Some people are frustrated (me including) because the only written record found till now only serves to draft the big tragedy that followed the abandoning of the ships. This paper sheet (two, if we consider the copy) is the prelude of an awful story which the remains found in the same island over the years would demonstrate subsequently. The information is much if you consider that the author used only a few phrases to define the situation. The paper was written twice in two different years.
It is well known that the first entry on the message found in a tin in Victory point says the following:
"Sir John Franklin commanding the Expedition. All well"
This can make you think that the things on the 28th of may of 1847 were going really well. However, I think that the fact of pointing who was in that time really commanding the expedition is strange. For me is a paradoxical thing and a matter of conjecture. What was the need to mention that if "all was well"?.
I think that the author wanted to say really :
I think that the author wanted to say really :
"Sir John Franklin is still commanding the Expedition. All well"
What supports my idea is that two weeks after Franklin was died. I really think that this note has more content than the merely is written and visible.
Another question is the single afirmation "all well". I am not an English speaking person so I cannot deduce many things, but I supposse that there is better ways to define a situation if the things are going really well, reasonable well (as it seems to mean this second affirmation) or if that the things are starting to worsen quickly.
I think that both affirmations meaning that Franklin was indeed ill or very weak on that time but that he was still giving orders to his crews, and that "all well" means that the situation was turning desperate. Because the note was prepared to endure a lot of time, many years, waiting to be found for other explorers or a rescue expedition, probably, and with the previous experience about the Barrow criticals to the journals writen by the "weak" explorers, (who described desperate situations literally), likely the author wanted to keep some prudency on written it.
So, in my modest opinion, the hidden message, is that in the end of may of 1847, almost two exact years after departing, the situation was actually and indeed "All bad".
So, in my modest opinion, the hidden message, is that in the end of may of 1847, almost two exact years after departing, the situation was actually and indeed "All bad".
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| John Franklin from a painting of him. Author: me. |
The paucity of information in the Victory Point Record is very frustrating; but, we are lucky to have it! McClintock stated the following: "Yet that ANY RECORD AT ALL should be deposited after the abandonment of the ships, does not seem to have been intended...." It's another one of those clues that serves to tantalize us. "All well" is definitely an ambiguous statement! Nice portrait of Franklin, by the way!
ResponderEliminar'All well' could be an indicator that any day they believed sledge parties would find the NW passage.
ResponderEliminarJaeschylus- the presence of no more records to me, would seem that the commanding officers thought it was a waste of time-? I mean why not write more coherently on a clean sheet of paper instead of cramming everything on that single old sheet with Gore's message from 1847? (rambling)
ooh, I like the old man's expression, kind of annoyed haha. Your drawings are getting better and better :-) I wish you'd try to draw Crozier smiling.
Good points! Some of these records were known for their brevity. It IS odd that everything was stuffed in the margins....
EliminarThere were more cairns on their way to the south, but they seemed to be disturbed by someone (perhaps and likely the Inuits). They known that the Kabloonas usually deposited valuable things under them. There is a theory which states that they could have taken the tins for using them for another purpose and having thrown away the papers inside of them.
ResponderEliminarThank you for the commentaries about the drawing, I think that I am improving them, and it is true he seems to be slightly offended!!
That's right--as master survivalists in an extreme environment, the Inuit were too practical to carry around papers for which they had no use. According to the testimony recorded by Hall, the books and papers that were found were given to the children as playthings, and, of course, torn to shreds in the process. Remarkably, the Inuit interviewed by Hall & others usually remembered if the papers they found featured printed words or handwritten script.
EliminarAH!! and Crozier is on the way...
ResponderEliminarIt was said that some of these papers were flying around the place several years after.
ResponderEliminarTake a look at this site:
ResponderEliminarhttp://starvationcove.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/the-utjulik-ship.html
The author has done a fine compilation of the Inuit testimonies obtained from several expeditions of searching.
McClintock points some other strange details in the message ,first of all the mistake with the dates on the Gore's report of the winter on Beechey island , second on the count of 105 people landing with Crozier , if there was 138 men in the expedition and 9 officiers and 15 sailors were dead that makes for 114 men , 9 men aré missing on Croziers landing .From the Croziers noté we know too the "late Gore" was among the nine officiers dead ...
ResponderEliminarYes,there was a mistake made in the year that they wintered at Beechey Island,as for how many sailed there were 134 but 5 were invalided home before they left Disko island,leaving 129.
ResponderEliminarWelcome again Ricardo!! As Bill says five men returned before the things were worse. They were in fact the only survivors of the Franklin expedition.
ResponderEliminarEdit: It should have been Disko bay (Whalefish islands).
ResponderEliminarI am very happy. Now that I´ve read the "Franklin chapter" in "Arctic Labyrinth, I have to say that Glynn and me have reached the same conclusion about the message in the tin. that means that I have possibilities as a researcher...jeje.
ResponderEliminarMore information?... Please read "Arctic Labyrinth"