#robert goodsir

theterroramc:

“H. Goodsir sailed more than five years ago as a naturalist with the expedition from Franklin to the Arctic regions and may now have to ostracize his desire for science and his scientific zeal with a sad death. The expedition of the summer of 1845, whose uselessness is now only one vote in England, was known to have brought food for only three years, so that when the were very abundant they reached four years (more dares no one to believe), Franklin and his companions had been dependent for a whole year on the dubious yield of fishing and hunting. I was very astonished to hear there is some hope in England to find the lost, and even more astonishingly to find J. Goodsir and one of his brother, the clergyman, embarrassed by it, all the more so when I learned that their youngest brother, also a naturalist, is on the ship sent to Franklin by the British Government in 1849. Imagine the situation of this brother, and especially of the youngest, who, in an inhospitable region, struggling with the elements, and even in mortal danger, meet either the most delightful reunion or the most painful discovery, and certainly the coldest will be sympathetic to the finite lot of this family look forward to.”

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Letter written by Albert von Kölliker while in Edinburgh, 1850. The youngest brother mentioned is Robert A. Goodsir, who famously went to the Arctic twice in search of Harry.
(viaharrygoodsirs)

Also a shout out to @keyofmgy since this is her translation of it and I forgot when initially posting this lol

(viagoodsibs)

Robert Goodsir’s signature on a scrap of paper found on King William Island.