Posts Tagged ‘john franklin’
Dead Reckoning takes us into the secret life of maps
This glorious map turns up as endpapers in Dead Reckoning: The Untold Story of the Northwest Passage. It was drawn by Dawn Huck, one of the principals at Heartland Associates in Winnipeg. I love the way it captures the discovery of the original Northwest Passage in three essential expeditions. The first, led by John Franklin,…
Read MoreThis Canadian moment symbolizes achievement & reconciliation
Here I stand on King William Island in August, 1999. Matheson Point. Behind me is Rae Strait. Three of us were about to cross that strait — Louie Kamookak, Cameron Treleaven, and I — to see if we could find a cairn built in 1854 on Canada’s Arctic coast. We were bent on honoring the…
Read MoreOur Northwest Passage voyage reaches for the Beaufort Sea
[Here endeth this series about our 2016 Adventure Canada voyage. Next September, we sail Out of the Northwest Passage, bent on finding the Hand of Franklin (or at least visiting the location of the Erebus).] DAY SIXTEEN . . . Cambridge Bay We saw the wreck of the Maud, recently brought to the surface after…
Read MoreJohn Rae sails on through confusion & nay-saying
So here we are at Beechey Island, wending our way towards Victory Point, Rae Strait, and Gjoa Haven. We’re on the Ocean Endeavour, we’re sailing with Adventure Canada, and when I turn to Wikipedia, I discover a bit of confusion in the entry on explorer John Rae. I read that “Ken McGoogan has claimed that…
Read MoreConfusing poor John Franklin with conquistador Hernan Cortes
The 2014 discovery of Erebus increased interest in the Arctic, where climate change is more in evidence than anywhere else, while inciting commentary that has sometimes gone over the top. “What the Franklin Expedition glorified,” Roy Scranton wrote recently in The Nation, “was the war of Man—white men—against Nature. Franklin was indeed a tragic figure,…
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 MoreWho really discovered the Northwest Passage?
Gotta love the latest issue of Canada’s History. Check out the portrait of Arctic explorer John Rae by contemporary artist David Seguin. The question they asked me was: Who discovered the Northwest Passage? Editor Mark Reid writes that, in answering that question, I have “set the record straight” and sorted “the contenders from the pretenders,…
Read MoreGetting excited to sail Out of the Northwest Passage
We’ve done eight or nine voyages with Adventure Canada, Sheena and I, but this year is shaping up to be special. First, sailing Out of the Northwest Passage is my favorite itinerary. As always, we’ll be sailing through exploration history: John Franklin, John Rae, Thomas Simpson, Roald Amundsen. But this year, traveling in September, we’ll…
Read MoreSearching for Franklin leads Our Hero to University Women
Originally, I had planned to give a talk entitled Nothing is More Fun Than Chasing the New History. But then came the finding of the Erebus. And participating in the documentary called Franklin’s Lost Ships. And people saying, well, this latest discovery is fun. But what does it mean? Why does it matter? So I’ve…
Read MoreThe ROM launches a 3-year, cross-country, Franklin celebration
Ryan Harris felt a first rush of “absolute jubilation” when the sonar image of a ship popped up onto his monitor. As a senior underwater archaeologist with Parks Canada, Harris had spent the past six field seasons searching for a Franklin ship. Now, at last, he was looking at one of them. Harris and his…
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