After numerous attempts, via every e-mail and every journalistic contact I can find, I have been unable to reach "Bear" Grylls. He seems like a nice enough guy -- I truly have nothing against him! -- but he also seems kind of hard to find. There is so much Inuit testimony, maps, and other material I and other followers of this blog could bring to "bear" on his findings, that it seems to me strange that I have not already heard from him. And it's only fair to say that many Inuit and other Arctic folks are mighty skeptical of his claims -- comments to the story about his finds in the Nunatsiaq News include gems such as "He probably found an old baccy tin and a hole where a grizzly bear was digging for sik-siks," and then "This Bear Grylls fellow is a real showman, but doesn’t know squat. It’s all an attempt to hype the show," and finally "What a way to advertise eh. This Bear Grylls person doesn’t know anything, and on top of that saying 'it could relate to Franklin’s expidition' WTF!!!!" And these are only the kinder of the sentiments I'm hearing from Inuit and other northern folks.So Bear, if you're out there -- toss me a line! As a scholar of this history, I'm happy to share everything and anything I know, but I would appreciate it if you would let the rest of the world know what exactly it is you have found, where it is, and how I can get in contact with you! And if every follower of this blog (there are more than 50 in all) would join with me in this call, I'm sure we could get some kind of news from this latter-day Arctic sojourner. If we can find Waldo, we ought to be able to find him.
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It is curious, to disappear like this, after what could be quite a significant discovery. It would have a huge impact on Franklin research.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to sow any doubts, but I was struck immediately by the lack of any photos, even in their photo gallery - http://www.fcpnorthwestpassage.com/photo - for such a find. They've photographed several other monuments and locations. Unfortunately, there is no labelling so it is difficult to tell if they only published photos up to a certain point in their journey. Do you recognize those sites Russell?
Having said that, I can see him wanting to recuperate and even finish a quick book before spending a lot of time in interviews and such.
Still curious.
Interesting photos ... the landscape up there is so uniform it's hard to spy out specific places unless there's a landmark near. The Bellot Memorial and the Beechey Island graves are familiar enough, and I see they snapped a pic of the one stop sign in "downtown" Gjoa Haven. And that boat of his is ridiculous -- three outboard motors? That's gonna take a lot of gas!
ReplyDeleteHe's been adding more and more photos all morning. So maybe he is just in the process of de-compressing from the journey and collecting/organizing his materials before going more public.
ReplyDeleteIf that is a photo of Gjoa, then they seem to have omitted any photos from this site in Wellington Channel. That would be spectacularly odd, unless again they are holding off on those along with all publicity to capatilize on their discovery somehow or to make sure they don't look like fools by having discovered something someone else already has an explanation for. Like James Cameron and the tomb of Jesus!
As a layperson I suppose I can understand that. Still no reason not to let you and the world know that they will get back to us.
Thanks for the tip that he's still uploading more photos! I checked, though, and that's not Gjoa Haven's stop sign -- Gjoa's has the syllabics on the bottom, while this has them on the top (you can see my photo of the Gjoa one here. So maybe the Franklin site photos are to come ...
ReplyDeleteI was interested to see that Richard Nelsson, in his excellent blog "Those Who Dared," has followed the Grylls story. He notes, with silent irony, that Grylls, in his Twitter feed at least, seems to have moved on to more interesting things: "Life moves on and Grylls has just tweeted "off to start filming new Degree deodorant commercials today." How exciting!
ReplyDeleteI left a Facebook message asking about pictures of the site but I don't see it on his wall anymore. Bear Grylls is likely inundated with emails and messages. It might be better to try contacting other members of the Northwest Passage team and asking them about obtaining pictures.
ReplyDeleteWestern style graves, a wood burning fire and blue cloth are highly suggestive. A picture of the skull would be a great help as anthropologists may be able to determine the probable ethnicity. It may still be possible that this site is a relatively modern Inuit grave site. If not, then it's hard to see who else could have built it other than Franklin's men. If it is a Franklin site it may have been created prior to April 1848.
The comments posted on the news article website are rather disheartening. They are similar to the near hysterical comments posted about Rob Rondeau's aborted 2009 search.
Go easy on Bear, chaps. He's done a fantastic job in using the internet and blogging to let the world know swiftly what he has found. This site needs careful surface examination and perhaps excavation by the appropriate authorities - and protection in the interim. For that reason alone it is possibly worth not being TOO clear about its exact location.
ReplyDeleteSmall point, but I don't think he said the cloth was blue, just 'cloth or felt'. All the same it is suggestive that these were not Inuit graves.
William, good points all. Grylls is a television presenter, and I'm sure he has an extraordinarily busy schedule that leaves him little time to sit around and digest or chat about one small aspect of his latest venture; I'd be happy to hear from him now, or a month from now.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that no one should be posting GPS coordinates for the site. But I do think that, when possible, it would be the right and fair thing for Grylls to share what he found with the appropriate persons, first off with Nunavut archaeological officials, and secondly with those who can lend their expertise to understanding the site, and possibly planning a further visit next season.
And Chris, about the comments on the Nunatsiaq News site -- I have to say, that though their comments are harsh, I know where these guys are coming from. From an Inuit perspective, dealing with all the issues that region faces -- 90% unemployment, lack of social services, drug and alcohol abuse, teen suicide -- the annual arrival of crazy white guys looking for another crazy white guy who vanished 160 years ago must feel like the arrival of a cloud of mosquitoes.
I like the way you write, Russell.
ReplyDeleteI want to spend some time in the North one day so I can understand better the people who lived there then and do today. And I feel very strongly as you know that modern scholarship should be able to show common traits in the two strands of humanity - the interlopers and the indigenous.
But how Fitzjames and his shipmates would have relished charging through the Passage in a Rigid Raider with three huge outboards!
I would have guessed a 50% unemployment rate with seasonal ups and downs. I've often wondered what people do up there since a small amount of tourism seems to be the only element to the local economy. That 70% of Gjoa Haven voted to keep the community "dry" says a lot about the situation.
ReplyDeleteIt would be helpful if the recent expedition posted pictures of the "graves," "mast" and fire places. This could be done without giving away the exact site location. Having the pictures up on the web would allow various experts and researchers to get a look at the site. If the site appears to be Franklin-related then it should be priority number one in next year's searches. Especially if there are unopened graves there. Bear Grylls mentions counting four "graves."
My mistake on the felt / cloth. Don't know what the color is.
Just a brief note to let readers of the blog know that I have been in touch with a representative of Mr. Grylls' Northwest Passage team, and he's been very helpful; I hope to publish more news on their findings in future posts.
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