By boot leather, snowshoe, boat or dogsled, John Rae's ice capades were without rival. Four of his expeditions four years either side of 1850 wrote the map for much of Canada. Still, he was disdained by the Royal Navy for his reliance on native Inuit survival skills. If he could just emulate his predecessor, Sir John Franklin. Poor Franklin...On that last one out, Rae found bits and pieces of Franklin's lost expedition. Silverware. Franklin's men, had set off on foot carrying silverware. Poisoned by lead soldered food tins, sick with scurvy, but at least they had the captain's silverware. The Inuit told Rae of the last of the men resorting to cannibalism, news that didn't exactly go over big back in England, a country devoid of statues erected to Rae. Plenty to Franklin, though.
3 comments:
Franklin should be Sir John Franklin, not Lord Franklin.
Thanks for that. I was going by lyrics to the song titled 'Lord Franklin,' a traditional ballad played by Pentangle from their album 'Cruel Sister.' Maybe they took poetic license. Or else the title of Lord was more flexible in past times. In any case, I'll make the change. Thanks.
Thanks for adding a little more to Rae's much-maligned record
Post a Comment