tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post2890125436708611325..comments2024-03-18T18:05:25.821-07:00Comments on VISIONS OF THE NORTH: Arctic BlackfaceRussell Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-50620249759544983532012-10-03T22:48:26.310-07:002012-10-03T22:48:26.310-07:00The story of the “black men” was told to Hall by a...The story of the “black men” was told to Hall by an Inuit woman named Ookbarloo. (Page 204 of “Unravelling”) She was from the Arvilingmiut Inuit near Repulse Bay and had cousins in the Boothia Peninsula.<br /><br />The lone Inuit visitor was offered food when he went to the ship and he visited the ship on multiple occasions over some length of time.<br /><br />The three “shouts” sound British in origin. I would associate three cheers with men who are in good spirits. A black-face show or some other kind of celebration would make sense. Perhaps the men took the opportunity to play a kind of prank or joke on an unsuspecting visitor. The specific detail of three cheers makes this story appear authentic. It must have some basis in an actual event but I’m not certain it relates to Franklin’s expedition. <br /><br />Hall recorded that the Inuit thought the black men lived among the coals so coal dust is also a real possibility.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05564076916142050022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-19054272945663722622012-09-27T08:21:54.813-07:002012-09-27T08:21:54.813-07:00I have to recognise that, though my common sense a...I have to recognise that, though my common sense attracts my mind towards the "traveling" and unhappy version of the "blackfaces" episodie, my imagination prefers the other. I like to think on that the people there having a good time, singing and being really happy for at least a few hours. And if you think it deeply..., What a strange meeting could have been!, poor Inuits being alarmed by the singing and their disguises of the English people.Andrés Paredeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17283802897907742244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-71657952467742982792012-09-25T07:37:04.098-07:002012-09-25T07:37:04.098-07:00Thanks for the kind words!
I'd like to know a...Thanks for the kind words!<br /><br />I'd like to know as well what sort of songs might have been sung aboard "Erebus" and "Terror" -- the only one I know for sure is the doggerel version of Barry Cornwall's "The Sea" which is in the "Peglar" papers. I will be down in Mystic CT, though, to read from my novel this Thursday, and many of my friends down there are deeply schooled in sea chanteys, so I will ask around!Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-21226259531471336882012-09-24T21:55:01.246-07:002012-09-24T21:55:01.246-07:00What a delightful post, with such vivid descriptio...What a delightful post, with such vivid descriptions! Russell, do you know which shanties and forebitters would have been popular among Franklin's men? "The Gauger" probably would have been a fun one to act out!Jaeschylushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12204972787032135611noreply@blogger.com