Digging for Gold at the Library: Jeannette

(by Gina Bardi, Reference Librarian)

As winter settles in San Francisco, my mind turns towards all things cold. Arctic exploration is the coldest thing one can do, save for streaking on Pluto. The brave adventurers who set out to the literal ends of the earth to explore frozen landscapes have always been a great interest of mine. What would make someone decide this was a good idea when so few ended well? It's more than the urge to push physical limitations or to be the first at something. No, there must be so much more than the desire for glory or the push of curiosity. I just hope it never calls to me because frankly, I'm freezing right now and it's only about 50 degrees outside. I believe I am half reptile because laying on a hot rock in the sun is way more my style than scrambling over ice shelves, but still--I love to read about polar exploits while wrapped in a blanket safely ensconced in an armchair by the fire.

While perusing our polar section, I came across this wonderful spine:



And cover:



For those who don't know, The Jeannette left San Francisco in 1879 with a crew made up of naval personnel and a few civilians in order to reach the North Pole. Things did not go as planned; when do they in the arctic? Only a handful of her crew were rescued in 1881 after an arduous trek over land and in open sea. Here's a brief account of the expedition.

I've heard of the Jeannette before, but I haven't read anything in depth about her. This book looks to be perfect introduction as it's a combination of personal narratives, documents, and beautiful engravings. Here's one of the ship being abandoned:



It certainly must be the most wretched feeling in the world to see your ship crushed before you. Lieutenant Danenhower, the ship's navigator, had this to say of her sinking:

It was said that the ice first closed upon her, then relaxing allowing the wreck to sink; the yards caught across the ice and broke off, but being held by the lifts and braces were carried down; depth, thirty-eight fathoms, as I remember. The next morning the captain and others visited the spot and found only one cabin chair and a few pieces of wood--all that remained of our old and good friend, the Jeanette, which for many months had endured the embrace of the Arctic monster. (p. 206).

So while winter roars around you, and you retreat to the comforts of woolen socks and knitted scarves, remember those who have endured the embrace of the arctic monster and raise your cocoa mug to them.

Source: Newcomb, Raymond Lee; Bliss, Richard W. Our lost explorers : the narrative of the Jeannette Arctic expedition as related by the survivors, and in the records and last journals of Lieutenant De Long. Hartford : American Publishing Co., 1883, c1882.

Mirrored from Full Fathom Five, due to its lack of rss feed & functioning commenting.

Ka'iulani Murphy intervew

Lindsay Patterson's interview with Ka'iulani Murphy, "Ka’iulani Murphy’s star compass helps navigate oceans," is available in text and audio at one of my favorite blogs, EarthSky.org.

She succinctly describes traditional Hawaiian navigation, which uses the clues in nature to navigate on the ocean, rather than instruments such as a magnetic compass. In the short interview, she addresses how she navigates on cloudy nights when she can't see the stars, and where she plans to travel--around the world.

Library of the HMS Beagle

A while ago I posted about the library catalog of the ship's and crew's libraries, reconstructed on LibraryThing. Another Legacy Library of note is cataloged there as well, that of the HMS Beagle. From the "About my Library" section of the Library Profile Page:

This library is based on the Darwin Project's Books on the Beagle reconstruction of the library aboard the HMS Beagle complied "from the Beagle correspondence, CD’s diary, field notebooks, and the extensive zoological and geological notes."

The "Books on the Beagle" article includes the regulations for the library in eight short points, the second of which instructs the user to create a temporary cover for the book being used. I learned about making these in elementary school for my school textbooks, and still make them occasionally--it's surprising how much protection just a sheet of paper can give. I'm not sure how they make them in Darwin's day, but this is the technique that I learned.

Tom Crean—Sailor On Ice

Our friends group, Friends of the
San Francisco Maritime Museum Library, sends along this announcement:

Tom Crean—Sailor On Ice
Saturday, May 8, 2010, 6:00 p.m. In the Maritime Library. Donation: $5 (general public); $4 (Library Friends and SFMNPA members)

David Hirzel, author of the forthcoming book, Tom Crean—Sailor On Ice, will tell the story of the Antarctic adventures of Irish sailor and explorer Tom Crean. There are more famous names than Crean’s from the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration, but there are few stories as compelling as his. Time and again he was one of three, at times the only one, whose courage in the face of insurmountable odds saved the lives of his companions. The three parts to the story of Crean’s adventures with Scott and Shackleton are told in the names the ships—Discovery, Terra Nova, Endurance.

Dave originally came to SF Maritime to do research for this book and became a volunteer. He now runs the Park's Living History program.

If you can't make it to San Francisco for the event, you can check out the audio drama & visual companion, or David Hirzel's other writings.

Amundsen photo discovered

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has a great article by Damien Larkins, Rare South Pole Photo Brought to Light. The photo is not just a newly discovered image of Amundsen's 1911 South Pole expedition, but is the only print in the world taken from the original negatives of the event.

What makes the story even more compelling is the process of discovery--through the National Library of Australia's digitization efforts, Harald Ostgaard Lund from the Norwegian National Library (pictured on the ABC News blog entry) was able to make the discovery.

Northwest Passage news

If you've been following the Open Passage Expedition, or the news about the Beluga Fraternity, you may be interested in the reader feedback that the NY Times has published on their Dot Earth blog as well as following the Open Passage Expedition on Pipes.

And if you read the NY Times article in print, do check it out online; not only does the article contain links to resources to allow further exploration of the topic, they revise and correct the article in response to reader feedback.

Hodges painting acquired by Whitby

A watercolor by William Hodges, who sailed with Captain Cook, entitled "Matavai Bay," has been acquired by the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby (UK). The Artdaily.org article about the painting has a lovely, large graphic of the painting, and the Culture24 article has some further details.

Lost Franklin clock found

On Canada.com is a Canwest News Service article by Randy Boswell, "Lost timepiece from Franklin Expedition found." The chronometer has "inexplicably surfaced" in Britain, and its story is fascinating. Boswell also reports that staff at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich are hurrying to unravel that mystery as quickly as possible, as the timepiece will be on display within days of this article's publication.

It might be worth watching the NMM's website for updates!

Franklin Expedition developments

"The archeological discoveries exceeded our expectations," says Robert Grenier, chief of underwater archeology at Parks Canada, in a Reuters Canada article. Their major find: fragments of copper sheeting likely from the expedition's vessels. Although fog, snow, and high winds hampered their activities this season, they will be returning to continue their work in 2009 and 2010.

In addition, a detailed essay refuting the long-held theory that the expedition members' lead poisoning was due their tinned food has been published in the September issue of the Journal of the Hakluyt Society. In his paper, which the Society has kindly made available online as a .pdf file (complete with color illustrations), William Battersby attributes the lead poisoning to a unique system for distilling water in Erebus and Terror. These systems, though, were fitted into the ships at the last minute; conclusive proof of the lead content of the systems' components would come through archaeological discoveries. For that, the wait continues.

Arctic chills

I have been eagerly following the current wave of Arctic exploration, and clicked over to the Arctic Chronicles, the new USGS blog by Jessica Robertson, with anticipation. It wasn't the image of ice to port that gave me goosebumps, nor the thrill of following along on an expedition in a way unthought of in Lady Franklin's day; it was the name of the ship: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy.

Captain Healy's thrilling story will give anyone chills. The son of a former slave, I first learned about him through Maria Brooks' film, The Odyssey of Captain Healy. His story is exciting in ways that would ring falsely in fiction, and now the U.S.'s newest and most technologically advanced icebreaker is proudly carrying his name on a voyage of exploration.

Where no water bear has gone before

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are fascinating creatures. They are little studied, but very successful--they live on land, in fresh water, and in the sea. They are amazingly hardy creatures, able to survive incredibly harsh environments, and have become the first known animal able to survive the vacuum of outer space.

Details are in the coverage of the press release in Science Daily, which has a link to the article in Current Biology. If you have access to a microscope, you can go find water bears--see the Goldstein Lab at UNC Chapel Hill's website on tardigrades to learn how. You may fall under their spell--they're absolutely adorable, and as enchanting as any magical creature--they can survive for years without water, even traveling on the wind, can be freeze-dried, and come back to life in minutes when rehydrated.

Still Searching for the Franklin Expedition

It's true; according to Randy Boswell's article, Parks Canada to lead new search for Franklin's ships:

The Canadian government confirmed Friday it will embark on the most extensive search ever for the fabled British shipwrecks Erebus and Terror...

Why send out the icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier? Why look for Franklin's ships after all this time? Not just for global maritime history, but for the reasons that have lain behind maritime exploration for centuries: to boost a claim for sovereignty.

If you're unfamiliar with the Franklin Expedition, or the contemporary issues surrounding nations' claims to seabed rights in the Arctic, read Boswell's article--he summarizes the history and why it's important to the polar nations of today. He even includes a fascinating tidbit: Britain gave the ships to Canada, should they ever be found.

The resources concerning Franklin and the northwest passage are vast; some of the best include:

• Nova's Arctic Passage site
  
• Franklin's narratives at Project Gutenberg
  
• NMM's Northwest Passage site
  

And a there's even a wonderful novel, Andrea Barrett's The Voyage of the Narwhal.

Want to explore virtually? Then follow the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier icebreaker via the sailwx.info website. Imagine what it would have been like for Lady Franklin to have had that option.

Into the Blue

Thanks to Michael D. Barton, I've discovered the Royal Society Library podcasts. Many are offered as mp3 audio as well as m4v video, as is one of particular interest to maritime folks, Into the blue: voyages of discovery 1700-1850 by Rupert Baker, about the voyaging fellows of the Society.

I listened to the audio, and didn't feel that I was missing much, since he includes descriptions of the contents of the visual presentation. The lecture was a fascinating half-hour that began with the nautical connections of the Society in the 17th century, and continued with specific stories about particular people and expeditions. Baker seems to assume no prior maritime knowledge, but specialists may wish to tune in to learn about the Royal Society connections and related resources.

El Niño and Magellan

The news about anthropologists Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Richard Callaghan's upcoming paper on the possible influence of the El Niño phenomenon on Magellan's route has been covered in many sources, but the Discovery Channel's article is worth a read. Not only do they illustrate the article with a beautiful 16th century map, but go to the trouble to create links to some excellent sites, such as Fordham's article on the voyage in their Modern History SourceBook.