 is launching in partnership with Adventure Canada (AC). Details are still being hammered out. Meanwhile, AC is sponsoring a contest offering people a chance to win a $5,000 USD travel credit. This can be used towards any 2024 Ocean Endeavour expedition operated by Adventure…
Read MoreFirst 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 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 MoreWhy 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.…
Read MoreParks 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 MoreArctic 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 MoreMYSTERY SOLVED!!! Polar Bears explain Fate Of the Franklin Expedition
Polar Bears Explain the Fate of the Franklin Expedition 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 later found at Victory Point on King William Island, most people believe that in April 1848, 105…
Read MoreJohn Rae Festival turns up a Franklin sailor and a tribute in stained glass
Arctic aficionados should check out this excellent bit of work from the Orkney News about the John Rae Festival. Most are aware that a gorgeous reclining memorial statue to explorer John Rae is one of the highlights of any visit to St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. Here we see it with the witty and perceptive Fran…
Read MoreThe 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…
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