tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post8543892620280737989..comments2024-03-18T18:05:25.821-07:00Comments on VISIONS OF THE NORTH: To find the hand of Franklin ...Russell Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-41212058583601120162021-02-26T11:38:57.739-08:002021-02-26T11:38:57.739-08:00I would love for someone to check Crown Prince Fre...I would love for someone to check Crown Prince Frederick Island, I believe that the Inuit mentioned a camp there. Seems reasonable that perhaps there was men headed that way to the cache and never made it.<br /><br />Also what of the reports of Crozier in Baker Lake. <br /><br />Its all so intriguing and mysterious.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05315124528421271442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-56981422022589684462018-11-17T21:42:42.092-08:002018-11-17T21:42:42.092-08:00I just stumbled on this fascinating discussion, a ...I just stumbled on this fascinating discussion, a year late...<br /><br />I had never pondered this question of the Fury Beach ca, having never realized that such substantial supplies were left behind. <br /><br />The lesser distance is obviously the great advantage of Fury Beach - perhaps not more than a third of that to Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake (which by my crude calculation would more like 950 miles by the path Crozier seems to have intended to follow, rather than the 800 mile figure banded about in The Terror book and series).<br /><br />But Crozier was a highly experienced polar veteran, and he had plenty of time to turn the matter over in his head. Assuming he was still in his right mind ... Perhaps the certainty of a regularly tended HBC outpost over the uncertainty of one abandoned for 15+ years bulked large. Or, conversely, the danger that some other expedition *could* have taken advantage of Ross's intention in the interim and depleted the supplies might have figured in to Crozier's thinking?<br /><br />But even more fundamentally, I wonder: wouldn't Fury Beach be seen as a real risk of trading one abandoned (and limited) cache of supplies for another - one actually well to the *north*? What do they do once they are there? Hope that an expedition or some whalers come by? Could they only be trading starvation off King William's Island in 1848-49 for starvation on Somerset Island in 1849-50? <br /><br />In fact, as far as I can make out - someone please do correct me on this, if you are still checking in - neither Ross's 1848-49 expedition, nor any of the 1850-51 missions seem to have gone anywhere near Fury Beach. Ross actually made it to Somerset, but only the north and west coasts. <br /><br />We will never know. It is an interesting question.Athelstanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07346012062816580296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-2480496926318019842017-08-28T19:19:37.594-07:002017-08-28T19:19:37.594-07:00Great report, Dr. Russell ! Looking at the picture...Great report, Dr. Russell ! Looking at the picture of the food tin, amongst stones, I wonder again how hard you felt that the soil was. In the narrative of John Ross, he tells of having buried a seaman in a shallow grave when the ground was hard. Now, the graves at Beechey were pretty deep ...it still remains to be seen via written records that the wrecks of Terror and Erebus may reveal : when were the three graves at Beechey dug so deep ? I speculate , not in January of 1846 when the ground was probably too hard. Maybe mid Spring, after the third man died.Soloman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972686779984782545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-62565529572370731892017-08-27T20:42:55.083-07:002017-08-27T20:42:55.083-07:00Great post Mr. Potter!
Your musing of the expediti...Great post Mr. Potter!<br />Your musing of the expeditions failure to go to the cache at Fury Beach makes me wonder of just what the officers discussed during those long winter nights before they first left the ships.<br />Is it possible Crozier was influenced by Franklins tales of his overland expeditions? Perhaps Crozier thought that if such a man as Franklin could survive those mammoth treks then he Crozier, might have a chance of making it up the Back River?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15427449099591675313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-29082316813537745932017-08-25T04:57:15.074-07:002017-08-25T04:57:15.074-07:00That seal skeleton had me thinking you were walkin...That seal skeleton had me thinking you were walking the shores of King William Island and came across, literally, the hand of Franklin! <br />What an incredible journey you are on. To stand in so many places and just imagine the events which took place. I'm sure the "what ifs" of history must be swirling around!<br />I love the image of Somerset House. It looks so inviting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08685387404989395574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-28995534859609274532017-08-24T14:10:27.577-07:002017-08-24T14:10:27.577-07:00Very interesting Russell. You have brought a real ...Very interesting Russell. You have brought a real sense of place with your writing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09060257928933209473noreply@blogger.com