The writer, Annie Dillard, in...
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The writer, Annie Dillard, in one of her short but powerful books, tells the story of the ill-
fated Franklin Expedition to the Canadian arctic. In 1845, Sir John Franklin,
accompanied by 138 officers and men, set sail from England. They were determined to
discover the fabled "Northwest Passage" across Canada to the Pacific:
Each of Franklin's three sailing ships was equipped with a steam engine for emergencies and with all of a twelve-day supply of coal, for a journey that was projected to take two to three years. Instead of additional coal, each ship included a 1,200 volume library, a "hand-organ, playing fifty tunes," china place settings for officers and men, cut- glass wine goblets and sterling silver flatware ... Engraved on the handles [of the silverware] were the individual officers' initials and family crests. The expedition carried no special clothing for the arctic, only the uniforms of Her Majesty's Navy.
It was not for many years that England would discover the fate of the Franklin expedition. The Inuit hunters -- the Eskimos, who crisscrossed the frozen north, following their sled dogs -- they knew. They had stumbled across the frozen bodies of the expedition members, in small groups, all across northern Canada.
The ships had become frozen in pack ice. The crewmen decided, after many months of waiting, to walk for help. They took with them whatever items they considered most valuable.
Dillard continues:
[One] search party found two skeletons in a boat on a sledge. They had hauled the boat 65 miles. With the two skeletons were some chocolate, some guns, some tea, and a great deal of table silver. Many miles south of these two was another skeleton, alone. This was a frozen officer ... The skeleton was in uniform: trousers and jacket of "fine blue cloth ... edged with silk braid" ... Over this uniform the dead man had worn "a blue greatcoat, with a black silk neckerchief."
These foolhardy explorers were ill-prepared for the bitter climate of the arctic. Yet, they were so worried about their sterling-silver flatware (engraved with family crests), and their silk-braided uniforms, that they took these trivial items with them on their last, desperate race across the ice.
Each of Franklin's three sailing ships was equipped with a steam engine for emergencies and with all of a twelve-day supply of coal, for a journey that was projected to take two to three years. Instead of additional coal, each ship included a 1,200 volume library, a "hand-organ, playing fifty tunes," china place settings for officers and men, cut- glass wine goblets and sterling silver flatware ... Engraved on the handles [of the silverware] were the individual officers' initials and family crests. The expedition carried no special clothing for the arctic, only the uniforms of Her Majesty's Navy.
It was not for many years that England would discover the fate of the Franklin expedition. The Inuit hunters -- the Eskimos, who crisscrossed the frozen north, following their sled dogs -- they knew. They had stumbled across the frozen bodies of the expedition members, in small groups, all across northern Canada.
The ships had become frozen in pack ice. The crewmen decided, after many months of waiting, to walk for help. They took with them whatever items they considered most valuable.
Dillard continues:
[One] search party found two skeletons in a boat on a sledge. They had hauled the boat 65 miles. With the two skeletons were some chocolate, some guns, some tea, and a great deal of table silver. Many miles south of these two was another skeleton, alone. This was a frozen officer ... The skeleton was in uniform: trousers and jacket of "fine blue cloth ... edged with silk braid" ... Over this uniform the dead man had worn "a blue greatcoat, with a black silk neckerchief."
These foolhardy explorers were ill-prepared for the bitter climate of the arctic. Yet, they were so worried about their sterling-silver flatware (engraved with family crests), and their silk-braided uniforms, that they took these trivial items with them on their last, desperate race across the ice.
