The hundreds of artifacts and the possibility of written records preserved in the cold water offer the chance of discovering more about the expedition at one fell swoop than many lifetimes of dedicated researching have previously done. Suddenly, the risk of almost anything written about the Franklin disaster becoming outdated or being proven wrong overnight mushroomed. Then the lost ships were discovered, Erebus in 2014 and Terror two years later. As Canada’s national interest in the Arctic grew in the second half of the 20th century, so the mystery of Franklin’s fate revived, fuelled by Owen Beattie’s work on the bodies buried at Beechey Island and the politics of sovereignty. There was a palpable sense of closure.” The skeleton of the story was known in as much detail as was possible, the memorialization could progress and for a century little was discovered to disturb the narrative. Many are stylistically dated or poorly written or just plain weird, but for anyone wanting to add to the corpus of Franklin literature today, there is a much more dangerous pitfall-time.Īs Michael Palin puts it in Erebus, after Lieutenant Schwatka’s return from his exploration of King William Island in 1880, “The indignation that fuelled the search, the wounded national pride that gave it such imperative, and the appetite of newspapers…for the grisly details had all diminished. In the past century and a half, dozens of books have been published dealing with the lost Franklin Expedition but only a few have stood the test of time-springing to mind are Richard Cyriax’s magisterial Sir John Franklin’s Last Arctic Expedition and David Woodman’s examination of the Inuit testimony, Unravelling the Franklin Mystery. Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada CDN $37 ISBN: 9781784758578 SKU: 1471338 Note: Any image shown is from a stock photo and is not the actual book.Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time This 2019 Arrow Paper Back is in very good condition.
Brings energy, wit and humanity to a story that has never ceased to tantalise people since the 1840s.' The Times. Told in a very relaxed and sometimes - as you might expect - very funny Palin style.' David Baddiel, Daily Mail 'Magisterial. Carefully researched and well-crafted, it brings the story of a ship vividly to life.' Sunday Times 'A great story. The Erebusstory is the Arctic epic we've all been waiting for.' Nicholas Crane 'Thoroughly absorbs the reader. It's a fascinating storythat Palin brings full-bloodedly to life.' Guardian 'This is an incredible book. I didn't want it to end.' Bill Bryson 'Illuminated by flashes of gentle wit. Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years.
On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic. On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time.
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