THE FORGOTTEN GRAVES - ABDUCTING INUIT PEOPLE CHAPTER I

Along the history of polar exploration and whale hunting, Inuit people have been taken away from their birth places by their far "neighbours". Whalers, alike, exploring expeditions abducted Inuit hunters, and also women and children, sometimes purposedly by force, and sometimes kindly when rescuing them, during their homeward trip, from the sea when they had got lost fram from the coast. This, is the first chapter of a series of cases I wanted to analyse in my blog.

Maybe, one of the more dramatic depiction of such practices I have ever read is that of Nordenskjold in his article "Eskimos, Ancient and Modern", which expresses vivid and tragically how these events used to happen through a particular case, to which I will come back in the coming chapters:

"Their meetings always ended in the murder or capture of the poor natives, who were carried away to be shown as curious animals in Europe. La Peyrere's Report of Greenland, written in 1647, describes them, and goes on to tell of the nine Eskimos who had been brought to Denmark by different Polar expeditions. Poor Eskimos ! They often looked northwards, and once tried to escape in their skiffs ; but a storm cast them ashore, and some peasants caught them and took them back to Copenhagen. Two of them again tried to escape in their kayaks ; one was caught, the other who got away was drowned at sea. The last of them died of grief after the failure of his third attempt to return to Greenland in his kayak. He was thirty or forty miles out to sea before he was overtaken." 

And this, unfortunately, is a tale which is repeated along the time invariably, there usually weren´t survivors, as we soon will see. Inuit people who arrived to Europe, hardly ever got used to the insane atmosphere of the British cities, their local illnesses, or maybe, they just couldn´t stand the very different diet they were obliged to follow.

Maybe the most well documented of these events, and likely one of the first, is the case of Calichoughe (or Kalicho), a woman called Ignorth (or Egnock), and her child, Nutaaq (or Nutioc)., who were got caught prisoners in 1577 by Martin Frobisher. It has inspired some articles and the story appears here and there everywhere and it is not the  main subject of this post. The three Inuit people where nicely portrayed by talented artists of the time, like John White or Cornelis Ketel, author of several paintings (some of them in their Inuit clothes, other dressing like Englishmen and others naked, and which apparently haven´t survived). The existing portraits by John White are held in the British Museum.

Kalicho, Ignorth and Nutaaq by John White

The corpses of the two adults were properly authopsied and then, after, buried  in St Steven´s church (or St Stephen´s) in Bristol in november of 1577. Nutaaq, who died time after in London, on his way to "visit" the Queen, was buried in St Olave´s church before that happened 

The sixteenth century sailor and pirate, Martin Frobisher, led three expeditions to the Arctic, his first intention was to find the mythical Northwest passage, but after stumbling upon Baffin island and with the deep bay which nowadays bears his name, he subsequently focus his attention on those shores and  forgot the searching of the passage on behalf of exploiding the imaginary treasures he thought Frobisher bay hide. It was during those expeditions when he contacted local Inuit tribes which lived there.

His first contact, was during the 1576 expedition to Baffin´s bay, when inside Frobisher´s bay, in Burche´s island, he found some Inuit men who were asked to guide the expedition, Frobisher sent five men in a boat to deal with them but they apparently were caught captives. Then, in his turn, Frobisher captured one Inuit man as a hostage. 

This man was taken to England and reached London, where he soon died. As it is said in the article "Frobisher Eskimo´s in England" of "colde which he had taken at sea" hardly three weeks after landing. He was portrayed post mortem by Cornelius Ketel (I couldn´t find this particular one cause it also is part of the Ketel´s lost collection of Eskimo paintings). His body was embalmed, apparently with the idea of sending back him to his country and a wax face mask was also allegedly made. His body never reached Baffin island but was buried in St. Olave's churchyard, behind its sinister door which is decored with three smiling skulls, in Hart street, London. 

This particular church, it is a survivor itself, an ancient rarety which survived the great fire of 1666 and the war bombings of 1941. It has been sieged by tall buildings and busy roads since it was built many centuries ago. But now, who knows what´s left of the old churchard and if the bodies of this poor man and Nutaaq (who as we read above, was also buried here) are still there and there weren´t forcedly and violently exhumed because of the german bombs dropped during the WWII. There are no records of these two burials nor gravestone which indicate their bones are still there. 

St Olave´s church, London

There are plaques in these churches which honour prominent people of the time, in fact St Olave´s church was at that time a very honourable place to be buried, in spite of the fact it is also the place of burial for a pantomine character like Mother Goose. St Stephen´s church, which was at that time well located at the bank of the river, also was a place of certain importance which witnessed many departing merchant ships. So it looks that the abducted Inuit people actually were treated with big honors at the time of their final voyage, thing which is underlined by the fact that, though they weren´t christians, unusally for that time, there is a record of the two St Stephen´s  church  burials. The register says what follows:

"Collichang a heathen man buried the 8th of November. Egnock a heathen woman buried the 13th of November'''. 

In St Stephen´s church, there also seems to exist a gravestone which marks the burial place. The stone reads:

"Where rest ...two In... (inuit? Indians? Inuk?) kidnapped from Baffin Island (?)"

http://www.drawingexchange.org/the-graveyard-tours/graveyard-exchanges/

It is difficult to have a clear reading of what was engraved in that gravestone, but at least we can clearly see the word "Kidnapped" on it, which seems to pay somehow the debt or at least, a last tribute, with these two people, as a sort of recognition that wanted to show to any casual visitor, that the facts which brought them to England and to  such premature death, were not gallant at all. On the other hand, if the stone is contemporary of the burials, the word Inuit or Inuk, I have believed to have read, wouldn´t have sense since the used term by that time was Eskimo. Maybe some good hearted soul decided to place this stone much later. Anyway, I would love that someone on the ground in the surroundings of Bristol could forward me a better image of this gravestone.

But still, there are no plaques or gravestones in St Olave, at least no one I could have found in the Internet.  In "Frobisher´s Eskimo" article referenced below, the decission to bury the child and the first abducted Inuit there, lies on the following:

"Was it chosen for the Eskimos because its dedicatee, the Norseman Olaf Haraldsson who was converted to Christianity in the eleventh century, was thought to be suitable numen to preside over their pagan arctic bones? The speculation is intriguing. "

For whatever reason, nowadays, we do not see any single mention of these three poor souls in almost any reference we find about both churches, St Stephen´s in Bristol and St Olave´s in London. There aren´t memorials, plaques nor anything which substantially give notice that an injustice was commited and that the silent victims of it, still are resting there.  Maybe the reason simply lies in the fact that too much time has elapsed since they were buried there and all this happened and nobody cares. Maybe they have just been forgotten and the only redoubt which calls our attention about  their final resting places is the link to st Stephen´s church gravestone before posted and those articles which talk about Frobisher´s crazy gold crusade which occassionaly talk about their graves.

They may not be recorded properly in their actual burial places but in its place, till something to mend this situation is done, I will homage them pinpointing their graves in my Polar memorials location file with the hope of any visitor of that inventory, pay someday a respectful visit to those churches to think about them, and who knows, maybe also to find and mark their graves as they actually deserve.

References: 

Frobisher Eskimos in england
The death of an Inuit man in England 
A chronological outline history of Bristol
A collection of documents of Spitzbergen and Greenland
Bristol Polar Adventures

Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony

OH RELEASE ME! OH RELEASE ME! - THE STRANGE CASE OF BENJAMIN BALLOON

Pigeons, balloons, arctic foxes, rockets, kites, tin cilinders under prominent cairns, graffitis in rocks, bottles and also golden buttons. All these were the means used by arctic expeditions for communication during those days when satellite phones simply didn´t exist. 

Many different systems, as you can see, but not all of them actually useful. Analysing and comparing their effectiveness would require a specific article, and who knows, maybe there already exists one. The more extensive description of many of them I have found, was written by Sherard Osborn in the book "Stray leaves from an arctic journal". Sherard, in a very personal witty and funny style, describes them giving you an accurate idea of what was the expectation of success they inspired at the time and how they actually worked. 

Maybe the more ingenious one, and also the more spectacular, was the inflatable balloon. These amazing inanimate messengers were made of oiled silk and were inflated with hydrogen, which was produced in site mixing zinc with sulfuric acid. Horatio Austin searching convoy of 1850, was one of the first expeditions which used these "new" inventions. At least, that is what Sherard mentions in his account of the voyage. Some of these devices were equipped with a five feet long slow match to which were attached coloured pieces of paper, or cloth, where the position of the rescuer ships was indicated. The messages were supposed to be released by the effect of that match at certain intervals  . The papers, would fall from the air with the purpose of indicating any possible survivor where to walk in search of help.

   

Sherard Osborn, complains somehow in despair while describing how almost all the released balloons from HMS Assistance flew in south or south east directions instead northwards. It was generally understood for the Admiralty at that time, and for all the contemporary searchers, that Franklin & Co. were stranded north or northwest from their current position. They thought Franklin was beset some place north of Cornwallis island or in a non existent, open polar sea even further north. If he, as Richard King firmly believed, had known that the Erebus and Terror were actually located in the vicinity of King William Island, 600 miles southwest of their position, perhaps he would have followed with his sight how  his precious balloons flew in a more correct direction than he thought with a much better mood.

It is at this point where the real protagonist of this post appear for first time. Our friend Benjamin Balloon, who was scared to death moments before being freed by a couple of s.ailors in the upper deck of HMS Assistance, as the picture in the Illustrated Arctic news shows below. 

- Oh Release me! Oh release me!.- shouted Benjamin Balloon. 

And he was.

The sad episode is told in the northern most newspaper of all as follows under the title of "Fatal Accident":

"On monday last, Benjamin Balloon, literally inflated himself from a cask containing Hydro-Gin he became light headed in consequence, and falling into a current of air, soon disappeared from the sight of the astonished spectators.

He is supposed to have on his papers to a great amount. Active steps will be taken for their recovery, they being for the most part drafts at sight of the firm of Messrs Cask and easel, of Cape Hotham and leopold."

Our indulgent Benjamin, obviously lost almost inmediately his way, taken with him forever those drafts in the wrong direction. You can read the original publication here, (page 28 of the document).

Many of those passenger-messages luckily survived that era of creativity and can still be found in some museums and in the mists of the Internet here and there. 

Message
https://www.adams.ie/catalogue_images/7034/large/313.jpg 

But, what if Franklin had been equipped with such  modern invention? had they been able to find the needed help? In fact, as I said some time ago in other of my posts, a balloon, allegedly procedent from his expedition arrived at England in 1851. A mysterious and urgent mesage was written on it indicating the position of the ships. A message which read like that:

"Erebus, 112 W, Long, 71 deg. N. Lat. September, 3, 1851. Blocked in"

The Admiralty shouldn´t lose a second and inmediately send a fleet to that place, but...it happens that, as Russell Potter correctly indicated in his post about the topic, that Franklin was never supplied with those wonderful objects, so, apart of many other aspects which play against the veracity of the theory that defends that a balloon could have reached England after flying more than three thousand kilometers, there is the undisputed  fact that there weren´t balloons on board the Erebus nor the Terror. That converts the suggestive finding into a complete and cruel hoax.

An amazing distance to be covered by an object which proved record of longest distance covered at the time and at those latitudes, was not more than 50 miles. That wasn´t the case of the carrier pigeons, which had been used for very long time as very effective messengers, though not in the arctic. A couple of pigeons were sent by John Ross from Cornwallis island during 1850. Instead of freezing, died of hunger or being shot, they reached his house in Scotland five days after being freed. That was a record never to be beaten for any other kind of messenger used in the polar regions.  Ross message, however, was not addressed to reach Franklin, but had a less trascendental purpose, it borne instructions regarding finantial  personal  matters.

Sometimes, both systems, balloons and pigeons were put together in order to optimize the benefits procured for them. A pigeon embarked one of these balloons to be carried for it, at some distance  from the ship, before being released during the flight. Ultimately, Salomon Andree also combined these two methods, though this time it was he and his friends the ones to embark in a huge balloon.  In his way to the north pole, he sent some pigeons to carry his messages homeward, thing which their feathered companions performed perfectly well for some time. At least, before Andree and company disappeared for the following thirty years before being found death in a lost and icy island. 

Another formidable method, nor for its effectiveness, but for the merriness it provoked during the short winter days of those arctic expeditions, were the arctic foxes. Those little and astute animals were fitted with copper collars on which were engraved the position of the searching ships.

Copper collar fastened on neck of fox-cub caught and released by crew of H.M.S. Enterprise, at Port Leopold, 1848

Sherard Osborne describes very visually the event of freeding a fox as follows:

Lastly, we carried out, more I believe from amusement than from any idea of being useful, a plan which had suggested itself to the people of Sir James Ross s expedition when  wintering in Leopold Harbour in 1848-49, that of enclosing information in a collar, secu-red to the necks of the Arctic foxes, caught in traps, and then liberated. Several 
animals thus entrusted with despatches or records were liberated by different ships;but, as the truth must be told, I fear in many cases the next night saw the poor " postman," s Jack facetiously termed him, in another trap, out of which he would be taken, killed, the skin taken off, and packed away, to ornament, at some future day, the neck of some  fair Dulcinea.

I can´t avoid smiling before the Quixotic reference, surely it didn´t escape Osborne the similarity between their activities and our national paradigm of uselessness. The thing is that once released, the foxes fell into the sailor traps once and once again, such was the problem that even an order had to be issued not to kill any fox taken alive in the traps, just in case they could be bearers of the messages. Of course, after the order was delivered,  all the  trapped foxes which were trapped, were "found" invariably dead. In any case, those should be scenes which many of the readers and the author of this post, would have liked to witness:

The departure of a postman was a scene of no small merriment : all hands, from the captain to the cook, were out to chase the fox, \vho, half frightened out of its wits, seemed to doubt which way to run ; whilst loud shouts and roars of laughter, breaking the cold, frosty air, were heard from ship to ship, as the fox-hunters swelled in numbers from all sides, and those that could not run mounted some neighbouring hummock of ice, and gave a view halloo, which said far more for robust health than for tuneful melody. 

Another easy way, but maybe not very effective, method of communication was carving messages in conspicuous stones which usually called the attention of any visitor. Not used normally to deliver messages to other expeditionaries, but more often used as markers of the new conquered territories. That is the case for example of Parry´s stone of Winter Harbour. A stone which would play a very important role many years after, as we soon will see.

Parry rock

Rockets and kites of different colours and numbers, were also used to send messages. But were not intended to communicate with lost explorers but with neighbour ships. Kites were supplied  to HMS Assistance by Mr Benjamin Smith, that´s what Sherard Osborne says. Was this Benjamin the British politician? Was he an ardient lover of technological and flying devices? Was after him, in his honour, that our beloved Benjamin balloon was named? Surely it was. I have tried to dig a little about his life and bizarre interests but could find at the time I wrote this post.

But the more effective way to deliver a message, even if years had passed since it had been written, buried and ultimately found, were the sealed tin cilinders inside of which, rolled papers were placed. Those time capsules, were buried under huge cairns of more than six feet tall located in strategical geographical points. It weren´t few times these tins were succesful in transmitting the intended messages. Narratives of the time speaks of them being opened and sealed again a good number of times. Sometimes, they played crucial roles. Thanks to these methods, HMS Investigator crew was rescued when one of the Kellet rescue parties found the message left by McLure at the feet of the above mentioned Parry´s stone. And it was also thanks for those magical metal cilinders, the Victory point record, that we know the few things are now known about the proceedings of the Franklin expedition before disappearing forever.

We don´t know yet if any of these messages, which were hundreds, finally reached the Franklin expedition, maybe one of them deliberado by our Benjamín balloon.... Finding any of these messages, whatever was the method followed to send them, among the belongings left by the crews of the Erebus and Terror in King WIlliam Island, would have helped to know till what year they could have survived. 

Perhaps, the current searching of the shipwrecks could help us to know if any of these messages finally reached their destination. Finding one of those coloured and typed papers on board, among the remains present in the ships will help us, not only to know if the Franklin men survived as long as the year 1850 or even after, but also to know if the ships were actually remanned or not. 

THE PARTY GOES ON: DR. JOHN RAE IN FUR A DAGUERROTYPE BY BEARD (EDITED)

I never thought I could find so many new pictures, not only pictures but Daguerrotypes!, in such short time. This time I am proud to announce I have found a beautifully coloured daguerrotype of Dr. John Rae dressed in his arctic outfit, apparently took in 1849, after returning from his overland voyage with Dr. Richardson. At least I had never seen this before now.

John Rae in arctic fur -
Silver Shadows - Fine Early photographs

There is a naughty smile in his face which suggest he was having fun or a good time while dressed like that in the photographic study. Interestengly one of the several streets, surely the locations of the different studies belonging "Beard´s photographic Institutions", is King William Street. It would be a curious and paradoxical coincidence that Rae had been pictured in that precise place. 

This picture had to be taken soon before Beard when bankrupt in 1850, a pity, because if he had overcome his finantial issues, maybe we could have now many more faces, in colour, of those heroic explorers who we could look at their eyes. 

EDIT: After the convincing comments of some heavyweights of the matter who projected founded doubts about the portrait belongs to John Rae, I have cooked a new theory. Maybe this man is James Clark Ross after all. I have made a quick "Photoshop" to compare the man in the daguerrotype with Ross´s face. Judge yourself:

For me the nose is very similar, if not in the James Clark ROss painting I used , it is in other paintings of him. Only his eyes look different, but as I said in the comments below, maybe J.C. Ross was somehow exhausted after the long winter of 1848-49 and that provoked that languish look. 

THE DR JOHN RICHARDSON AND THE REASON WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER CEASE SEARCHING

This is going to be a short post, I can assure you that. As I asserted in my last blog publication, we never should stop searching for new pictures of our beloved and ancient explorers. I can guarantee you all, that I have performed multiple searches in the Internet trying to look for a more contemporary portrait of John Richardson, the Naval surgeon who accompanied John Franklin in his first  overland expedition, and whose role in it saved likely the life of John Hepburn, the faithful sailor, and maybe the life of Franklin as well. 

And what is what I have found?, a new and overexposed photograph of an aged John Richardson, likely shot at the last stages of his life. Richardson died at the age of 78 years old in 1865, so either the portrait was taken at about that age or was taken when he retired from active service at the age of 68. I would like to know who took this picture and why was it taken.

Dr John Richardson
Picture from Future museum

For those less familiar with his life, I will summarize here that John Richardson was an exceptional man, not only known for his arctic explorations, he participated in the Franklin´s first and second overland expeditions and in one of the first searching expeditions organized to find the lost Franklin in 1848, but also for his contributions to naval surgery and science.

His later work in the Harslan hospital, where he worked for some time together with William Edward Parry, consist on part, on training the surgeons who would join arctic expeditions. 

No matter how harsh his gesture could seem to you on this, or in other similar portraits of him, his achievements  speak of him in a very friendly way. You can read all the details in the brief biography of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. He stood out over the average men of his time in the three different disciplines mentioned above.  He engraved every stepp of his three different careers in the path of history. As an arctic explorer, he demonstrated outstanding phisical conditions, as a surgeon he achieved so many big things which would need a whole book to explain them all, and as a naturalist, his published work speaks for itself, he rubbed shoulders with the most prominent scientist related with that matter of his time. But on top of that, he demonstrated with his actions in moments of extreme danger at the very edge of complete disaster, that he was an extraordinary and well natured human being.

You can find other portraits of him here, our large and growing collection of portraits and pictures of Arctic and Antarctic explorers. This project consists on a pinterest board, a cooperative project where, mainly Stephen Nicholson and me, are contributing to put faces to all those heroic explorers. 

LOOKING AT THE EYES OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

Encouraged by the finding, by a member of the Franklin expedition facebook group, of a portrait of William Mogg, a fairly unknown veteran of two arctic expeditions, I have recovered my interest in one of the main hobbies I practiced when I got hooked by the mistery of the Franklin expedition. This particular hobby was typing in "Google images" the names of the explorers which participated in the Franklin searching parties, and other related expeditions. Among those names, from time to time, I typed randomly the names of some of the participants of the Franklin expedition to see if any portrait of them shows up.

In order of not losing it forever again in the mists of the Internet, I began to compile those rare portraits of George Back, John Rae, John Ross, William Parker Snow, etc. in a Pinterest board, which allows you to pick up whatever image you want from the virtual world without the need of uploading it. Since a year or so, this is a cooperative project where some people are kindly adding new pictures:

https://es.pinterest.com/andrsparedes/arctic-and-antarctic-explorers/

My fishing in Google was focused mainly on the officers of the Franklin expedition, thinking that the chances they had of having been protrayed would be higher. Till now I have never been lucky. At the beginning, I wasn´t very confident that sailors could have any available portrait but it is my understanding that not ordinary men participated in those kind of coveted expeditions. I thought that some of those anonymous men could not only have been experienced sailors who had been already sailing with the officers of the expedition, but also recommendations (surely far relatives) of prominent people of the time. If you scratch a bit in the lifes of the more known seamen which participated in such expeditions, you will notice inmediately that there was always a healthy uncle or a rich family friend who surely granted a position for them in the exploration´s ships. That would increase the chances that some silhouette or small portrait of them could finally appear. Many of them, surely were ordered being made right before departing.

Maybe, now that the facebook Franklin group counts with more than one thousand and one hundred members, if some of its participants decided to join this weird hobbie of mine, new faces will give life to those names and surnames of those of our beloved 128 men who doesn´t have a face yet.

Some faces are coming from facial reconstructions made from the skulls (here too) found in King William island, but we will never now the accuracy, or even the actual identity, of those works if there aren´t pictures or portraits with which compare them. Shall this branch of the science should test its results making some facial reconstruction of people from which we already known know how their faces actually were?. I have the feeling that a reconstruction of John Irving´s skull will give us the face of Franklin...

Here there are another kind of facial reconstructions, this time made from the remains of John Hartnell. I tried this same thing long long time ago with Photoshop and the result was such a bizarre joke that I had to remove from my files not to dishonor him.

Till recent days, we though that only the famous daguerrotypes of Richard Beard were available, but the discovery of the picture of the Lieutenant John Irving, or the existence of that small portrait of John Hartnell´s brother, should encourage us to keep on looking in The Internet and asking the distant relatives of those men to see among the old photographs they could have in their attics. The number of pictures being scanned or photographied is increasing with time, it is a matter of time that new faces will show up.

The help of the relatives of those men here is a decissive factor to find that lost clues, if it finally happens that they actually exist.

Let´s call this project "LOOKING AT THE EYES OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION".

A good starting point would be making a Excel file with all the names of the men and highlight those from who we already have a picture or painting. For now an easy task taking into account that there is only one portrait (Irving´s one) apart of the 14 Beard´s portraits.

In the following link is the Excel file, I took the list from Peter Carney´s blog post: "Roll call of the doomed".

LOOKING AT THE EYES OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

Let´s do this, let´s find those lost faces and see right into their eyes.

LADY FRANKLIN IN 3D

More than a year ago, I was complaining in this post called "The Elusive Lady", about the lack of portraits of Lady Jane which were available in the Internet. Only a couple of portraits of her are widely known. Apart of those two, in the book "Lady Franklin´s Ambition" I could recently see a tiny Jane together with her other three sibblings when they were mere children. And there is also, of course, the only known photograph of her discovered by Russell Potter and that drawing which I showed in the formerly mentioned blog post. 

Now, recently, after one of my Internet raids in search of Franklin related pictures and portraits, I am delighted to announce that I have found this rare and fascinating marble relief, which is attributed to Thomas Bock, the same artist who painted the Lady Jane´s portrait of 1838, during her stay in Van Diemen´s land.

Lady Jane Franklin

Carved marble relief bust, plaque, 33 x 25 cm 

Apparently made by Thomas Bock

If you compare both, Thomas´s portrait and the bust, will agree with me that there is no doubt the woman represented is the same. Same hairstyle, nose, gesture of the mouth and slightly bulky eyes. She looks, however, thinner in the plaque and with a less prominent forehead:

Thomas Bock portrait of Lady Jane 1838

Thomas Bock was an English artist a year older than Jane Franklin. Bock was a promising engraver and miniature painter who was deported in 1823 to Autralia for administering drugs to a young woman. He was sentenced to stay fourteen years in Van Diemen´s Land, though after eight years of good behaviour, he became a free citizen. Among other things, his work includes Lady Jane´s commision of painting some aboriginals living in their natural state. Those pieces are of reknown value because are one of the few which show how those people actually were by that time without the influence of the european culture. Another well known painting is that which shows Martinha, the little aborigin girl adopted and subsequently abandoned by the Franklins during their stay. Hers, is a sad story which deserves a completely dedicated blog post.

Thomas Bock

That Lady Jane asked Thomas for being painted is an interesting event which forms part of the list of misteries which surround the elusive lady. Specially, if you take into account that she used to despise the company of convicts and exconvicts. Surely, it was the lack of skilled artist in the region and maybe also, Thomas´s impecable background in England before his crime, what called her attention and earned him her pardon.

But whatever were the actual reasons which ended in these two beatiful masterpieces, we should be thankful is thanks to this man that we, not only have a lively second portrait of a more mature Jane Franklin, which allow us to have an accurate idea of her determination by that time, but also a 3D bust which makes Jane Franklin a more real person, someone who looks about to move her head to look at you at your eyes to say some of her famous witty remarks with which she uses to end awkwardly bitter discussions.      

Post post: After sharing this un the facebook group "Remembering the Franklin expedition", I have learned there is another bust of Lady Franklin un the Royal Geographical society of London. This other was inspired in an earlier portrait. Unfortunately there are no pictures of It in  the Internet but I had the opportunity of seeing a picture and I have to say It was beautifully done.

MUJERES EN LA EXPEDICIÓN DE FRANKLIN ¡¡LO SABÍA!!

Vivimos en un mundo extraño aunque no menos extraño que el mundo que nos ha precedido.

Hay en marcha una nueva investigación que intenta identificar a través del análisis del ADN obtenido en los huesos de las tripulaciones pertenecientes a la expedición de Franklin encontrados en la isla del rey Guillermo, quienes fueron realmente aquellos hombres. Quieren tratar de identificarlos con nombres y apellidos. Hay un buen número de descendientes de aquellos hombres con los cuales correlacionar los resultados.

De este análisis, han surgido ciertos resultados chocantes que están impactado de forma sensacionalista los titulares de algunas noticias. Aparentemente, existe la posibilidad de que participaran mujeres en aquella expedición cuando legalmente no deberían de haberlo hecho. Se ha descartado la posibilidad de que algunos de los huesos encontrados pudieran pertenecer a ninguna mujer Inuit que hubiera podido morir eventualmente en la zona, de manera que, de acuerdo a la edad de los huesos encontrados y a sus origines europeos, parece que éstos solo podrían haber pertenecido a algún participante de la expedición de Franklin.

Por lo que he leído, el análisis de estas pruebas no debe ser nunca considerado concluyente al cien por cien porque no es fácil averiguar la edad, o incluso el género, de ciertas muestras de ADN si éstas han sido expuestas a los elementos como ha sido el caso. Así que, a falta de una mejor aproximación, es aconsejable ser prudentes ante estas noticias.

Y ahora viene la parte que me gusta más. Hace tres años, en octubre de 2014, jugué precisamente con esta idea, de que podría ser que hubieran participado mujeres en la expedición de Franklin. En aquel entonces me pregunté a mi mismo: - ¿Porqué no?-  Ya habían estado penetrando en las filas de la Marina Real de forma inadvertida mucho tiempo antes de 1845 cuando la expedición partió. En aquella entrada de blog de hace dos años, y que podéis consultar más abajo, escribí exactamente lo siguiente:

"¿Cuantas veces no habremos oído o leído esta frase, u otras parecidas como esta?:

- En 1845 los ciento veintinueve hombres de la expedición de Franklin desaparecieron en el ártico y jamás fueron vueltos a ver.-

¿Podemos asegurar este hecho? ¿Podemos estar cien por cien seguros de que estamos en lo cierto? ¿O quizás deberíamos considerar la posibilidad de que la composición real de la expedición fuera de hecho de ciento veintiocho hombres y una mujer? ¿Podemos afirmar que todos y cada uno de los componentes de la expedición de Franklin eran hombres?"

Podéis leer aquel premonitorio post aquí, (aunque en su momento lo escribí en Inglés y todavía tengo que traducirlo), donde recorría los casos mas conocidos de mujeres que se habían enrolado en las tripulaciones de los barcos de la Marina Británica.

"Chicas grumete" - Cabin girl post
http://kabloonas.blogspot.com.es/

Ahora, aunque me gustaría gritarle al mundo aquella frase de "¡Te lo dije!", en realidad estoy bastante seguro de que este no es mas que uno de esos juegos que la ciencia juega de vez en cuando con nosotros y que pronto se probará que ninguna mujer, o muchacha participó, nunca realmente en la expedición.

Estoy orgulloso de pensar que al fin y al cabo, yo mismo podría haber sido un "descubridor" de algo que estuviera relacionado con la expedición de Franklin. No es que hubiera sido en ese momento poseído por algún maligno espíritu que me mostrara la luz, o sido visitado por algún fantasma bien informado, como aquella experiencia vivida por la hermana de la difunta Weasy Coppin. Se trata más bien de que me gusta explorar cualquier posibilidad antes de descartar cualquier idea, no importa lo improbable que pueda parecer (reductio ad absurdum). Me siento a veces un poco como Henry Fonda en "Doce hombres justos, tratando de convencer a todos sus compañeros de jurado acerca de la inocencia del acusado. Si no puedes probar que es culpable, entonces éste debe ser considerado inocente (en realidad estaríamos hablando de presunción de inocencia, más que reducción al absurdo, pero vosotros me entendéis).  Si no podemos probar que todos los hombres de la expedición de Franklin eran hombres, entonces existe la posibilidad de que uno, o quizás más, pudieran ser mujeres.

En fin, que si finalmente se demuestra que una mujer participó en la expedición, continuaré soñando que alguien me premiará por esta deducción a la que llegué tres años atrás, espero que con algunas medallas, árticas si es posible, y que desde los salones del Almirantazgo Británico recibiré las correspondientes felicitaciones y hurras por mis servicios prestados en favor de la causa.

Kristina Gehrman, una fervorosa Franklinita, autora del único cómic publicado acerca de la fatídica expedición, sugirió que las posibilidades de que esto pudiese suceder eran exiguas. -¿Porque? - en su opinión, los exámenes físicos se suponía que tenían que ser concienzudos a la hora de seleccionar a las tripulaciones de aquellas expediciones Árticas, donde los participantes se suponía iban a estar aislados del mundo exterior durante años sin oportunidad de enviar a casa a los enfermos. Habría sido extraño que alguna mujer o muchacha hubiese escapado a ese examen. Es un planteamiento muy razonable a tener en cuenta. 

Yo por mi parte, no obstante, no estoy tan seguro, y aún albergo mis dudas al respecto. Muchos hombres fueron reclutados por recomendación de oficiales con los cuales habían navegado previamente. Quizás bajo la influencia de estos, aquellos hombres y quizás otros candidatos se saltaran los exámenes médicos. Por otro lado, no era infrecuente que los hombres se enrolasen padeciendo ya tuberculosis u otras enfermedades, que solían tratar de esconder para evitar ser rechazados. Si ellos eran capaces de eso, quizás, los eventuales aspirantes a tripulante del sexo femenino podrían haber ocultado también su género. Por cierto, y aunque no viene al caso, aquellos hombres que ocultaban sus enfermedades al embarcar, normalmente eran los primeros en morir en el transcurso de la primera invernada.

Continuemos entonces pensando que había mujeres entre las tripulaciones de los barcos Erebus y Terror y pongamos así algo de color y variedad a una historia que nunca cesa de sorprendernos con cada nuevo y sorprendente descubrimiento. Hace pocos días que se han reanudado las inmersiones en el naufragio del HMS Terror ¿Que será lo siguiente en dejarnos boquiabiertos? Me pregunto.

WOMEN IN THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION? - I KNEW IT!!

We live in a strange world, but not less strange than the world which preceded us.

There is in course a new investigation which tries to identify, through the analisys of the DNA samples obtained from the bones of the men of the Franklin expedition found in King William island, who actually were those men. There is not a short number of descendants of those men whose DNA would serve to correlate the results.

From this analisys have arisen certain shocking results which are hitting with some spectacularity the headlines of some pieces of news. Apparently there is a chance that there were women in that expedition. It has been discarded the possibility that those bones could belong any Inuit woman who could have eventually deceased in the area, so, according to the age of the bones found and their european origins, they only could have belonged to a participant of the Franklin expedition. 

From what I have read, the analysis of these evidences can´t be conclusive one hundred percent because it is not easy to ascertain the age or even the gender of certain DNA samples, specially if they have been exposed to the elements as it has been the case. So, in default of a better approach, is  advisable to be prudent in front of these news.

And now it comes the part I like more. Three years ago, in october of 2014, I played with the idea of women participating in the Franklin expedition. I wonder to myself, Why not? They had been penetrating in the ranks of the Royal Navy inadvertedly year after year.  My exact words were:

"How many times have we heard or read this sentence or similar others like this?: 

"In 1845 the one hundred and twenty nine men of the Franklin expedition dissapeared in the Arctic and were never seen again".

Could we assert this fact and be one hundred percent sure we are right? or perhaps should we consider the possibility that the composition of the expedition was in fact one hundred and twenty eight men and a woman? Could we say that each one of the  components of the Franklin expedition was a man?"

You can read the whole post here, where I run through the most known cases of women enroling into the crews of Royal Navy ships.

Cabin girl post

Now, though I would like to say to the world that universal phrase: "I TOLD YOU", I am quite sure this is only one of this games science plays with us, and that it will be soon proved that any women or girl had participated ever in the expedition, I am proud of thinking that I was a "discoverer" (or diviner) of something related with the Franklin expedition. It is not exactly that I was possesed by any evil spirit which showed me the light or that I was visited by any well informed ghost, like that experience endured by Weasy Coppin´s sister. It is more that I like to explore any possibilities before discarding any idea no matter how improbable could it seems (reductio ad absurdum), a little bit like Henry Fonda did in "12 Angry men" trying to convince all his jury mates about the inocence of the accused, if you can´t prove he is guilty, then he is innocent, if we can´t prove all of the men of the Franklin expedition were men, then there is a chance one or maybe more could be a woman. 

I will keep on dreaming someone is going to award me for this deduction I came across three years ago, hopefully with some medals (arctic medals preferibly) and that I would be given a warm and hearty farewell while walking out of the Arctic-Council hall-room of a virtual Admiralty, among applauses, cheers and hoorays for my services in favour of the cause. 

Kristina Gehrman, a fervent Franklinite author of a comic about the ill-fated expedition, suggested that the chances of that happening should  be shallow, because in her opinion, physical examination was expected to be conducted thoroughly and in detail for those Arctic expeditions which were supposed to be isolated for years far from any chance to send home sick men. So it would have been strange any women or girl could have escaped that checking. That is a very good and reasonable point.

I am not so sure, though. And here glides the shadow of the doubt.  Many men were recruited under the influence of officers with who they had formerly sailed, and maybe those skipped the medical examination. Besides, it wasn´t uncommon that men were enroled already suffering of consumption, illness which they use to conceal to the board in order to prevent them to be rejected. If they were able of doing that, women could have concealed, maybe, their gender. Those men usually formed part of the first on suffering a premature death, normally during the first winter.

Let´s then continue thinking there were women among the crews of the Erebus and Terror and put some colour and variety to a story which never ceases of surprising us with new and astonishing facts. What is next? I have to wonder.

   

LA EXPLORACIÓN POLAR NO TIENE EDAD

Hoy en día vivimos en un mundo de records y superación personal. La edad es una artificial frontera para algunos pero también un atractivo reto para otros. No pocas veces vemos en las noticias que  alguien es el primero en hacer determinada hazaña con la edad más avanzada, subir al Everest, correr una Marathon, etc, etc.

El primer ejemplo que se me viene a la menta, a pesar de no tratarse de un explorador polar, es el de Carlos Soria, nuestro querido Himalayista que con 78 años continua enseñándonos, ochomil detrás de ochomil, que una de nuestras principales barreras para cumplir nuestros sueños está en nuestra mente y no en nuestro cuerpo. 

Hablaré por encima de aquellos exploradores polares que conozco en mayor profundidad, y que son aquellos que probaron suerte en el pasaje del Noroeste y Noreste durante el siglo XIX y anteriores.

Por lo que he podido comprobar en un primer escrutinio, principalmente las edades de estos hombres estaban comprendidas entre los 40 y 50 años, aunque pronto veremos como otros no encontraron barreras físicas o mentales que les retuvieran en casa y superaron ampliamente esa edad.

Al inglés John Cabot, o Juan Caboto, uno de los pioneros en la exploración de los mares del norte, se le atribuye a sus 47 años el descubrimiento en 1497 de Newfounland, en la costa este de Canadá , no mucho después de que Cristobal Colón "descubriera" América.

John Cabot

Henry Hudon tenía 42 años cuando partió en su primera expedición polar hacia el archipiélago de Svalbard en 1607 y solo 45 años cuando le abandonaron a su suerte sus amotinados compañeros en la bahía de Hudson a pesar de que se le represente en uno de sus cuadros  mas famosos como a un anciano.

Henry Hudson, abandonado por sus camaradas

William Barentzs con 44 años partió hacia el pasaje del Noroeste en 1594 y Jens Munk tenía 40 cuando tuvo que pasar forzosamente un invierno en la costa oeste de la Bahía de Hudson en 1619, aventura de la que solo él y otros dos compañeros milagrosamente sobrevivieron, el resto de sus 62 hombres no tuvieron tanta suerte.  Vitus Bering, elevó un poco la media de edad de aquellos pioneros. Murió durante su segunda expedición a Kamchatcka en 1741 con 60 años de edad de escorbuto en la isla de Bering frente a la costa de la península.

Pero uno de los casos que mas sorprende es el de James Knight que, nacido en 1640, murió  junto con sus 49 tripulantes en 1721 con 80 años de edad en Marble island, una desolada roca situada también en la costa oeste de la bahía de Hudson. Un record a priori difícil de creer. 

Entrando ya en mi querido siglo XIX, tenemos el ejemplo del doctor John Richardson, un hombre excepcional. Naturalista y cirujano, tampoco era un niño cuando con 61 años, participó en 1848 en una de las primeras expediciones de rescate en pos del desaparecido John Franklin. Esta vez se trataría de una expedición por tierra, que cruzaría todo el continente Americano desde Nueva York hasta la desembocadura del río McKenzie en la costa norte de Canadá. Un impresionante viaje de miles de kilómetros que debían realizar en parte a pie y en parte en canoa. Allí pasó el invierno de 1848 a 1849 para regresar la primavera siguiente a Inglaterra.

Me extenderé un poco más y terminaré con John Ross, uno de mis exploradores favoritos. Tan duro de constitución como de cabeza (quizás por eso me cae tan bien). Tenía 40 años cuando partió en 1818 en una de las primeras expediciones que se hicieron durante ese siglo en busca del pasaje del Noroeste. John Ross se dio la vuelta durante aquel viaje y volvió a casa después de asomarse a las puertas del pasaje, el estrecho de Lancaster, porque creyó ver que unas montañas cerraban el paso. 

El joven oficial William Edward Parry, con 28 años, estaba al mando del barco consorte de Ross. No podía creer que Ross no quisiera explorar el final de lo que a su patrón le había  parecido una bahía. Aquel prematuro regreso daría alas a Parry que posteriormente dirigiría cuatro expediciones, tres al pasaje del Noroeste y una al polo Norte. La primera expedición la dirigiría con 29 años en 1819, sería responsable de 94 hombres con los que pasaría un invierno en la remota isla Melville, ubicada prácticamente a la salida del pasaje en su extremo oeste. Con Parry se inició una nueva generación de exploradores que destacaban sobre todo por su edad, eran del orden de 20 años mas jóvenes que su predecesores.

John Ross

Pero lo que hace merecedor a John Ross de aparecer en este ranking no es su primera expedición ártica, sino la última.

John Franklin partió en los barcos Erebus y Terror en su fatídico intento de atravesar el paso del Noroeste en 1845, donde perdería la vida él y sus 128 acompañantes. Cuando el almirantazgo Británico decidió que fuera John Franklin quien comandara la expedición, las mayores dudas que se albergaron acerca de su idoneidad para el cargo tenían que ver sobre todo con su edad, que por aquel entonces era de 59 años. John Ross prometió a Franklin dos días antes de que partieran salir en su búsqueda si pasados dos años no daban señales de vida. Sus palabras textuales fueron:

"Me ofreceré voluntario para ir en tu busca si no tenemos noticias tuyas para febrero de 1847, pero por favor, deja alguna nota en el mojón de señalización donde invernes diciendo que ruta vas a seguir." 

John Franklin no dejó tal nota, o si lo hizo ésta nunca fue encontrada. Cuando el tiempo pasó, John Ross puso la maquinaria en marcha para organizar la expedición de rescate. Primero se dirigió al Almirantazgo y luego a Lady Jane la esposa de Franklin, ambos le denegaron su apoyo. Tuvieron que pasar tres años hasta que finalmente, la Hudson Bay Company, financió la expedición y en 1850 con 73 años de edad partió hacia el norte en pos de Franklin. Y no solo eso, John Ross pasó un invierno en Beechey Island en el archipiélago Canadiense , a 74º de latitud, junto con el resto de expediciones que andaban por la zona buscando al explorador perdido. Ross es descrito durante aquella expedición por uno de los otros capitanes que invernaban en la zona como: 

"Un hombre de constitución cuadrada, aparentemente poco maltratado por los años y bien capaz de  soportar los avatares y peligros de la vida. Le han herido en varias batallas, dos veces gravemente, y tiene cicatrices desde la cabeza hasta los pies. Ha dirigido ya dos expediciones polares, y en una de ellas realizó la inigualable hazaña de invernar hasta cuatro veces en las nieves del ártico. Y aquí está ahora, de nuevo en su cascaron de nuez, embarcado en la cruzada de buscar a un camarada perdido." 

JOHN FRANKLIN, OWEN STANLEY AND THE DOG-LINE OF EAGLEHAWK NECK

The time John Franklin spent in Van Diemen´s land won´t be the time for what he would be mostly remembered by the world, in spite of he and his wife Lady Jane, left there a deep print.

John Franklin arrived at this land by january of 1837 and was its governor till 1844, when he returned to England before leading his final expedition to the Arctic. Not much later after his arrival, Franklin and his wife were paying a visit to the defensive system which prevented convicts of Port Arthur to escape from the prison facility to the mainland: The terrible Dog-line placed in Eaglehawk neck. 

Sir John Franklin and Lady Jane visiting the Dog line in Eaglehawk neck.
You can see a more sketchy image of the same scene but at higher resolution here.

Eaglehawk neck is a narrow istmus of land, of an interesting geological origin by the way, which links the rest of Australia with the irregular peninsula where the prison of Port Arthur was once located. The Dog-line was exactly what its name indicates, a long line of around eighteen fierce dogs chained to improvised barrel-made houses. The line was also provided with a serie of lamps that would allow the dogs to see better the unwary prisoners who were trying to escape through that route.

Eaglehawk Neck nowadays from above.

That visit surely provoked on John´s peaceful and pious mind not few nausea and horror, at least that is what I have always thought every time I have taken a look at that picture. There is something in Franklin´s countenance, that tight smile, almost a grin, which invites you to think he was horrified at the sight of those savage and ravenous dogs. What could that ferocity could mean for the poor convicts which fell into their jaws?. Franklin stays rigid wearing proudly, as it happens in many of John Franklin portraits, the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order with which he was awarded in 1836, together with other decorations. What the scene transmit to me is countersigned for what I read in some notes written by Frank Debenham and which you can find in Polar Record. The papers, which describes the visit of Erebus and Terror to Van Diemen´s land, illustrate the scene as follows:

"The situation is admirably depicted in a sketch, which is published in the Life of Lady Jane Franklin by W. F. Rawnsley, illustrating a visit of the Vice-Regal party to the penal settlement of Port Arthur. The group is inspecting Eaglehawk Neck, a narrow isthmus which was the only possible route of escape to the mainland, and which was therefore guarded by savage dogs chained in a line across the low neck, just within reach of each other. The excessively dignified attitude of the Governor, the dainty appearance of his lady and the portentous mien of the officers are in so great a contrast to the line of raging beasts, the lamp posts and the sentries behind them that one would consider it grotesque were it not for the murky figures of some convicts themselves in the background, and the obviously truthful character of the picture."

I couldn´t find the sketch where in the notes it is said it should appear, that is, in "The Life of Lady Franklin by F.W. Rawnsey". Maybe the drawing was published in a different edition of the book which I consulted in Google books. If it is not there, I wonder from where this image actually comes. 

The title of the picture, whenever I found it in the Internet, reads "The visit of Sir John and Lady Franklin to the Dogline in 1837". But was it actually done by that year? It is the style of the sketch, which invited me to think the author of this drawing could be Owen Stanley, the navy officer which is famous among Franklin enthusiasts for his watercolours of the HMS Terror and other arctic related scenes. There is something familiar in the way this sketch was painted which reminds me strongly Owen´s style. Was Stanley present at the moment of that visit?. We will find out that soon.

Owen Stanley departed in april of 1836 on board HMS Terror sailing as second lieutenant under George Back orders while trying to find a passage to the west north of Hudson Bay. He didn´t come back to England till the 31st of august of 1837.  You can see part of his artistic work during that time in the National Maritime Museum collection here. It was then, the 21st of december of 1837, months after returning from the Arctic, when he was given command of HMS Britomart. His orders?, establishing a colony at Port Essington (north of Australia). You can see many of his excellent drawings of that trip in two volumes called "Voyage of HMS Britomart from 1837 to 1843".

Though in some places I have found that they departed from England in september of 1838, the fact that the colony was set up only a month after, in october of the same year, suggests that the ship could have sailed from England months before that date, surely stopping in their way in the British settlement of Van Diemen´s land. From this other link, I have learned HMS Britomart reached Hobart the 22nd of july of 1838 and that Owen Stanley met Franklin there. It is specifially said that: 

"The Governor of Tasmania, Capt Sir John Franklin, RN, met Capt Robert Fitzroy, RN, HMS Beagle, Capt Sir Gordon Bremer, RN, HMS Alligator, and Lt Owen Stanley, RN, HMS Britomart, at Hobart."  

That places Owen Stanley in Hobart and in company of Franklin much more close to the year on which the sketch was allegedly made. More than I have previously foreseen and making possible that the visit to the dog-line could have been actually done a year later that when it was supposed, that means in 1838 instead of in 1837. I haven´t been able to find details of that encounter, I would be glad if someone could put some light to this event.

I thought maybe Franklin would have liked to show and horrified Fitzroy, Stanley and the others, the facilities of Port Arthur including the Dog-line of Eaglehawk neck, maybe the sight of the dogs impressed Owen that much that he decided to put the scene into a paper, or maybe this sketch was just the work of any other artist. But there is another fact which relates place and artist though not the year. Eaglehawk neck was painted in this watercolour in january of 1841 by Owen Stanley when he landed there (well in 1838 or during his second visit of 1840 after frustrating the French attempt to stablish a colony in south New Zealand).

Many of us know very well, as I mentioned before, part of Owen Stanley´s work. Specially those paintings which show HMS Erebus and HMS Terror during the first stages of their voyage to the Canadian arctic archipielago. But few of us know how was him like and how huge was his artistic work. This portrait of him which I have found today in the Internet, and who knows if it was painted by Owen himself, is apparently available in Dunham Massey, Chesire England. 

Owen Stanley
From the collection of Dunham Massey, Cheshire

Owen´s drawings not only show landscapes and ships, he also usually shows very realistic scenes where people, like the crews of the ships, aborigins,etc. behaved in their daily lives. As if they were vignettes of an adventure comic book, you can see the life, as he saw it through his own eyes, almost in motion, as for example happens here and here. That´s precisely the style you can see in the picture which shows Franklin´s visit to the Dog-line.

The casual style you can see in his drawings, (like the drawing called "The unprotected female" also available in the NMM), the liveliness what you can deduce from the title of other of his drawings like "Man Overboard off the North Point of New Zealand" or in that other which apparently shows himself being attacked by an albatross, together with his visit in july of 1838, are my strongests points to sustain my theory that it was Owen Stanley the author of the Dog-line drawing which is consuming me.

There are other connections between Owen and Franklin which could help to understand why he could have drawn that sketch. Stanley sailed for some time on board HMS Rainbow in 1831 as Lieutenant under Franklin orders, surely that was the origin of a friendship which would last till the day Franklin vanished. Poor Stanley died at the early age of 39 without knowing yet the whereabouts of the Erebus and Terror expedition. Whatever happened in HMS Rainbow during its service in the Mediterranean, maybe it would be reflected in James Harrison journal. The Rainbow was Franklin first command after returning from his overland expeditions in North America.

Stanley´s premature death is involved in mistery. There are several versions about what could have killed him so soon. Illness, or another one much more morbid which says  he could have committed suicide after receiving the awful news that his father, uncle and brother had died while he was sailing through the southern seas.

As I said, part of Stanley´s work is available in the National Maritime Museum and other part should be available in the Royal Society of Tasmania. According to a piece of paper from april 1931 which I have found in the Evening post, his widow presented the Society the collection of sketches mentioned above from his years serving on board HMS Britomart (1837-1841). The article, interesting because it is one of the few sources of information which tells Owen story, is titled as follows:

Piece of news from Evening post, 1931

It has been my curiosity to guess who was the artist after that singular sketch which has led me to Owen Stanley and his fascinating history. He, from my point of view, was another of those outstanding characters related with the arctic exploration whose name should occupy a prominent place in the hall of fame together with some of the most famous ones. His story has been told in the book: Owen Stanley R.N. 1811-1850 Captain of the Rattlesnake by Adelaide Lubbock.

Owen Stanley R.N. 1811-1850 Captain of the Rattlesnake

 His grave was for some time not properly marked in the cemetery of Cammeray, but at least, he had a plaque in his memory which still exist in St Thomas Church in Sydney which you can see here. Apparently, now there is a map of the church and graveyard which shows you where exactly lies his body.

Well, it seems that after all this digression, we still will continue without having the answers to the main question which led me to start this post:

Who was the artist after that powerful sketch which shows that terrified Franklin in the Dog-line?

Now, right before publishing this, I have thought that maybe, and logically, my desired answer could lie on Lubbock´s book which tells his life, what better place to look for it? It would be perfect if that book would be waiting for me in my bookselves, but unfortunately that´s not the case. My last resort is then to beg within the very scarce  fragments of it which are available in Google Books using keywords as "Eaglehawk neck". Doing it I have found a very promising sentence inside the "HMS Britomart 1837-43" chapter which reads the following:

"The Vice-Regal party was transported from Eaglehawk neck"

Which put together at Owen Stanley and John Franklin not only in the proper period but also in Eaglehawk neck.