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Logan Zachary ⚓️Franklin Expedition

@illuminator.bsky.social

Franklin Expedition news+research. I write a monthly-ish newsletter for this stuff. www.illuminator.blog

36 Posts335 Follower44 Folgt
Kitty@kittyfisher.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We know Harry Goodsir sent back a couple of papers for publication while he was aboard Erebus. But there’s another one, that he sent to his brother John at the end of June 1845, that wasn’t published. I’ve transcribed it, and written about it, here 👇🏻 edwardforbes.net/2026/06/17/a...

An unpublished paper sent by Harry Goodsir from HMS Erebus

Making a guest appearance in these pages is Harry Goodsir, surgeon, anatomist and naturalist; and friend and mentee of Edward Forbes. Forbes was a close friend of Harry’s older brother John, with w…

edwardforbes.net

Alison@finger-post.blog · 4mo ago

So happy to see this introduction to #FranklinExpedition artefacts collected by Hall in the 1860s. These are at the Smithsonian, and therefore could probably be considered "at risk" what with [FX: gestures at absolutely everything]. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Franklin expedition relics recovered by Charles F. Hall at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. | Polar Record | Cambridge Core

Franklin expedition relics recovered by Charles F. Hall at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. - Volume 62

cambridge.org

Alison@finger-post.blog · 10mo ago

How's your Sunday? A bit meh? Maybe it needs some Tragic Doomed Love! Heroism! Horrible Death! Bitching! Watercolours! Missing Gravemarkers! and Men Geeking Out Over Flowers! It's all here: finger-post.blog/2025/11/02/g... #FranklinExpedition #FranklinSearch

"He died much lamented": George S. Malcolm of HMS Resolute, and his grave on Griffith Island - THERE STOOD NO FRIENDLY FINGER-POST TO GUIDE US

George Malcolm of HMS Resolute died in the Arctic searching for the Franklin Expedition. His grave marker would go on a journey of its own.

finger-post.blog

Kitty@kittyfisher.bsky.social · last yr.

In a way, it’s sort of a good thing most of the pubs mentioned in this piece by @illuminator.bsky.social and @finger-post.blog are gone, because IMAGINE the carnage a Franklin pub crawl would create across London. www.illuminator.blog/p/londonpubs...

The wreck of The Sir John Franklin (and other Franklin Expedition pubs of London).

By Logan Zachary & Alison Freebairn.  July 15, 2025. { Outside the East India Docks.  May 25th, 2023. }    Perhaps everyone reading...

illuminator.blog

Alison@finger-post.blog · 2y ago

"...if intelligence be not received, before the 31st March of the officers and crews of HMS Erebus and Terror being alive, they will be considered as having died in service." This "sentence of death", as Lady Franklin described it, fell on the #FranklinExpedition OTD in 1854. #NavalHistory

The front page of the 1845 muster book of HMS Erebus (TNA ADM 38/672). A note at the bottom reads "Officers & Ships Company are to be considered as having died in the Service & the Wages are to be paid to their Relatives to 31 March 1854".The front page of the 1845 muster book of HMS Terror (TNA ADM 38/1962). A note at the bottom reads "Officers & Ships Company are to be considered as having died in the Service & the Wages are to be paid to their Relatives to 31 March 1854".
Alison@finger-post.blog · 3y ago

I've been wandering around cemeteries looking for graves related to the #FranklinExpedition and other Arctic disasters for years now. But I had no idea that the great scholar RJ Cyriax had done all this many decades ago, and that his photo albums were in Ottawa: finger-post.blog/2024/02/18/r...

Richard J. Cyriax and his Franklin graves photography - THERE STOOD NO FRIENDLY FINGER-POST TO GUIDE US

Cyriax is revered for his scholarship on the Franklin Expedition. But he also created a visual record of the history through his photography.

finger-post.blog

Alison@finger-post.blog · 3y ago

This one has been many years in the making, and involved two trips to Canada to work with the original headboards placed over the graves of three of Sir John Franklin's men in 1846. And this is just part one! It gets even nerdier from this point on. #19thC #NavalHistory #PolarExploration

A grainy black and white image of five men in dark clothing standing in a line on a gravel beach. There is a line of grave markers. The caption reads "Headstones of four of Sir John Franklin's men, Erebus Bay." The image is from Joseph-Elzéar Bernier's 1910 book "Report on the Dominion of Canada Government Expedition to the Arctic Islands and Hudson Strait on board the D.G.S. ‘Arctic’." The copy was from Ann Savours' library. Thank you, Ann.
Logan Zachary ⚓️Franklin Expedition@illuminator.bsky.social · 3y ago

www.illuminator.blog/p/gravemarke... New long-form article. A letter-by-letter crawl through the Beechey grave inscriptions. 1st installment.

Tristan F.@tristanaef.bsky.social · 3y ago

I can now share the poster on Careers of the Franklin Expedition that I presented at Terror Camp! Here's a blog post about Terror Camp, the project, and next steps: 🔗 wordpress.com/post/tristan... And here's the poster in all its glory: tinyurl.com/fe-careers #terrorcamp2023 #NavalHistory #c19th

Careers of the Franklin Expedition

I began this project to answer the question: which members of the Franklin Expedition might have known each other before they set sail? My initial results were presented at Terror Camp 2023 from Decem...

tristanaefwrites.wordpress.com

Logan Zachary ⚓️Franklin Expedition@illuminator.bsky.social · 3y ago

tl;dr This is an endorsement of the Vitamin B deficiency theory first suggested by Park & Stenton in 2019 ("Use Your Best Endeavours..."), namely, that a lack of game northwest of King William Island could have led to beriberi derailing the Franklin Expedition.

Alison@finger-post.blog · 3y ago

A new paper by Keith Millar has just been published online for Polar Record. Excitement! #19thC #HistMed #NavalHistory "Victorian prescience: The Lancet medical journal and the loss of the Franklin expedition, 1845–1859". bit.ly/3uREeXf

trimaris@trimaris.bsky.social · 3y ago

If you see this, post a ship. This is #HMSInvestigator on her #Arctic journey in search of the lost #Franklinexpedition, left pic: 1850(by Cresswell), right pic: 2011 (by Brett Seymor, Parks Canada). On Board was Johann August Miertsching. #Miertsching #tallships #parkscanada #arcticexpedition

Druck nach einer Farbskizze von Cresswell: HMS Investigator im Packeis, Oktober 1850Foto zeigt HMS Investigator auf dem Grund der Mercy Bay in der kanadischen Arktis/ Banks Island, mit einem Taucher (ein Unterwasser- Archäologe) im Sommer 2011. © Parks Canada, Brett Seymour
Dreadnought Holiday@dreadships.bsky.social · 3y ago

If you see this, post a ship. (No, that's not AI having another fit. Yes, they did actually build that thing. No, I can't explain it either.)

French battleship Jemappes apparently trying to hide itself underneath the ocean surface. It's wetter than an otter's pocket.