#polar exploration

When Clairvoyants Searched for a Lost Expedition | JSTOR Daily

It always amuses me that people put so much faith in this, and not just in Victorian times. I have a relative who won’t make any big life choices without first consulting their psychic. Whatever the case, cases like this and ‘Little Weasey’ were actually a thing. The irony is Franklin was long dead by 1849.

I guess Lady Jane was so desperate to hear her husband was coming home she wanted to hear it from pretty much anyone. The shock that he may have been involved in cannibalism based on Rae’s information couldn’t have helped, although that likely started long after Franklin died.

Franklin’s party preparing camp and gathering tripe de Roche. The accoutrements of the voyageurs in the picture below can be seen near the snow mound in the front.

The fellow in front and just to the right of the snow mound can be seen wearing the object in the center of the modern photo. It’s a ceinture flechee, a colorful, tightly woven French Canadian/ Metis sash that’s kind of like a voyageur thneed. It’s a belt, back support (seriously, tied mine tight around my waist and it works), scarf, sling, shield against the cold and whatever else you can think of to use it for. Really useful. Can’t remember if Franklin ever mentions using one though.

Franklin’s camp at the mouth of the Coppermine River by George Back. Back was an accomplished artist who created several images of the arctic expeditions he participated in.

UW researcher pinpoints burial site of Franklin Expedition officer | CBC News

It seems it still remains to be seen who’s remains they are, it sounds like they weren’t taken from the gravesite itself.

“… having been beset since the 13th Septr.1846..”

Turning to geology and meteorology. Overly dramatic background music aside, this is a really quick breakdown of what’s known as the little ice age, a period from about 1550 to 1850 that saw abnormally low global temperatures. I have read theories of this being one of the factors in the disaster of the Franklin Expedition and find it not apologetic but definatly plausible. Following the generally agreed upon dates (and these things never have strict start stop times), 1845 to 1848 and possibly 1850 falls into the tail end of this period and would still have been subject to abnormal fluctuations in temperature. I encourage people to read up more on the nuances of the little ice age, but suffice it to say an expedition outfitted for a predicted three to five years finding itself trapped by an unexpected anomaly is in serious trouble.

Did Antarctic explorers starve to death?

I haven’t been able to find an online copy of Ancel Keys’s starvation study, but this short article summarizes the deficit in caloric intake on a polar expedition, bearing in mind that the data on calorie use is from modern times and we don’t really know what the rations were when Crozier and his men began marching across King William Island or the exact weight of the loads they were hauling. But it’s safe to assume their loads were at least the weight of those Captian Scott and his men were hauling.

This just gives an idea of the massive task Crozier and his men would have been up against, and how it would have exacerbated any conditions they had when setting out.

Mid 19th century microscope and dip circle. Scientific research was integral to British polar exploration, particularly the study of geomagnetic activity which had big implications on navigation. Although science was important, sovereignty played a vital role as well. This was especially relevant in the Arctic where the need to name and claim was as much about keeping the still nascent country of America south of the Canadian border as it was about discovery.

In Photos: Artifacts Recovered from the HMS Erebus Exploration

Sorry for the abosloutly annoying ads, but this article has pictures and descriptions of artifacts that were recently recovered from the Erebus. The water pitcher and artificial horizon came from an officer’s cabin, though it doesn’t say whose. It only says it wasn’t Franklin’s, where they supposedly think they might find records. Other articles said they couldn’t get into it but not why. Since they need to be careful to not cause unnecessary damage to the ship I’m guessing it might take a while and some planning to get in there. Still not sure how a ship’s log can survive underwater for so long, but I’m not the underwater archaeologist. I also wonder if what they find if anything will be in Franklin’s hand or Fitzjames’. Not sure what naval protocol is when a captian dies and the commander takes over via a vis cabins, but I think the ship’s log would be Fitzjames responsibility since he’d be responsible for that ship (Crozier being responsible for the expedition and Terror). I guess that’s for a naval historian? Crozier was second for the whole expedition but Fitzjames would be second for the ship itself.

Accuracy – and respect for Inuit culture – matter

Becasue I see people online writing about Ice Ghosts. I hesitated to post a link to this in the fear I may come across as a know it all for encouraging people to avoid what on the surface looks authoritative by saying ‘you should actually read this first’. I like to give people the credit to be able to pull the facts from opinions when reading popular history and know what doesn’t match with everything else they’ve read, but lack of ethics on the authors part is something that should make people avoid buying their product altogether and it isn’t always obvious without knowing the background. I had bought the book when it came out and was jarred like 5 or 10 pages in by the inaccuracies, then read this and wish I’d known what an ass in plain english the author was before I gave him my money. Needless to say I can’t reference what my first wait….what? Moment was since I got rid of it after reading this. Think it was the Fitzjames writing his 'wife’ thing.

Erebus

Just an FYI - new popular fiction about the Erebus coming next week. It’s likely to be interesting becasue, well, Michael Palin. Yes I like Monty Python, and he is an amateur historian (I’ve heard this is the reason behind Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Terror had a pretty interesting career as well. It was launched to bomb Ft. McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812, was nearly crushed in the arctic under the command of George Back, captained by Francis Crozier in the Antarctic where it survived a collision with Erebus and finally settled in near pristine conditions in the arctic. At risk of getting annoyingly philosophical about it, I like finding the history of the vessels. They’re just inanimate objects but you can’t help but think of them silently serving their commanders until they reach their final resting place, either crushed and lost at the bottom of the ocean like Endurance or resting like a grand old lady like Fram. I like to think of Erebus and Terror waiting patiently to be listened to.

Anyway, here’s a plate from Terror’s original occupation as a bomb vessel. The ‘GR’ indicates its use under King George III.

Arctic ice crumbling HMS Erebus and blocking divers from researching the wreck | CBC News

Problems with last summer’s season

A lot to be excited about - Admiralty Allotment Registers

Want to see who some relatives of the lower decks were? Here’s information on a searchable database for next of kin allotments for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. It doesn’t have scans of the original documents, but I did find results for HMS Terror in the Antarctic and Arctic.

On the subject of Frobisher..

The commercial whaling industry is owed a debt to advances in arctic sailing used in exploration. The economic drive to push ever further north in search of fertile whaling grounds led to the development of vessels able to navigate through ice laden waters and withstand the harsh conditions faced during repeated voyages. The whalers themselves developed techniques on ice navigating and survival, with their expertise sometimes ignored but often drawn from. It depended on who was listening.

Engraving of the USS Jeannette trapped in ice. This was the ship that inspired Nansen to build Fram. Sailing from San Francisco in the 1870s, the expedition was an attempt by the United States to reach the north pole. The ship, however, became trapped in the ice off the coast of Siberia and crushed. Debris from the wreck was later found along the coast of Greenland, a fact that fueled Nansen’s theories on a north polar current. Fram was built to test these theories by being strong enough to be trapped in the ice without severe damage and drift through these currents.

Amundsen’s ship Maud, historical and a modern photo of the wreck re-floated. This was his polar drift undertaken after completing his Third Fram Expedition to the south pole.

Fram was Nansen’s ship, and Amundsen wanted her for his bid for the south pole. Nansen, however, knew this would anger the British who were already planning to send Robert Falcon Scott. The British supported the newly independent nation of Norway (it had declared independence from the kingdom of Sweden-Norway in 1905 while Amundsen was completing the Northwest Passage) and he was loath to make the mistake of challenging them. So naturally Amundsen lied about the nature of his expedition and told Nansen he needed Fram to lock it in ice and make observations while drifting on arctic currents. Captain Scott had actually wanted to meet with Amundsen and arrange comparing north to south polar observations, and Amundsen avoided the meeting. If I remember right he hid in his home to avoid Scott until Scott gave up trying to contact him.

The world had accepted an American claim to the north pole (though whether Cook or Peary had yet to be decided on) so Amundsen had no interest in the north at that time. He didn’t tell anyone but his brother Leon until Fram was heading south that he never intended to sail north. When he came back from claiming the pole to negative public opinion, he knew he owed something to Nansen.

So Maud, named after Norway’s queen/the wife of King Haakon VII, was built on a similar design to Fram and Amundsen headed north. His heart wasn’t in it, and it was one keystone cop disaster after another. He almost got asphyxiated on fumes during meteorological observations, slipped and fell and broke his arm, and got mauled by a polar bear (probably the shot in the 2019 movie trailer with the man with gashes on his back). Eventually he gave up and Maud was abandoned, only to be recently raised and returned to Norway.

The Journal of the Hakluyt Society – Hakluyt Society

Took a while to find it, but here it is. Follow this link and scroll down until you see ’Captain Richard Campbell, RN: The Voyage of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to the Southern and Antarctic Regions. Captain James Clark Ross, R.N. 1839–1843. The Journal of Sergeant William K. Cunningham, R.M. of HMS Terror April 2009

There you’ll find links to the three part PDF of the journal of William Cunningham, an unofficial account (being a personal journal) of James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition. Along with some great ‘extras’ thrown in by the editor in part 3. Even if you’re more interested in the Arctic instead of the Antarctic, this gives a great picture of what life was like on a discovery ship of the mid 19th century. A ship that happens to be the HMS Terror as well. Under Francis Crozier.

Terror stalks ice amid fears of curse after doomed Arctic ships found

Couldn’t resist posting this - I just picture millenial Tunbaaq strikes Gjoa Haven on an e-scooter with a vaping cigarette and a man bun.

To be fair to my generation, it could be listening to Nirvana in a plaid shirt bitching about how things will never be as good as they were in the 70s and 80s.

Narrative of a second voyage in search of a north-west passage

Sir John Ross’s version of his failed attempt at the Northwest Passage. As always, keep in mind these books are official accounts and though written by those who participated have a certain aura about them.