http://io9.com/the-real-story-behind-canadas-sudden-interest-in-arctic-1632972159?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow And I just finished Dan Simmons' The Terror a few months ago, a supernatural thriller based on this lost voyage. The article does go off into some political tangents as to why the current gov in Canada is making such a fuss, but I'll leave that to those from the Great White North to comment.
Apparently the Inuits had known exactly where the ships were this whole time, but no one bothered to go look to validate. That said, it's a joyful time for history and naval history buffs everywhere. They've found the men, now they've found their ships.
I always sang "Lord Franklin" at our family get-togethers. It was one of my favorites and a favorite of my family's. It is now officially obsolete! One of my favorite songs is gone!
Lord Franklin is a great song, but apparently the man himself wasn't much of an 'explorer' and got into bother by making serially bad decisions and ignoring advice. Ray Mears, in his wonderful TV series "Northern Wilderness", gives a really good overview of the situation. And it's true, apparently, that the native people were well aware of what had happened to the Franklin party, and tried to help them, but nobody paid any attention to their stories afterwards. Finding the Northwest Passage and using it as a lucrative trade route was such a huge financial motivator in those days, but it never happened. History has some interesting lessons to teach, doesn't it? Some issues are important to every generation ...some are not.
What I never understood is that they apparently went up there without all the necessary equipment needed to traverse the ice. I mean, wow, really? That'd be like me exploring the Sahara Desert with no water, no food, and clad in thick, wooly clothes. Oh wait, that happened to the French Army during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Even small timers like the Donner Party are no exception. Their decision was "Hey, let's trail off the beaten path, reinvent the wheel and see if we can't find our own way to the destination reached by hundreds before us. Surely nothing horrible will go wrong." History is a funny thing, @jannert . You'd think people back then would have the common sense to check out what the terrain is like first before stepping even a toe into it, but nope, it's "barge in there, lads! To hell with the consequences!" Hey, as a history buff, I feel entitled to mock stupid decisions made by those long dead.
Just ran across this FANTASTIC article in the Canadian Geist magazine about the Franklin issue ...with the title "Who Cares Who Ate John Franklin?" It's a more serious article than the title would indicate, though and well worth a read. As is Geist magazine, for anybody interested in writing. http://www.geist.com/fact/columns/who-cares-who-ate-john-franklin/
