tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post3981045026169175591..comments2024-03-18T18:05:25.821-07:00Comments on VISIONS OF THE NORTH: New Franklin Discovery from the AirRussell Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-34078165915280387002021-03-17T12:45:35.120-07:002021-03-17T12:45:35.120-07:00I have often wondered about the small mound in the...I have often wondered about the small mound in the foreground, right of centre.Randall Osczevskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09858473343619938440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-52772604156014801692020-10-28T09:40:48.439-07:002020-10-28T09:40:48.439-07:00Or perhaps there never were any canned food issues...Or perhaps there never were any canned food issues, apart from the general lead-seepage issues that weren't specific to Goldner.Steve Zornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00290710261555708639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-41854066558772759202020-09-12T19:38:56.543-07:002020-09-12T19:38:56.543-07:00Laughing out loud !
When a mate on board ship di...Laughing out loud ! <br /><br />When a mate on board ship did the big crap in the ship's loo - he only had three ways to wipe the mess out of and off his rear end : his shirt, his fingers or book pages. Or failing that, pull up his pants and walk around with the crap on or in him ! <br /><br />As Don Hill said, " strange territory ". Soloman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972686779984782545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-45288013004532530222020-08-31T20:16:04.594-07:002020-08-31T20:16:04.594-07:00It may well be that what was all they had availabl...It may well be that what was all they had available?? I just put the idea out there after reading about the POWs as noted above. Modern toilet paper is perforated into smallish squares, perhaps close in size to the duodecimo?<br />129 men died. Cannibalism. Shipwrecks. Massive suffering. And here we are discussing toilet paper! The Franklin mystery does indeed lead one into strange territory.....Don Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07436309883924565508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-52998053349175597642020-08-31T16:05:31.848-07:002020-08-31T16:05:31.848-07:00There is only one problem with this notion of book...There is only one problem with this notion of books being used as toilet paper -- nearly all the volumes that the crew brought with them were quite small -- what we in the book-collecting trade know as "duodecimo" or "12mo" -- it's about 30% smaller than a mass-market paperback. I'm not certain that the good Vicar would have endured very long in this function!Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-14535611085876327822020-08-31T15:54:18.971-07:002020-08-31T15:54:18.971-07:00The oft noted "Vicar of Wakefield" might...The oft noted "Vicar of Wakefield" might have been very popular but for reasons not associated with being a "best seller".<br />Another "thinking outside the box" type thought was when I read (and I am sorry I forget exactly which source) but that among the debris left by the marchers, were bottles of button polish. I don't know the chemical nature of it but what struck me was a story from my father when he served as a helmsman in the merchant navy during WW2. The ships were "dry" and he said the "black gang" stokers would come out on deck with shoe polish wrapped in handkerchiefs and strain it, draining out the alcohol, then drink it. It disgusted my father to watch. If this button polish was alcohol based, could it have been the Franklin expedition's equivalent of what my father witnessed with shoe polish?<br /><br />If the paper in the books was re-purposed, and possibly button polish, it might force us re-think our assessments of the "useless articles" they carried.<br /><br />Don Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07436309883924565508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-56299145283863192982020-08-29T07:32:30.264-07:002020-08-29T07:32:30.264-07:00Interestingly, Roderic Owen -- a Franklin relation...Interestingly, Roderic Owen -- a Franklin relation and the author of <i>The Fate of Franklin</i> was fascinated with this topic, and pestered many experts for an answer. And, without exception, all of them replied, as did A.P. McGowan (then head of the Department of Ships at the National Maritime Museum), "I'm afraid I really haven't a clue"!Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-21252976062929017812020-08-29T07:15:20.116-07:002020-08-29T07:15:20.116-07:00That is an excellent point, one I've never see...That is an excellent point, one I've never seen raised before. They were certainly using paper in homes by that time, I wonder what they would have used on ship before hand.Eric W. Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735754294095882223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-14540326259735553502020-08-25T06:43:12.934-07:002020-08-25T06:43:12.934-07:00A minor point in rethinking this story hit me the ...A minor point in rethinking this story hit me the other day. I was reading "The Great Escape, the untold story" by Ted Barris. When the POW's were evacuated ahead of the advancing Russians, "an officer was dispatched to the library to tear pages of the thinnest paper he could find in the books to serve as toilet paper during the march."<br />I have never seen it mentioned elsewhere but did they carry books with them to serve the same purpose? People often question why they would haul a partial library with them but with 105 men landing at Victory Point, did the books serve a less noble but still important function? <br />If POWs carried books for this purpose while being force marched, it struck me that the expedition might have done the same.Don Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07436309883924565508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-65897139164693511012020-08-23T11:39:19.530-07:002020-08-23T11:39:19.530-07:00It is interesting the more we learn the less we kn...It is interesting the more we learn the less we know - or at least - the more questions are raised, at some point we will need to stand back from all of the old guesses and conjectures and rethink the disaster through the new and refined evidence. I hope to high heaven some meaningful papers survive in the sediment of one of the two ships. Eric W. Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00735754294095882223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-21101686192224672552020-08-21T04:25:12.835-07:002020-08-21T04:25:12.835-07:00I do remember reading an account of the Inuit on t...I do remember reading an account of the Inuit on the abandoned Erebus where they broke open a can of meat and found it was fine, not spoiled. It did seem at odds with the preserved food gone bad theory.Don Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07436309883924565508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-37363132781262328522020-08-20T19:14:00.883-07:002020-08-20T19:14:00.883-07:00The evidence we have now strongly suggests that th...The evidence we have now strongly suggests that the canned food was not the culprit. My friend Peter Carney at his <a href="http://erebusandterrorfiles.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">Erebus and Terror files blog</a>, has a pretty strong correction of this oft-held belief. Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-26926909203915599562020-08-20T06:55:49.389-07:002020-08-20T06:55:49.389-07:00They must have been healthy to construct and then ...They must have been healthy to construct and then remove such a structure. As for the canned goods, I always believed, perhaps erroneously, that when Lt. Gore wrote "all well" on the Victory Point message in 1847, that any canned food issues had yet to surface. <br />Don Hillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07436309883924565508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-50832294495214963162020-08-19T07:26:48.934-07:002020-08-19T07:26:48.934-07:00If I am not mistaken, the final letters sent back ...If I am not mistaken, the final letters sent back from Disko Bay - I think it was one by Fitzjames in particular - discuss the Goldner tinned foods, and praise them. Of course, perhaps the ones they opened up that early in the voyage were not representative of the whole? <br /><br />Richard Malcolmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18346390251505645891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-2547064753076894512020-08-18T10:44:09.584-07:002020-08-18T10:44:09.584-07:00With such robust fitness and health - can we imagi...With such robust fitness and health - can we imagine that the sickness from the Goldner canned provisions did not start to impair the men until the crews left Beechey ? Soloman Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972686779984782545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-63231586474440299902020-08-17T12:17:58.413-07:002020-08-17T12:17:58.413-07:00That would presumably also suggest very high level...That would presumably also suggest very high levels of fitness and health, not just to construct the building but also to remove it on departure. Rupert Battersbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04945997927425068992noreply@blogger.com