The End of an Era

It's a day that everyone who has excitedly followed the dives made by Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team knew might come, but hoped would not -- when governmental support would wind down. In one sense, we -- and the rich history that Erebus and Terror contained -- were fortunate; the initial funding for the dives was only for a few years, but in the end it was renewed multiple times under multiple governments, both Conservative and Liberal. The fruits of the Parks team's work have been of enormous value, and have already reshaped our understanding of what life on board the ships was like for Franklin and his men. It's also important to note that, with hundreds of artifacts already recovered, and some still at the conservation stage, there remains a great deal more work to do, and that work will surely bring revelations.

The news came buried in the ninth paragraph of an (otherwise welcome) update on the 2024 dive season, which included fantastic new photographs, including one of the ex-railway engine in the hold of HMS Erebus, a sight which so many of us had sought for so long. We can now imagine Franklin's men donning their leather raincoats, sleeping in their numbered hammocks, and pouring milk out of their blue 'Tam-o-Shanter' pitcher, with artifacts suddenly brought to the surface and the light of day. The Fraser Patent Stove, which brought warm air to sundry parts of the ship, is now revealed, as is one of the coal bunkers. And, while it's true that there will, for now, be no new dives, there is (I'm sure) much more imagery to come; from what I can see, many of the shipboard images appear to be stills from videos, whose other footage may not yet have been completely analyzed; the same may be true of other things we've only glimpsed so far.

And there's other good news to set against our disappointment: the Nattilik Heritage Centre has now opened a long-anticipated new wing, one designed for the safe storage and display of actual artifacts from the ships, there in Gjoa Haven where many of the descendants of Inuit whose eyewitness accounts led to the finding of Erebus live. And, back in Portsmouth, there's confirmation that the relics from the earliest dive seasons, including the ship's bell of Erebus, have safely arrived (and will hopefully at some point be on permanent display) at the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Back when HMS Terror was found in 2016, I was asked by the anchor of the CTV evening news how I felt now that the mystery had been "solved." Of course, I had to point out that it wasn't solved at all -- using the metaphor of an onion, each of the layers of which must be peeled back patiently, I replied that what we had, now, was simply a much larger onion. I suspect that that, between the materials already brought up by the UAT, and the continuing work of archaeologists on land, we've still got a good deal more peeling to do.

New manuscript of John Rae's Voyages and Travels

As I've worked with Harry Goodsir's closest living relation, Mike Tracy, I've always been amazed at his thoroughness in finding things in archives that I'd never thought could be found -- or even knew existed. One of his more surprising discoveries came just a few weeks ago, when he let me know that there was a hitherto-unknown manuscript of John Rae's "Voyages and Travels of Dr. Rae in the Arctic Regions," an open letter from 1856 which had been privately published in pamphlet form, which even then is quite scarce. The letter, in its printed form, was simply addressed to "My Dear Sir," as it was apparently meant to be a public defense by Rae of his exertions, rather than a personal letter to any one individual. That there should be a manuscript version -- and in pencil! -- and in Australia! -- was a complete and utter surprise. As we waited for a paper photocopy, apparently the only sort that the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia could provide, we both wondered whether, perhaps, this manuscript might reveal something about its composition, or whether indeed it was initially addressed to any one person.

The photocopy, in that matter, was a disappointment; it added nothing about any particular recipient for the original text. However, from other materials in the same folder, Mike and I learned that the pencil version -- a copy rather than a source for the printed text -- had in fact been made for a gentleman named "Mr. Silver"; in an accompanying cover letter, Rae apologized that he had no copies of the pamphlet to spare, but had quite generously copied out the full text by hand. But who was this Mr. Silver?

Stephen William Silver, a London businessman, was known for much of his career for the concern he owned and managed, the India Gutta-Percha and Telegraph Works Company. In a manner similar to many other captains of industry, he was also a member and supporter of a number of learned societies, among them the Royal Geographical Society, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1856. Along with Dr. Rae, he served on its board, and they were likely acquainted from that moment. Silver had a lifelong interest in exploration, though his main focus seems to have been Africa -- but, apparently, he was interested in the Arctic as well. But how did this letter end up in Australia? 

The answer lies in the person of a gentleman named Edward Petherick, who served as Silver's "bibliographical advisor." When Silver died in 1905, Petherick was concerned that the collection might be broken up, and seems to have written a friend in Adelaide about the possibility of the Public Library of New South Wales acquiring it; when that was politely declined, Petherick worked through friends and associates connected with the RGS, via which it was eventually acquired with the intent of passing it along to the RGSA. As the "York Gate Library" it was warmly received, eventually being housed in the State Library of South Australia, where it was opened with some fanfare in 1908.

And so, while this discovery doesn't tell us much new about Rae's open letter, it does say something about the man himself: that he would take the trouble, for a friend and colleague, to copy out his whole article again by hand, just for his solitary benefit.

[The author would like to acknowledge his reliance on Valmai Hankel's excellent article, "Not Silver but Gold: S.W. Silver and the York Gate Library" (2005), for details as to Silver's collection and its transfer to Australia.]