Posts Tagged ‘inuit’
Fatal Passage Turns 25 Years Old
An Open Letter to Explorer John Rae Dear Doctor Rae: Would you believe that Fatal Passage is now twenty-five years old? I write from the future to remind you that the book appeared in 2001, bringing your extraordinary life and times into the 21st century. You may recall that I met your ghost in 1998,…
Read MoreLovely paperback edition lists under $20
The paperback is here! A single author’s copy anyway, with countless others flowing into bookstores next week. Hats off to the folks at HarperCollins Canada! What a lovely package! This edition is slightly smaller than the hardcover . . . the perfect size!And it contains new and improved maps! And here on the back cover, a reviewer…
Read MoreView from Alaska highlights indigenous contribution to Arctic discovery
DAVID JAMES (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner) Feb. 25, 2018 FAIRBANKS — For Arctic history enthusiasts, there’s never been a more exciting time. The recent findings of the two lost vessels of the Franklin Expedition, last seen sailing from Greenland in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage, made global news. Meanwhile, historians have been producing an…
Read MoreSay goodbye to defenders of the Royal Navy narrative of the Northwest Passage
A few days ago, in the comments section below the Globe and Mail review of Dead Reckoning, I placed a link to my rejoinder. The review’s author, Janice Cavell, has responded in that same forum. She says nothing about my two main criticisms, and so apparently concedes — first, that her review short-shrifted the Inuit,…
Read MoreSave Rae’s Clestrain with actions in Orkney and the High Arctic
Arctic explorer John Rae, who died in 1893, is alive and well in the news. The BBC reported on July 5 that the Orkney Islands Council is conferring the Freedom of Orkney on that Stromness-born explorer, albeit posthumously. Bravo for that action! Here’s hoping it draws attention to the ongoing drive to fund the restoration of Rae’s…
Read MoreJohn Rae Centre will celebrate Orkney, the Arctic, and the Inuit
I do love this image created by Orcadian photographer James Grieve. He has combined photos of the Stromness statue of explorer John Rae and the Hall of Clestrain, where Rae was born in 1813. Having visited the Hall a few times over the years, I still most vividly remember the first time, in 1998, when…
Read MorePolar Sea video draws on latest voyage
So here it is, my first YouTube video. It’s called Polar Sea, which is short for Race to the Polar Sea, and it draws on my latest Arctic voyage with Adventure Canada. We sailed north towards the Pole in the wake of Elisha Kent Kane, but didn’t get as far as he did. We didn’t…
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