Passage

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It was news that shook the English-speaking world: celebrated British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men had perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage. More shocking, they had descended into madness and cannibalism.

The report came in 1851, from John Rae, a Scottish doctor working for the Hudson's Bay Company. Travelling thousands of miles on foot and in small craft, Rae had done what six years of searching by the British, Americans, French and Russians had failed to do: discover the fate of Franklin and unlock the final link in the Passage, a 300-year-old dream.

But Rae's horrific news did not sit well with Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society, including Charles Dickens. They waged a bitter public campaign that would discredit Rae's version of events, banish him to the margins of history and mark an entire nation of northern Inuit with the horrifying label of murderous cannibals.

With Passage, filmmaker John Walker employs an innovative approach to structuring the incredible multilayered story of John Rae and brings it to vibrant life. Using a unique blend of dramatic action, and behind-the-scenes documentary footage, Walker pulls back the curtain on his own research into Rae's life and that of his actors, as they determine how to portray the characters and scenes in the film. The line between real and dramatic begins to blur as we move closer and closer to the film's climax, a stunning face-to-face meeting between Charles Dickens's great-great grandson and Tagak Curley, an honored Inuit statesman who challenges the fraudulent history. In one moment, Walker vaults the story from the past into the present and we are witness to history in the making.

Set in the actual locations of Rae's journey, from his boyhood home in the remote Orkney Islands off Scotland's north coast to the epic landscape of his Arctic expeditions to the boardroom of the British Royal Navy -- the center of power of the British Empire -- Passage is a story of incredible sacrifice, stunning distortion of the truth and single-minded obsession. It challenges the way we look at history.

'One of the great triumphs in Canadian documentary film history.' Martin Knelman, The Toronto Star

'The most revolutionary documentary made in Canada since John Grierson founded the National Film Board.' Stephen Pedersen, The Chronicle Herald

'An ambitious and fascinating exercise in postmodernist filmmaking. ***1/2' The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

'An elegant, multi-layered film that interrogates the mid-nineteenth historical record on who found the Northwest Passage, tales of cannibalism, and the ever shifting dangers of telling the truth. Using historical re-enactments, documentary footage of actors reading scripts, and a contemporary journey into the Northwest Territories, the film has us re-imagine a doomed voyage of discovery, a Victorian England that refuses to acknowledge that its sailors might have cannibalized one another, an Inuit people seeking justice for their slandered ancestors, and an overlooked but unforgettable Arctic explorer named Dr. John Rae. A compelling story, imaginatively told.' Robb Moss, Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University, Filmmaker, The Same River Twice and Secrecy

'John Walker's Passage is a documentary film like no other; it intermingles historical re-creations with story sessions, roundtable discussions, and the actors' own reflections. By doing so, it opens up a dimension of truth missing from much of the documentary tradition since Nanook of the North; it not only admits but foregrounds its own means of production, again and again urging us to pay attention to the proverbial 'man behind the curtain.'

Dr. John Rae was one of the greatest Arctic surveyors and travelers of his era. Through terrain in which seemingly better-equipped men dispatched by the Royal Navy had met with scurvy, starvation, and death, he hunted with such skill that he often had extra food to give to Inuit he met along the way. Whether or not one believes, as does the Canadian author Ken McGoogan, that Rae's survey of the strait which bears his name should be recognized as the true discovery of the Northwest Passage, knowing his story sets the better-known tragedy of the Franklin expedition in a fuller and richer light.

The acting in the dramatic segments of this film is superb. Rick Roberts' portrayal of Rae is absolutely compelling, and in combining the actor's and the viewer's journey to Rae's character, he comes all the more vividly alive. Geraldine Alexander's Lady Jane Franklin is equally vivid, her determination evident in every word and gesture; Alistair Findlay is true to form as Sir John Richardson, and Guy Oliver-Watts does a brief but brilliant turn as Charles Dickens.

In a scene near the end of the film, Walker manages a strange and strangely compelling feat, getting Dickens's great-grandson to make a personal apology to Tagak Curley, a well-known Inuit politician, for his ancestor's harsh judgment of the Inuit people, whom he denounced as savages with 'a domesticity of blood and blubber.' It's a moment that could have happened in no other film.' Dr. Russell Potter, Professor of English, Rhode Island College, Author, Arctic Spectacles: The Frozen North in Visual Culture, 1818-1875

'The intention of John Walker's spare, graceful film Passage seems clear enough: to tell the story of Dr. John Rae and his discovery of the missing Franklin Arctic Expedition in 1853. Yet nothing in this daring film is straightforward. As much as it chronicles Rae's journey across the Arctic, Passage also traces a journey across time, an encounter with the Victorian world that will mesmerize viewers.' Michael Robinson, Humanities Department, Hillyer College, University of Hartford, Author, The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture

'I found it to be an intricate and quite clever presentation, intellectually rigorous yet delightfully modern...Part debate, part historical reenactment, the story of John Rae's intrepid wanderings in the Canadian Arctic is an insightful and provocative weaving in the tattered cloth of polar history...John Walker's Passage charts a new course in an artful blend of history and perception...In a refreshing blend of formats, combining theater and contemporary discourse with period reenactments, the film facilitates a diverse set of perspectives and voices that resonate as much with the Arctic of the Victorian Age as with the Arctic Nunavut of today.' Dr. Stephen Loring, Arctic Archaeologist and Museum Anthropologist, Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution

'Thought-provoking...Gives the viewer an odd sense of having 'been there'...The film can be watched for educational enrichment, or for pleasure. It could enhance lessons in history, anthropology, Arctic studies, and even literary studies. It is recommended for high school, college and general adult audiences.' Carrie Macfarlane, Middlebury College, Educational Media Reviews Online

'Intriguing...Particularly interesting are the contemporary interviews with the descendants of the native Inuit, who have incorporated Franklin's story into their cultural heritage...A fascinating film for libraries.' Dwain Thomas, formerly Lake Park High School, School Library Journal

'A combination of stunning visuals of the harshly beautiful northern Canadian landscape, together with a close examination of [John] Rae's life and work...Engaging...Highly Recommended.' Video Librarian

'Raise[s] some important issues about cultural differences and cultural perceptions...Suitable for high school and for college courses...in cultural anthropology of exploration/colonialism, anthropology of disasters, and Inuit studies, as well as general audiences.' Jack David Eller, Community College of Denver, Anthropology Review Database

'Inventive and intriguing...Walker combines documentary footage with dramatic action in order to place the viewer in a unique atmosphere of antiquity and realism.' Karlene Ooto-Stubbs, The Uniter

'Passage, a truly remarkable piece of historical filmmaking, is a lyrical model of how to construct a historical project while showcasing both the processes of making that history, as well as the changing political stakes of a specific historical narrative over time. The film's historical subject is Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to discover the Northwest Passage; the shocking report of Hudson's Bay physician John Rae, who found evidence in 1851 that the starving crew had resorted to cannibalism in their last days; and the British counter-narrative which blamed the Inuit for the crew's death, rather than accept Rae's report of cannibalism. Formally, filmmaker John Walker constructs a documentary within a documentary: we see the film crew making the documentary, period costume and all, in the Arctic, in Rae's childhood home in Scotland's Orkney Islands, and in London, while also pursuing (in contemporary garb) the contested historical evidence. As the film unfolds, we learn the extent to which the Victorian narrative of Inuit treachery continues to shape some contemporary understandings of the Franklin expedition. The film's narrative tension builds to an explosive meeting in the boardroom of the British Royal Navy, as Tagak Curley, an honored Inuit statesman, confronts the ongoing, contemporary production of a narrative of British heroism and Inuit savagery. For its unparalleled brilliance in showcasing the historical consequences of making choices in the production of historical narrative, Passage is exemplary for the 'promotion of history,' a central criteria of the Erik Barnouw Award.' Organization of American Historians

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Main credits

Walker, John (Director)
Walker, John (Producer)
Nemtin, Andrea (Producer)
Martin, Kent (Composer)
Roberts, Rick (Narrator)
Alexander, Geraldine (Narrator)

Other credits

Director, John Walker; producers, Andrea Nemtin, John Walker, Kent Martin; music, Jonathan Goldsmith.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Dr. John Rae, Franklin Expedition, Northwest Passage, Sir John Franklin, madness, cannibalism, Hudson's Bay Company, Lady Franklin, Charles Dickens, northern Inuit, Tagak Curley, Orkney Islands, Royal Navy, British Empire,; "Passage"; Bullfrog Films

WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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Doctor, welcome.

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Thank you, the lordship. Your
voyage was fair? As a fish hag.

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I believe, you know all the members
of the council. Gentlemen.

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[music]

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I do wish the circumstances…
We read your report.

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Grim stuff.

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Well, I believe, there is
no way out now, Francis,

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The report is that most that are picture I can
present on the fact that I am dealing with testimony

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as opposed to my own observation of what
transpired. The issue here is Eskimo tales

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of Englishmen eating Englishmen. A number
of us here have spent years in the ice

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on dwindling supplies and yet the
very thought… But I can only assume

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that the thought arrives far along the way

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at the stage of final desperation.

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[music]

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Since the beginning of Arctic exploration,
European navigators dreamed of a passage west

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for the riches of the orient.
The British navy had searched

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for 300 years by the 19th century
the fabled northwest passage

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had become an international obsession.
Like the moon landing in our time.

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By 1845, the British Admiralty

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sent out two state of the art ships under the
command of Sir John Franklin, confident,

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he will return the Arctic hero.
Sir John and his 128 men

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were never seen again. The Holy Grail

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of British exploration
remained an elusive mystery.

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The fate of Franklin and his crew

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set off on one of the largest and
most expensive manhunts in history.

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After six years of searching, driven
by an obsessive grieving widow,

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Lady Jane Franklin, the British navy,
the Americans, Russians, and French

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failed to find any evidence
of the lost voyage.

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[music]

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In the end, it was a doctor John
Rae, a Hudson Bay company employee,

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traveling over 13,000 miles on foot in
a small craft who unlocked the mystery

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of the fate of Franklin and the illusive
final link in the northwest passage.

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But John Rae did not come back a hero.

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Everyone, the British naval commanders
would fail, received a knighthood.

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Rae was abandoned to the margins of history

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because he returned with a story that
shocked the English speaking world.

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[music]

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This is a complex story of pride,

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ambition and obsession.
The search for the truth

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is shrouded in mystery and
controversy to this day.

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We’re planning a fiction film. That’s why
these actors are gathering in London,

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to assemble a team of
filmmakers and script advisors,

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to investigate where the truth lies.
For some in the room,

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the current historical record is fiction.

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We have a Canadian author, historians from
Orkney, Scotland, Cambridge university,

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authorities in British naval history and
an Inukshuk Statesman from Canada’s north

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whose ancestors were guides to John Rae,

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the central character of our story.
(inaudible). Well, it’s uh… I would say umm…

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And of course, a director.
What we’d like to do is,

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umm… do a read through the script. We
haven’t introduced Andrew. Oh, I’m sorry.

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Andrew Berzins, the writer, is… is here.
Yeah, yeah, sorry, the lord.

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Yeah, yeah. Umm… So what we’d like to do
is… I mean, what we are interested in

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from the documentary point of view is do
have a purpose here. Andrew of course is

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interested in… in hearing his dialogue.
Uh… This is a first draft,

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umm… the purpose of the first draft is for the
documentary, if… if this draft was ready to… to take out

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and shoot then we wouldn’t have a documentary.
It’s… it’s so that the film that we’re making is…

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is finding our story. So questions?

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[music]

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Our research begins in Orkney.

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Islands inhabited for some 8,000 years.
Settled by the Norse,

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the islands were pledged to Scotland
in the 15th century by a Danish king.

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For centuries, Orkney was the point of
departure and return for ships heading out

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in search of a northwest
passage to the orient,

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Martin Frobisher in the 16th century, Henry
Hudson in the 17th, and Captain Cook in the 18th.

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The list goes on.

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It is here, in 1813,

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that the future Arctic explorer John
Rae was born. In the parish of orphan,

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in the large island simply
named the mainland.

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[music]

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Show us the house.

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[music]

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I wanted Andrew the scriptwriter
and Rick who will play John Rae

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to get a feel for the place.

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Oh yeah. (inaudible)

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Watch your step.

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[sil.]

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You could just… you could see… like the
whole sound. Yeah. That’s amazing.

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I think that’s this is where he sailed. He pulled up his
boat just down here. Oh, yeah, the other, right, yeah.

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So he could have sailed and sailed all the
way out in that harbor out (inaudible).

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And that’s where he would sit
everyday in the ships. Yeah.

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[music]

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Across the bay from Rae’s home
is the safer harbor strong nest.

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Young Rae would sail for hours, chasing
ships, heading off to the northwest.

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There was a sea port that would inspire
generations of young men eager for adventure.

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One day, Rae too would
be drawn into the allure

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of Arctic exploration and the
quest for the northwest passage.

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[music]

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It’s nearly 200 years since John
Rae walked these streets as a boy.

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But it’s easier to think
that not much has changed.

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Even the weather which changes
roughly 10 times an hour

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remains the same. I can only imagine at the
temper that people hasn’t changed much either.

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[music]

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To a person, there is a gentleness,

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kindness and humility to
those I’ve met so far.

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Beyond that, there is steadfast,
tough, and pleasantly tolerant of me.

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I’m immersing myself in Rae’s journals

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and struggling to get a
handle on the accent.

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A subtle marriage of Scots
and Norse that will

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no doubt be a challenge to
plausibly mimicked down the road.

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[music]

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Well, he was the front and
he was the better of class.

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You know, his father was a
factor of one of largest states.

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And they lived in a large house and they
would have been looked up as part of

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upper classes of society and really

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though he certainly would have been a very
different, it was a very privileged lifestyle

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that they had. Certainly a number
of servants employed in the house

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for upstairs, downstairs
and kind of carry on.

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It’s a nice beautiful drawing. It’s
just giving the impression of an

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John Rae and his family coming
home, one late summer evening

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umm… and the lights are going down and it’s, you know,
with house wallet and… They would have had carriages.

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Yeah, they would have had carriages.
And would that have been a permanent,

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would that have been a servant, their servant? Oh, yes,
they would have had someone to actually drive them.

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So this is the dining room here. That’s some color in there.
Give an idea of what it would have been like for the fire on

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and the table set for dinner
and just the drawing room.

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Oh, the drawing room. Just going from
their evening meal into the drawing room.

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For me you to entertain guests here and it was a very much
a room where people would play cards and remain social,

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so sweet of the hangs. And it would have
had paneling going right through the room.

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Right. So you’ve got the piano
with the set by the books here.

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Fire going, two nice chairs.

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This is for the walking. Yeah. Take the
(inaudible). And then you bring it up.

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You fling it up with
just one movement. Yeah.

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Like that. You’re comfortable. Don’t
put your finger on the trigger

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until you see something.

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(inaudible) from the gun. I just
said himself hunting and shooting.

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But in those days, even uh… (inaudible) well to do family… couldn’t do
it and we fill our freezer from the local supermarket to get fresh food,

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and then, way to do of course was the
hunt, and first, we used to do some(ph),

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it wasn’t purely a hobby for them. It was a
very useful addition to… to the family food.

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But he obviously enjoyed it as much as any other.
When something jumps, you fling the gun out,

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take aim and fire. No your gun now is too.
Now I’m… like this, that’s bad. That’s bad.

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Yeah. Bring it out, you fling
up the gun even (inaudible),

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you seem to assume a bit stiff.
Push your hand…

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Can you show me again?

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Let’s see what… what’s (inaudible).

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I think this arm seems…
It should be… should be…

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Well, once you’re comfortable with.
This isn’t quite right somehow.

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This almost seems…

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Then I… then I can’t get my,

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it’s very strange. Maybe I’m
physically unable to hunt.

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Don’t think so. What sort of
things would John Rae have hunted?

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I think John Rae would have shotguns,
his (inaudible) such as he did. Yeah.

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I suspect, he also shot seals. But he would
have shot that not for food, though or…

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I don’t think he would have eaten the
seal so much as he was for… for oil.

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[music]

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What a sight? It’s not bad, eh. I can think the worst
places is this being(ph) in (inaudible). Exactly.

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Well, it’s the way some

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and this is where all the… all the ships
come and so this would pass through here.

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So all the waiting ships, the
daily (inaudible) to come here.

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The Hudson Bay company ships would sail

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in and out from here as well. And
of course, the Franklin expedition

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left from here, to, you know, they… they
(inaudible) from this picked up water and

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uh… and then headed due west.

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Somewhere over the horizon there
(inaudible), Canada. Yeah.

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The search for a passage have
become an international obsession.

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With illustrated newspaper reports
to fire the public’s imagination,

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and articles by such celebrated
Victorians as Charles Dickinson.

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The British navy was
determined more than ever

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to complete the task. Despite the
reluctance of some politicians. Action.

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No disrespect intended to the gentlemen assembled but how many
more ships are we to see sink in that God forsaken Arctic,

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searching for this phantom navicable
passage? No one doubt the risks,

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inherent in these voyages. The
realities remains that should we fail

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to achieve a passage, the
Russians will, to our detriment.

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Assuming such a passage exists. A harpoon
from a waiting ship working off Newfoundland

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gets found in a sperm whale(ph),
the same season of Alaska.

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You gauge then there is a passage.
That we all do. Otherwise, few here

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would have died so long in a rancid
buffalo fat. Have you a man in mind?

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Yes. John Franklin.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
Is that wise? Umm… there were some
question as to whether Franklin

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
uh… was the right man for the job.
He was 59.

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
Uh… he was you know slightly overweight

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
and there were some questions. Put
him on a ship, he’ll be all right.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
Even, even if you’re fat and you’re old, you
know, there is a really great deal to do anyway.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
In the way of exertion. As a captain,

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
he was excellent that all of
his people on the ships were

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
absolutely happy with him.
And I thought here would

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
willingly brought his ship. Yeah. We all know
John Franklin. Most of us have sailed with him.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
But and I dearly hope
not to misspeak myself.

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
But I understand that the last few years,
lady Franklin has set John’s compass.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
You were to lead six school men
to find ships for several years.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
I know my obligations. Obligations?

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
I’m speaking of your leadership.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
Glorious achievement. No
one is under obligation

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
to seek immortality. It is the
lucky man who is blessed with the

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
opportunity to transcend his time.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
If I could command those ships, I would.

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
I know, you would. I’m trying to restore
him. Because this has got to happen.

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
Yes. So I’m trying to remind him of his…
Yes. Status. You’re not putting me down

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
which actually feeds into the sort of respect
of the relationship and I don’t say,

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
what sort of woman. I just
say, I know, you would,

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
of course, you would. Many can
only dream of such chances.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
[music]

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
I’m lucky. I know. You are.

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
[music]

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
[] Do you think Sir John wanted to go?

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
That’s actually a very good question.
I must say.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
Umm… I would certainly say that Sir
John Franklin was incredibly on it

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
to be the one that was given this
very, very well organized expedition

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
which was supposed to be the last one. If he was not
married to lady Franklin would he have commanded the ship?

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
Probably not. It was said and it is a fact

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
that lady Franklin had quite a
lot of work behind the scenes.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
You had something to do with him going. You
encouraged him. I helped, I encouraged

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
as a good wife should, yes. You did
more than encourage him though.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
I enabled him. And how did
you go about doing that?

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
I umm…

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
gently corrected other
people’s misconceptions.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
How could you? Have you… No, dear.
John, what has taken you?

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
You, you did trick this over me just now.
As I slept, as I lay asleep. Yes.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
What, why, why would you do that?
You appeared a little chill.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
So you put the flag over me?

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
I let on you to warm you, yes.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
Prospect of this journey
is so overwhelming.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
Perhaps they were right in desiring
a younger man. I am more than fit.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:28.000
[sil.]

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
Today was an adventure. I climbed a cliff

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
that Rae would have climbed for exercise,
for fun, to put himself out there

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
which goes some way of explaining his
appetite for daunting risk later on.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
I wonder if he had any fear.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:13.000
[music]

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
[sil.]

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
The fun just continued with a gale
moving in with hurricane force wind.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Force the director one of me out
in the full force of the storm.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
[sil.]

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
I think he’ll use those shots.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:58.000
[sil.]

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
After Rae qualified as a surgeon

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
at the university of Edinburgh, he
returned home to Orkney at the age of 19.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
His father was the agent

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
for the Hudson Bay company and
John would have been familiar,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
I mean, he would have seen ships from
Hudson Bay come in and out of it

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
and he would more than likely have met people
that had been to Canada and he would have

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
uh…, I think he was basically just looking for
adventure and then the opportunity arose of itself

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
on a ship going out to the Hudson
Bay as the ship’s (inaudible).

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
And so, his father would have encouraged
him. He would have signed him up.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
A certain amount of job really
when board the prince of Wales,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Hudson Bay ship leaving in June

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
and it was really just finger seize and
he was to be doctor on board the ship.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
The fact that you’ve got no
idea what’s over the horizon

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
but you know that there is a big world
out there. I think that’s what lured

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
that he wanted to take stakes that
he wanted to be a part of it.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:23.000
[music]

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
For all its wonder and charm, Orkney is a
very small place at the edge of Europe

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
and even in Rae’s time
relatively tamed(ph).

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
I feel like, I gained a far better grasp on
what shaped him as well as what drew him away.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
The chance to test himself in
the wider and wilder world.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Across the rough Atlantic to places
not yet marked on anyone’s map.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
[music]

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
But (inaudible) ship that they (inaudible) was a bit
unusual but it was nice to get back up and to be in time.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Like (inaudible) weather
conditions and usual.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
So he was send with his ship all the way into
and he partly enjoys the experience so much

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
that he managed to get himself employed

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
in moose factory for a long period.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
So that really helped
you know, (inaudible),

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
he intended to have a Hudson Bay company.
By accident, it happened.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
Rae celebrated his 21st birthday

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
that autumn and would spend the
next ten years as a doctor

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
and eventually as a chief doctor of Hudson
Bay company. Like his fellow orknenan

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
and Canadian voyagers, he quickly
settled in to this new way of life.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:23.000
[sil.]

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
You won’t taste the water there?

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
[sil.]

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
Yeah, salty. Yeah. But
definitely part of the ocean.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Yeah, yeah. Hudson Bay.
Look at that wind. I know.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
[sil.]

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
I would like to get my thought,
the task at some point

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
of going for a long walk.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
Like often, like, it’s like saying, I’m gonna walk up,
you know, two miles, I don’t know how practical that is.

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
Yeah, the (inaudible) will do that for sure.
Yeah. Because just that feeling of being out

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
on own and his relationship
to danger. Right.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
And like for me like you know with the
idea of wildlife and the weather,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
it’s just, it’s very terrifying. Yeah, yeah. So, it
will be great to I like to push my boundaries that way.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
[sil.]

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Can you imagine to go out
sailing in that today?

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
I can’t, I can’t imagine but… He loved it.
He’s just driving it right.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
I how I can imagine it is that,
you know, there is a talent here,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
for they’re in the middle of no where and a lot
of trip they’re in places that have never been

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
mapped or you look at that map
in a hook and it’s blank to them

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
and these instruments and I just can’t…

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
So just like his boundaries are so much farther
out than, I mean, my and anybody I know.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
He would have sailed right by here.
Right straight through here.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
I was waiting (inaudible). We are
going tomorrow, right up the bay.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
It was 13 years after Rae’s arrival

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
at Hudson Bay and the British
admiralty sent out Franklin in 1845.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
His two 340 ton ships were
manned with a 128 crew.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
Reinforced with steel to withstand the ice.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
The ships were loaded down with all
the trappings of Victorian comfort.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
Fine China, heavy silverware
and lots of polish

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
with brass buttons. A library of
1200 books, prohibitions to last

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
for several years and a steam
powered organ to play the officers

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
favorite tunes. It was a
self-sufficient floating hotels

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
and they are headed into 70,000
square miles of uncharted territory.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:13.000
[sil.]

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
You are suggesting then that’s maybe what
prevented the ships from coming down.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
At (inaudible), I met our
advisor (inaudible),

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
an honor statesman who’s knowledge of the written
record is combined with the oral tradition

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
of his Inuit ancestors. So what I’m saying
is, he was a poor planner, I think.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
He really truly believed
that the size of his crew

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
will enable it to succeed.
No, that’s was his.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
Arrogance. Very. He was a lousy navigator.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
He was in charge to navigate the Arctic.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Because he had failed on his
first and second expedition

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
and then the British government
hired him again. So…

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
(inaudible). He’s gonna be
with us for the whole suit.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Have you been (inaudible)?

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
Sorry, north bay, as far you’ve been.
It’s very far south.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
South of Toronto? North of Toronto.
Not very far north.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
[sil.]

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
The British navy was not alone in
its pursuit of a northwest passage.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
There is an intense rivalry with the Hudson Bay
company who had been mapping for some 200 years

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
and were anxious to complete their
own survey of the Arctic coastline.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
With Franklin on his way into Arctic
waters, the Hudson Bay company

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
hatched a plan with John Rae as leader.
For the first time in Arctic exploration,

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
a small party of seasoned voyagers in
the company of two inuit interpreters

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
with over winter north of the tree line

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and survive by living off the land.
Unlike Franklin’s expedition,

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
they would sail a small craft north to repulse
bay where they would carry on by foot.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
Packing only four months provisions for a
journey that might take over two years.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
I can only try to imagine

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
the degree of race trepidation. I brought
a well equipped plan to a place on a map

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
that though isolated thriving community.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
Still it’s north, it’s way north. Way more north
than I’ve ever been. It’s the unknown to me

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
and brings some anxiety. Whereas
Rae was headed to a place

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
where the white man’s map stuttered out into
blankness, a place from which news of misfortune

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
could take years to emerge if at all.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
I began reading Rae’s journal of
his first trip to the Arctic.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
I could not conceal from myself than many
what of the opinion (inaudible) starving.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
Little is known of the resources of that part of the country to which
we are bound and all agree there was little chunks of pre-curing field.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
I had some seal oil could be
obtained from the natives.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Yet the novelty of our route and
our intended mode of operations

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
had a strong chance for me and gave me an
excitement which I could not otherwise have felt.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
The Eskimo would have climbed about
a quarter of a miles from us

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
and had a concert every night. A union
of the vocal and the instrumental.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:48.000
[music]

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
The performer being at
the center of the tent

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
keeps turning slowly around four or five other
voices producing among a horrible discord.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
Each of the man in his
time, takes up a drum

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
and thumbs away until he is tired and
another takes his place until it has passed

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
through the hands of all
the males of the party.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
[music]

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:43.000
[sil.]

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:58.000
[music]

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
That evening, I got a real surprise.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
They were doing the same kind of dance
that Rae would have done back in Orkney.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:18.000
[music]

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:13.000
[sil.]

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
Some people call this the barren land.
I figured those people

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
who call it barren don’t know
how to live off this land.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
Well, that’s the guys who brought plenty
of food. Yeah. But I think that was the

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
strategy of John Rae was to pack life,

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
trust his instincts and kind of think of

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
survival things he learnt from the Inuit or
from I guess, he figured out the cranberries.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
() it already has a name.
So it wasn’t discovered by…

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
What’s the inuit name for them?
Kingminna. Kingminna.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Yeah.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
They were my mum’s favorite berries.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
[sil.]

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
pardon. If I saw that, I would think

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
that was an animal who had died there.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
Really, with no animal tracks?

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Silent woods, spring 1835 Rae’s snow
shoe over thin snow when he notices

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
what looks like blood on a webbing. He retraces
his steps, finds he’s swished cranberries

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
under the snow. Chartan island camp,
spring 1835 with a midline up before him

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
Rae goes out cranberries like medicine.
This stuff right here.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
Yeah. Oh, we’re done.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
This will make a tea, right.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Yeah.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
No, there is moss under here.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
(inaudible). The what? (inaudible).

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
And this is a, this is not,
you can, you can eat this.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
No. I don’t.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Okay. Well, that’s a fuel. Or,
you can use it to start a fire.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
All right. You want to see
what it smells like? Yeah.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:38.000
[sil.]

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
it smells good.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
It’s good flame like very picking. Hands.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
This is the same as this stuff?

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Different color yeah.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
My friend Dorothy and I

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
set the land on fire once.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
What happened? We started
cooking and making tea

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
while we were there picking when
we were kids. And all of a sudden,

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
we noticed there is fire every where.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
Your socks on first. Socks on first.
Awesome.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:38.000
[sil.]

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
like this.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:03.000
[sil.]

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
Excellent. This is beautiful.
This is beautiful, thank you.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
The animal like, I’m covered
in, I’m covered in…

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
I’ve more (inaudible).

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
This is all from one animal?

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
[non-English narration]

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
Two. Two animals. Yeah. How does it look?

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
You look nice.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
Does it fit you? Is it comfortable?

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
It fits extremely well. It feels…
The whole thing, the idea of a skin

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
that more mobile.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
[music]

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
With no word of the
expedition in two years,

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
lady Franklin began to question the admiralty.
It’s nearing two years since they left

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
and no words in a year and a half. But it’s
standard for messages to be left on the way in,

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
in cans, if any of those several
hundred copper message cylinders

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
or passed on to whalers. Second
for three years, I said.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
With the resources to ride through five.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
Rae’s journal entry, June, 1846.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
After receiving a salute of seven guns and three
hearty cheers, we set sail north on Hudson Bay

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
with a light air of fair wind.
We had brought 25 bags of flour

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
each one hundred weight.
20 bags (inaudible),

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
two bags yeast, sugar and chocolate.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
Considering that we have to be
absent 15 or perhaps 27 months,

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
our quantity of provisions
was not very good.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:23.000
[music]

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
It was here at the mouth
of the north pole river

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
that Rae and his crew continued
on foot into unknown territory.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Eventually, they had to make a decision.
Stay the winter or return to Hudson Bay.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
And we tie these to the rocks? They gathered
their men together and they all agreed

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
to over winter, full aware
that me might starve to death.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
I can’t imagine spending a
winter in almost total darkness.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:03.000
[sil.]

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:43.000
[music]

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
All hands were now busily employed
making preparations for the long winter.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
For best purpose, four men were set to
work to collect stones for building house.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
[music]

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
Imagine, how they make that decision.
Spending the winter here.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
I can’t imagine. In a stone house.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
And knowing that you could starve.
Yeah, and probably the panic of

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
getting enough food and of course heat.
It’s a lot bigger than I thought.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
Bigger? Yeah, yeah. And
the rock were huge. Yeah.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
I thought something really tiny and…

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
Oh, really. Look at that, the walls are
like really two feet thick. I know.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Look at the threshold. You think
they laid that down there?

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
Look at the size of that rock. They have
to carry, find it up there and bring it.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
[non-English narration]

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
The inuit had good relationships

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
with the group of men because
those group of men were

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
really good to the inuit.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
[non-English narration]

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
He heard that they would take the dog team

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
and look for proper rocks and
when they would pile up the rocks

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
on the dog team and bring them here

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
and to use to build this house. When the stories in
the narrative, you know, they built this house in,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
in September to this year around October.
Yeah. Yeah and you know,

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
they were freezing in here and then
he went and visited a snow hut

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
as they called igloo and it was warm as toast and he
said, what the heck am I doing back in the stone house.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
Imagine the work to grow
then he was building

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
snow house igloos he would be set
up in camp. He would be on the move

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
set up an igloo and be and tea
hot, hour and a half. Yeah, yeah.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
I visited a snow hut and it was
so warm that my waist coat

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
which had been frozen stiff for
some time past actually thawed.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
Back in form that even in winter,
they strip off all that close

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
before going to bed. We
need about 40 blocks

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
to get an igloo built. Yeah.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
My technique is I keep my blocks
a bit, with a bit of a curve.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:43.000
[sil.]

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
That isn’t the way, I do it, you know.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
So which one is this leading to?
It’s going off this way.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Isn’t it gonna be easier to take it out when
it’s wedged like that. No. Or straight?

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Straight.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
[sil.]

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
You see my block, the exact
same all the way down. Yeah.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
For two guys, this size

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
is to make it in half an hour.
Could you believe that? No.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:38.000
[sil.]

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
I’m in awe, as I watch (inaudible) and
realize that he has the ability to survive

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
in this environment just like his
ancestors who were guides to John Rae.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
There is a continuity of time and place
that is almost unimaginable to me.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:43.000
[music]

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
The first of January was as beautiful a day

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
as we could have wished to begin the new
year. There was a light air of wind

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
ask a temperature of minus 26.
Then are consisted of hair

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
and reindeer tongue with a current putting of second
course. A small supply of brandy was served out

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
and on the whole, I do not believe a more
happy company could have been found.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
Surrounded by six healthy men,

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
two immensely sturdy ships, the
stores on board can hold five years.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
Most certainly. You say
of the terror before.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
Have you a view on the fortunes.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
Those ships are gonna be my choice. Nonsense.
They are more than up to the task.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
Even after you stove in the terrace hall of labradorred. That
was (inaudible) of negligence. I managed to lead a halfway

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
around the world and through ice.
Any elder Eskimo

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
has dual feets. Some sturdy seal
hunting matriarch is currently

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
eclipsing all of our great missions with
every fresh stroke of a kayak paddle.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
I wish, you could draw me a bloody map.
Gentlemen,

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
as to Franklin’s ships, sir George.
Especially with the reinforcement,

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
they’re too bulky. Too deep a draft.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
That Hudson Bay fellow Dr.
Rae has reportedly been

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
making as much headway as any. some
what by York boat much of it on foot.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
[music]

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Having surveyed 655 miles of uncharted
coastline on his first Arctic journey,

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
and over winter his party
successfully, all in good health.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
Rae was informed that the British admiralty wanted
him to join the mission. After three years,

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
they finally admitted that
Franklin and his crew were lost.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
They were sending out several expeditions,

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
from the captain James clark Ross would
command two ships through Lancaster south.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
From the west, Rae was to join
sir John (inaudible)overnight

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
and down the mighty McKenzie river to the Arctic
coastline. Then east to the coppermine river.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
They completed the 3600 mile
journey in record time.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
But no evidence was found
of the lost voyage.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
Richardson and captain
Ross returned to England.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
October 1849, Richardson and JC Ross sit in
chairs, waiting, both looking uncomfortable.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
Uh… the door springs open and
James enter hagger unsteady.

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
Forgive me for not more

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
gracefully absorbing the shock of your early
returns. Have you been briefed on… Yes.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
Perhaps there is another word for failure that is not
bismarch the efforts of those who do not achieve the aim

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
but it certainly escapes me.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
Disappointment. A virulent
version of that might do.

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
I beg your patience.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
I traveled with your husband James

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
for several years. I am far from
ready to parade him as a dead hero.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
Only a fine reliable man.

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
We searched the northern coast, west
all the way to the coppermine river,

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
we cached the supplies. I’m certain, you
did all that a honest man could do.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
And Dr. Rae will continue in
the spring with his search.

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
Whereas coming from the east,

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
we just met ice. You met ice.

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
Ice in the Arctic of all things.
I didn’t mean that in anyway.

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
Bodies were found, I understand. Three, yes

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
above barrier strait in the
expeditions first encampment.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
They’re properly buried. Such things are…

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
Is he capable, Dr. Rae
of finding my husband?

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
He is perhaps the most capable man
in the world of achieving this task.

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
He’s been known to snow shoe
hundreds of miles to attend

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
to a sickly native. I no longer trust

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
the royal navy.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
Three years have utter uselessness.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
[sil.]

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
Rae continued searching for Franklin
further east along the coastline.

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
Traveling light with a small
crew living off the land.

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:48.000
[sil.]

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:13.000
[music]

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:53.000
[sil.]

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
Very warm.

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
Still wet from swimming, right.

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:53.000
[sil.]

00:55:55.000 --> 00:56:03.000
[music]

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
One of the Eskimos fear the seal in the
ice at the edge of the open water.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
They know they’re approaching the seal but it requires
much patience as the hunter must lie flat in his face

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
and advance towards the sale by series of
motions resembling those of the animal.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
And on the we find much difficulty
in telling which was the seal.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
Try some seal meat. It warms you up. Okay.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
[sil.]

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
They’re very good. Good.

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
It’s very tender. That’s liver?

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
It warms you up after you have eating it.

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
The, the best meat. The, the liver.
That’s the seal meat.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
Any, any part of the seal. Any,
any part of the seal. Okay.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
Liver meat warms you up.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
[music]

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
With Rae continuing his search
into uncharted territory,

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
he received letters of
encouraged from London.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
So Francis Bulford(ph) the admiralty’s chief
map maker wrote. I can’t let the mail go

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
without telling you how intensely
fixed all eyes are upon you.

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
Let me then, my dear doctor add my voice to the
moans of the wives and children of the two

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
unfortunate ships and implore
you to save not a money,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
nor labor in fulfilling your holy mission.
Two ships will sail

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
in ten days (inaudible) straights, other in
spring for bathing day. But to you, I look

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
for the solution of our
melancholy suspense.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:08.000
[music]

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
Well, aware of the anxiety
of a nation fixated

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
on the lost voyage, Rae
notes in his journal.

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
I hope if not early fortunately by surveying
some of the latitudes of the shores

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
along which we passed, solved the
question of a northwest passage.

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
I think it will yet folded the Hudson Bay company
to accomplish this long attempted undertaking.

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
[music]

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
January was the coldest month.

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
The temperature fell to 72 below zero.
The journey had been

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
the most fatiguing I’ve ever experienced. The
severe exercise with a limited allowance of food

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
had much reduced the whole party yet
we were all in excellent health.

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
And although, we lost flesh, we kept our
spirits in much merrily on taking our belts.

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
(inaudible)In six inches.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
[music]

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
With Rae continuing north in
search of the lost expedition,

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
lady Jane Franklin wrote to him that she had convinced
parliament to approve a 20,000 pound reward,

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
the equivalent of one million pounds today
and she intended to press add admiralty

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
to raise it to 50,000 pounds. She wrote.

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
Not only to find them living but
to find any memorials of them

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
or obtaining any certain
intelligence of their fate.

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:53.000
[music]

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
After six years without a word, lady Franklin
was increasingly desperate for results.

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
Not only did she write to the Russian
Czar and the American president.

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
She slipped into the fashion of the
day and consulted the clairvoyant.

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
Her rational mind stood its ground however

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
until (inaudible) by the name of
William Copin knocked at her door.

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
The youngest of my daughters,

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
my four year (inaudible) old left us

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
from fever this winter last. I’m sorry for
you captain. But I seek no sympathy in this.

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
I have four other children

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
and the night, (inaudible) to visit.

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
Her ghost, you meaning?
My dead daughter’s spirit

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
would seem to visit them. Have
you written this yourself?

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
But you trust your children? It
was the specifics that turned me.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
Please. They describe her coming

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
in a kind of blue…

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
Light. For want of a better term.

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
My eldest daughter asked
about the lost explorers.

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
Why would she? And
(inaudible)everyone’s tongues.

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
The children hold that the rum appeared

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
to fill with ice. Some channel it seem,

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
some ships. One of them was in a bad state.

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
Not sunk but listing.

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
Upon asking Wizy where this place exists,

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
the vision dissolved. To be replaced

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
by a series of letters on the wall.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
I spilled out in a fashion,

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
(inaudible),

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
sir John Franklin,

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
Lancaster Sand, Victoria channel,

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
point victory. As to these letters

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
uh… with what manner of
instrument, pen, pencil?

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
Nothing so solid.

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
But what of the location?

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
It would be on the path of his operations.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
Do you believe in ghosts sir?

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
With thirty years on the year, you see some
things that beg your explanation but no.

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
I had no position on this subject.

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
Not until this last few months.

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
I believe that,

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
that is where those poor sailors bide.

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
[music]

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
Rae returned to admiralty house in London

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
with an additional 800 miles of new charted
coastline. He had indeed come very close

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
to victory point on king William land.
And you did this

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
again on foot? Much of it. This strait here

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
is no friend to a smallish.

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
Lady Franklin. Gentlemen.

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
[sil.]

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
Dr. Rae, do you know

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
Dr. (inaudible) prediction? I heard.
Do you have any credence?

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
The vision or… The likelihood of sir John
and his men being found at victory point.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
Now, I understand it comes from
the blue light of a dead girl.

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
I understand anyone can
see a shapes on the wall.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
But that place does exist on a map.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
It is not conjured from a dream.
Well, if there is investigation.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
How many ships must I send out.

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
Troubling almost alone
return with actual evidence.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
That is still speculation. Well, it is, is it
not? A piece of a Flagstaff from an English ship

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
found to the west of king William land. It
is, yes. And you will be returning now.

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
Yes. In a matter of months. Is
there any chance of you doing

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
what no one else?

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
I will be nearer there than most.
It would mean a great deal to me.

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
[sil.]

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
[music]

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
On his return to the north,
Rae paid little heed

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
to the prediction but in fact, he was headed
in the very direction of king William land.

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
By chance,

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
he met with a small band of
inuit who had some relics

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
on Franklin ship, forks, spoons, a
broken compass and eye witness accounts

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
of the fate of the long lost expedition.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
The ships had indeed been stucked
in the ice at victory point.

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
Sir John had died the second winter.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
The crew had taken to the land all in tooth and
life bones filled with all manner of gear.

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
Furniture, books, brass.

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
They had perished as a whole self on
the king William land and had resorted

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
to the last desperate attempt of survival.
Cannibalism.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
Rae was stunned. When more inuit arrived

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.999
with the same story and more
relics, he knew, it was the truth.

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.999
As he looked out across the
strait he had a decision to make.

01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:34.999
Return to England immediately with the news or travel
to the site and risk another season in the north.

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:39.999
His trusted interpreter William
Ulbak was afraid to continue.

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:44.999
The spirits of the dead and
the dark forces of Shamins

01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:49.999
might be at play for there.

01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:58.000
[sil.]

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:14.999
Doctor. Welcome.

01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:19.999
Thank you my lordship. I believe you
know all the members of the council.

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:24.999
Gentlemen.

01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.999
As the circumstances. You
bring us (inaudible)doctor.

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
My oversight sir. And
we’ve read your thought.

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:39.999
Grim stuff

01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:44.999
Well, I believe, there is no
way around that sir Francis.

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.999
I’ll take the truth most days if that’s it.

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:54.999
The report is the most thorough picture,
I can present based on the fact

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
that I am dealing with testimony as opposed
to my own observation of what transpired.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
I really suggest that maybe some open water between
the news and rumor. Might these testimonies

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
from (inaudible). From that
region, yes, natives from who

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.999
admiral Patty himself took some direction.
It’s a different thing doctor.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:19.999
If your witness is telling you where to find
whales or where the rivers find the open sea.

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.999
The issue here is Eskimo
tales of Englishmen

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:29.999
eating Englishmen. A number of us
here have spent years in the ice

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:34.999
on dwindling supplies and yet the very thought…
I could only assume that the thought arrives

01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:39.999
far along the way. At the
stage of final desperation.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.999
But they would not lead
you there, to the camps.

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
There was some vagueness as to the locations
and reluctance in accompanying us. Yes.

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:58.000
[sil.]

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
Personally, I’ve seen (inaudible)

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.999
but do you have any doubts as to their
fate? I so much doubt as the development.

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
The Eskimo claim that the men
came as a group several dozen

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
along the shore walking, holding
their sledges loaded with

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
all manner of obsolescence but also

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:54.999
holding a muttering,

01:09:55.000 --> 01:09:59.999
disoriented,

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
several dozen men similarly disoriented.
How is that strange?

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
Starving, are they not? They’re
suffering all the damage of exposure.

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
All men don’t starve at the same speed.
Nor do they freeze,

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
nor go mad. Suggesting something afflicted
them. That would be speculation

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
which is something that as you can
see, I did not venture in a report.

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
You’ve ventured plenty doctor. I was not able to bring back
any bones but I suspect that would be something more akin

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
to a horror show. I believe
that ship has sailed.

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
This son, claim you make over a stream

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
running down from (inaudible)
to king William island.

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
That chap suggests, the ice was too young as current,
it must have cleared in the summer, it’s there.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
I submit,

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
that is the passage.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
[music]

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
Whereas the path, Franklin
to Victoria strait.

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
Meets a permanent barricade.

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
They were forced to shore so it seem
on the most inhospitable lands.

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:28.000
[sil.]

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
Come in.

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
Come in.

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
[sil.]

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
Lady Franklin. Dr. Rae.

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
This is not an importune time. There
is no worse than any other time.

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
I read your report. It appeared in the Times. Have
you something otherwise to offer? Only my apology

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
that such a document was all out to.
Please not the passive voice.

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
Someone wrote it,

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.999
someone found it judicious to publish.
In all its odious willingness.

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.999
I did write it. But what you read was intended
solely for my employer and the admiral team.

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
I submitted the more sensitive document to the
Times and they opted instead for the sensational.

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:38.000
[sil.]

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
I can only hope that now with knowing…

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
What do I know Dr. Rae? What do I meant to
take from your outrageous speculations?

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
In no way was I intend my reportment to be
inflammatory. Yet, that is precisely, it’s a fact.

01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.999
It’s matching the characters of the man. At that time, did I
even lured to the elements of… Not much (inaudible) to finish.

01:13:05.000 --> 01:13:09.999
I have traveled far greater
distances and many more countries

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
than your Hudson Bay company inc.

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
And I, I do not pretend to know the
peculiarities of the Arctic region

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
but I do pretend to some knowledge of men,

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
of British men at any rate in
many conditions, in many places.

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
Your, your accusations of cannibalism,

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
the term accusation a,
what would do better?

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
A suggestion, an inference.
I wait your response.

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
Beyond the physical fight of course, which
I understand, you yourself have observed

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
the verbal testimony of witnesses. The Eskimos.
Yes, they were Eskimos, the witnesses.

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
These men knowed you. Not these men in
particular, no… Yet you readily vouched

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
for their characters. Did you consider
the possibility that if cannibalism,

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
it was the gruesome handiwork
of these very savages

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
as opposed to Christian officers
at the British royal navy.

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
Cannibalism does occur
among the northern natives

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
as it has amongst all races throughout all
times under very specific conditions.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
But among the Eskimos to commit
such an act, he will be shunned.

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
He would not be protected or accommodated. And I knew
of no incidence where a group of natives have indulged

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
in such activities. More than once the
inuits have saved British sailors.

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
0 I’m sorry inuit? It’s
how they name themselves.

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
The inuit, it means, the people.
What does that make us to them?

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
Fellow humans.

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
Whatever grains of truth reside in your

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:04.999
morbidly flamboyant presentation of events,

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.999
I’m stunned that you could submit such a report
knowing fully the pain it would cause so many.

01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.999
I admit, I was not thinking of the pain of others
when I wrote down but I still take the bitter truth.

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.999
And that any and of itself
speaks rather sadly

01:15:20.000 --> 01:15:24.999
to your character. I see that
my visit has been premature,

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
I deeply regret. Yes, I have no doubt

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:34.999
you will have regrets. Many and deep

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
and of your own making.

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:48.000
[music]

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:08.000
[non-English narration]

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
that’s, that’s a Nelson.

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
National park of gallery. This
is the national gallery here.

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
Canada house. That’s your house.

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
Canada house.

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
Got it. Lady Franklin tried to get

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
sir John Franklin. Right in the center
here. Right in the center here.

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:49.999
I’m glad she was overruled. She did
get one just down the road here,

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.999
just down there. So we’ll go down there.

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
So this is where she took,

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
amazing. This is…

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
That was the top so she,

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
that’s, there he is, that’s Franklin.

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
Oh, this is, this is the.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
This is that wanted she had the
house of commons approve the whole

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
sponsorship of it. Yeah. Right here.

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
To the great Arctic navigator
and his brave companions

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
who sacrificed their lives
in completing the discovery

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
of the northwest passage after death 1847.

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
Now who would believe that he
discovered the northwest passage

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
in England? Everybody does.

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
You know, that, that,
that’s not true because

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
a dead man cannot find something.
It just could not happen,

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
so I’m absolutely amazed.

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
Incredible.

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
[sil.]

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
So this is John.

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
[sil.]

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:34.999
This is they’re burying Franklin here.

01:18:35.000 --> 01:18:39.999
So that’s his grave in the north.
That’s what that depicts.

01:18:40.000 --> 01:18:44.999
But that may not be true either. Why?

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:49.999
Because he may have been left behind.
Left behind you think? In the ship.

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:54.999
They didn’t bury him on the shore. They did
not bury him. They did bury him on the shore.

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
They would have some
prominent site, location,

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
proper dignified uh… rocks, assembled.

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
Look at this with a bow and arrow.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
They did not have any native
people on that expedition.

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
That’s why they, that’s why they fail.

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
It was not only fail, fatal mistake,
they did not have any advisors of inuit.

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
You know, we could help them a lot.

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:38.000
[sil.]

01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.999
This is the place.

01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:59.999
This is the center of the (inaudible).

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:08.000
[non-English narration]

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.999
It’s good.

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
This is 600 years old. 600 years old.
It’s been here.

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
It’s a compass more or like.
Well, it’s a weather,

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:29.999
direction of weather. It still works.

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:34.999
It still works. Southwest. Yeah, right.

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
And this is where the Arctic council
met for all the decisions about…

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
All the exploration stuff. Oh, yeah.
And reports coming in.

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
Yeah. This is the room John Rae
walked into with his report.

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
Up those days, that we came up.
All there happening, after that.

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
Amazing. I like your new (inaudible).

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Honored to meet you though. Likewise.

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
Yeah. Welcome. Thanks very much.
It’s great to be here.

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
Look at this room. Fantastic.
I mean, this was like the

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
pentagon of the day. It was. Now, well the

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
British had been the largest navy in the world.
That’s how they ruled it. They ruled the waves

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
and this is the place, you know,
they, they ran it from here.

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
[sil.]

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.999
We have spent time with our advisors in the Arctic
at Orkney and with Canadian Ken (inaudible)

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.999
author of a book on Rae. In London,
we are seeking the Navy perspective.

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.999
From Earnest Coleman(ph.), an
historian and retired naval officer.

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.999
We have a navy that was certainly the biggest navy
in the world, I think the best navy in the world.

01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.999
It had beaten French umm… and
there was a role for them in this

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:04.999
to try and find this northwest passage.
Did John Franklin in your view

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.999
form the last link of the northwest passage? Oh,
unquestionably. Remember, it was that from,

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
from north to south that gap. He came down.

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
Now we know that he’d sent parties ahead.
Uh… we know that coast (inaudible)

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
had already been charted. To do that, you had to
link up to the bottom, to the (inaudible) strait,

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
that area there. So yes,
he did, he discovered the

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
and forged the last link with allies.
But there are no evidence that,

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
that they have found that, that passage.
You know, they have not recorded.

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:44.999
They were dead. Absolutely no
factual statement that they,

01:22:45.000 --> 01:22:49.999
that these officers confirm that fact.
Okay. The real point is,

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.999
discovery implies going back and telling
someone where is some, something might be.

01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:59.999
That’s number one. Secondly, this
marching across the ice. The original

01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.999
uh… objective was to find the
navigable northwest passage.

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
You, you march across the ice, you haven’t,
you know, achieved the northwest passage.

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:14.999
All you’ve done is walk across the ice.
So there was no passage

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.999
through there at that time ever because the ice was
always coming down. There was no navigable passage there.

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:24.999
So they discovered an old passage because
there was none to be found in that quarter.

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:29.999
The only conceivable way is down through Rae
strait. Rae was the one who found Rae strait

01:23:30.000 --> 01:23:34.999
and he brought that back.
People think of Rae,

01:23:35.000 --> 01:23:39.999
dressed up in his native skins, going wild,
you know, as the thing of the criticism

01:23:40.000 --> 01:23:44.999
of going native. He was
using technology as well.

01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:49.999
He would use then inflatable boats.
He would use the native dress.

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:54.999
He would use snow houses because as he had
he boat stolen one and it was freezing.

01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:59.999
So you use what is going to keep you alive.
There is one problem probably

01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.999
was he was a guy that thought
that everybody was interested

01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:09.999
in just hearing the truth rather than
what they were actually wanting to hear.

01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:14.999
That’s interesting you said there was evidence of cannibalism.
In fact there is not a shred of evidence of cannibalism.

01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:19.999
Such (inaudible) Charles
Dickens looked into it

01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.999
and studied every time they, an
example of possible cannibalism

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.999
that uh… had hand throughout the main
history and in fact, there wasn’t.

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
And then modern means of looking at these bones
that have been found. They have cut marks.

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
Well, it’s, it shows the weakness in some people’s
thinking, that’s the only way they can assume,

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
cut marks on bones is by cannibalism.

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:49.999
In fact, there were 400 cut marks on the bones that they
found. The vast majority were on the hands, on the fingers.

01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.999
Now you don’t have to be in the police to realize
that’s probably somebody defending themselves

01:24:55.000 --> 01:24:59.999
and uh… if you can pair those cut marks

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:04.999
with other cut marks unrelated that we definitely
know are not cannibal and I did this in York

01:25:05.000 --> 01:25:09.999
because there is a battlefield there, a medieval
battlefield. The marks on the bones are identical.

01:25:10.000 --> 01:25:14.999
I believe that Franklin’s
people were attacked

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:19.999
by the natives and not only that,
that they mutilated afterwards.

01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:24.999
The bodies were mutilated. This business of breaking long
bones to get to the marrow, all these sort of stories

01:25:25.000 --> 01:25:29.999
no actually umm… prove cannibalism.
Well they do prove a point

01:25:30.000 --> 01:25:34.999
directly towards an attack by the natives.

01:25:35.000 --> 01:25:39.999
And in the same plane there are 105 men coming down
king William island, a great threat to these people

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:44.999
that are living on the edge of survival as it is.
So there is no evidence actually of cannibalism.

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:49.999
There is plenty of evidence
that they were attacked.

01:25:50.000 --> 01:25:54.999
May I address the (inaudible)
and the English.

01:25:55.000 --> 01:25:59.999
I think it’s shameful, shameful,

01:26:00.000 --> 01:26:04.999
arrogant to label people
that you don’t know

01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:09.999
as conspirators who murdered

01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:14.999
and transpired to take
advantage of the weak people.

01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:19.999
I think that’s a very strong
accusation and I really truly believe

01:26:20.000 --> 01:26:24.999
you don’t have any evidence
with what you relying upon.

01:26:25.000 --> 01:26:29.999
You are relying on second hand
information or third or fourth

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:34.999
hand information. You don’t, Charles
Dickens didn’t have any fact.

01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:39.999
He’s never been up to that part
of the area. And yet he indicted

01:26:40.000 --> 01:26:44.999
the inuit race. He created an animosity

01:26:45.000 --> 01:26:49.999
to people that were innocently standing by,

01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:54.999
waiting to help people that might be dying.
Because Franklin’s people

01:26:55.000 --> 01:26:59.999
in fact were scattered all
over 80 or 100 miles range.

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:04.999
They were not in 105 band.

01:27:05.000 --> 01:27:09.999
So for you to accuse my people.

01:27:10.000 --> 01:27:14.999
Someone really ought to apologize.
I’ll be the first to apologize

01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:19.999
for making such a innocent
information that we didn’t think

01:27:20.000 --> 01:27:24.999
would have created enough. I don’t think,
you need to apologize for anything.

01:27:25.000 --> 01:27:29.999
Rae had been up there
and, and brought home,

01:27:30.000 --> 01:27:34.999
collected all these detailed stories,
detailed stories that cannot be

01:27:35.000 --> 01:27:39.999
made up by a bunch of people and
he’s interviewing someone in a tent

01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:44.999
person after person uh…
telling the same story.

01:27:45.000 --> 01:27:49.999
It’s in such vivid detail that uh…
that, that in itself is overwhelming

01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:54.999
and then you get to the forensic evidence,
collected by Margaret Herbet (inaudible)

01:27:55.000 --> 01:27:59.999
two uh… Canadian scientists who have done

01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:04.999
detailed forensic studies.
Umm… the evidence is,

01:28:05.000 --> 01:28:09.999
is completely not only overwhelming to anyone
who has the least bit of an open mind.

01:28:10.000 --> 01:28:14.999
I’m afraid repeating the old story time and
time again will not make it any better.

01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:19.999
The evidence does not exist and if you look
at the evidence, it points to something

01:28:20.000 --> 01:28:24.999
totally and utterly different. And I’ve come across time
and again people with this mindset that will not change,

01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:29.999
will not look at it. I mean,
when you carve a turkey,

01:28:30.000 --> 01:28:34.999
do you leave cut marks. I’ve talked to butchers and they
said, do you leave cut marks? They don’t leave cut marks.

01:28:35.000 --> 01:28:39.999
Anyway the cut marks particularly horizontal
on the bones is through an attack.

01:28:40.000 --> 01:28:44.999
I will not accept and you must apologize
for accusing our people of slaughter

01:28:45.000 --> 01:28:49.999
of massacre. That’s unfounded,

01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:54.999
that’s labeling as murderers. If
there was such a thing happened,

01:28:55.000 --> 01:28:59.999
we would have known about it or
history, we are an oral history.

01:29:00.000 --> 01:29:04.999
We don’t need (inaudible).

01:29:05.000 --> 01:29:09.999
What you’re telling me, you’re just
trying to protect lady Franklin,

01:29:10.000 --> 01:29:14.999
John Franklin, a dead man
for instance cannot find

01:29:15.000 --> 01:29:19.999
a northwest passage. Only in England.
Come on.

01:29:20.000 --> 01:29:24.999
You’ll not say I’m making too much of this.
Heavens, no.

01:29:25.000 --> 01:29:29.999
In my ignorance of the details, I
cannot speak to the intentions of work

01:29:30.000 --> 01:29:34.999
but the result is came to the definition.

01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:39.999
Jone. Sir Jone, to find the time.
Dr. John Richardson,

01:29:40.000 --> 01:29:44.999
Mr. Charles Dickens. Sir, please to make
you’re acquaintance doctor. As I am yours.

01:29:45.000 --> 01:29:49.999
I’ve been making my case

01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:54.999
to lady Franklin that a rather strong
on both voyages and cannibalism

01:29:55.000 --> 01:29:59.999
that this may not be apparent in
my work to date. I’m sorry sir.

01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:04.999
Strong on cannibalism? What does that mean?
It’s been an interest

01:30:05.000 --> 01:30:09.999
of mine since childhood. I’m sorry.
I failed to grasp the function

01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:14.999
of my advice. Mr. Dickens
is here on my invitation.

01:30:15.000 --> 01:30:19.999
But you know his work.
He’s a prominent novelist.

01:30:20.000 --> 01:30:24.999
Enough of this. I’ve read your book.

01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:29.999
I was under the impression, I might be of
some benefit. He’s composing an article

01:30:30.000 --> 01:30:34.999
for the magazine Household Words.

01:30:35.000 --> 01:30:39.999
Mr. Dickens is internationally known.
As a writer.

01:30:40.000 --> 01:30:44.999
As a writer. His arguments are renowned.
Their insight

01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:49.999
and persuasiveness.

01:30:50.000 --> 01:30:54.999
My husband was your dear friend John. I was
struggling with the soiling of his name

01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:59.999
and of the brave souls who served with him.

01:31:00.000 --> 01:31:04.999
I must admit, I am
reluctant to be persuaded

01:31:05.000 --> 01:31:09.999
than a writer of fiction with most serving
now. I mean, in no way to belittle

01:31:10.000 --> 01:31:14.999
your stature sir but uh… our friend
sir John is enshrouded in a story

01:31:15.000 --> 01:31:19.999
of monstrous proportions

01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:24.999
and what is fiction is up to this
point for God alone to know.

01:31:25.000 --> 01:31:29.999
Pardon me. But my glimpse of the
report alerted me to several

01:31:30.000 --> 01:31:34.999
puzzling assumptions. Each of which I
doubt would stand much depth scrutiny

01:31:35.000 --> 01:31:39.999
as you work with the scalpel
sir, I work with words.

01:31:40.000 --> 01:31:44.999
This Dr. Rae has a wondrous

01:31:45.000 --> 01:31:49.999
naivity not the sort of thing one
seasoned London very much anymore

01:31:50.000 --> 01:31:54.999
would a person believes everything he’s
told. Not only is Dr. Rae no fool,

01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:59.999
he is an exceedingly decent, competent

01:32:00.000 --> 01:32:04.999
and clear headed man. There will
no gain in assailing his character

01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:09.999
for anyone who actually knows him
will come immediately to his defense.

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:14.999
As usual not. Then what is one
to make of his assertions?

01:32:15.000 --> 01:32:19.999
I believe his assertions

01:32:20.000 --> 01:32:24.999
are what was reported to him. Nothing more. And
yet his indiscretion of making them public.

01:32:25.000 --> 01:32:29.999
That was not his doing.

01:32:30.000 --> 01:32:34.999
You hold very blameless. I
think it would serve you

01:32:35.000 --> 01:32:39.999
to hold him so.

01:32:40.000 --> 01:32:44.999
More tea, Mr. Dickens. So writing,
is there a living to be had in that?

01:32:45.000 --> 01:32:49.999
A precarious one.

01:32:50.000 --> 01:32:54.999
Perhaps, I’ll stay with medicine then.

01:32:55.000 --> 01:32:59.999
There were little (inaudible)
figurines being made of

01:33:00.000 --> 01:33:04.999
John Franklin and lady Franklin. So when
Dickens was invited by lady Franklin.

01:33:05.000 --> 01:33:09.999
Well, this is somebody that you
go to, even though Dickens,

01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:14.999
Dickens was an extraordinary figure already. He would
have been thrilled to, to go to meet lady Franklin

01:33:15.000 --> 01:33:19.999
and anxious to please her in anyway.
Uh… so that was the way,

01:33:20.000 --> 01:33:24.999
when she summoned him, he was there the
next day. But he’s a social climber.

01:33:25.000 --> 01:33:29.999
What did have been anyway to his
advantage to befriend lady Jane?

01:33:30.000 --> 01:33:34.999
I think, I think that’s a cause for
(inaudible). I think that probably,

01:33:35.000 --> 01:33:39.999
you can answer this. We have someone here
who can probably answer that question.

01:33:40.000 --> 01:33:44.999
Introduce yourself.

01:33:45.000 --> 01:33:49.999
Hi. My name is Gerald(ph). Gerald Dickens. I’m
the great great grandson to Charles Dickens.

01:33:50.000 --> 01:33:54.999
[sil.]

01:33:55.000 --> 01:33:59.999
So… If I can fill in any gaps.

01:34:00.000 --> 01:34:04.999
Now when we first met uh… you hadn’t
really heard of this aspect of…

01:34:05.000 --> 01:34:09.999
No. No, I haven’t at all.

01:34:10.000 --> 01:34:14.999
Umm… it did immensely. Umm…
almost because I, well,

01:34:15.000 --> 01:34:19.999
with his background, I can see him
citing with very more than Franklin

01:34:20.000 --> 01:34:24.999
and that’s what surprises me about it.
A very British attitude here that,

01:34:25.000 --> 01:34:29.999
that no British man, no British Christian
man would ever do that sort of thing.

01:34:30.000 --> 01:34:34.999
But natives would because they’re not British.
They’re not Christian. That attitude.

01:34:35.000 --> 01:34:39.999
I think actually, (inaudible)
English Christian man would,

01:34:40.000 --> 01:34:44.999
would do such a thing. I genuinely
believed it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think so.

01:34:45.000 --> 01:34:49.999
So he’s reflecting the very
popular and widely held attitude.

01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:54.999
Definitely. Absolutely, definitely and maybe
he saw himself very much as a mouthpiece,

01:34:55.000 --> 01:34:59.999
as a champion for whatever the
prevailing attitude was. Yeah.

01:35:00.000 --> 01:35:04.999
Charles Dickens, PR. And he’s, he’s
gonna sell more household words,

01:35:05.000 --> 01:35:09.999
supporting her point of view.

01:35:10.000 --> 01:35:14.999
The word of a savage is not to be taken

01:35:15.000 --> 01:35:19.999
firstly because he is a liar.

01:35:20.000 --> 01:35:24.999
Secondly, because he is a boaster. Thirdly
because he often talks figuratively.

01:35:25.000 --> 01:35:29.999
Fourthly because he has given to a superstitious notion.
When he tells you, he has his enemy in his stomach,

01:35:30.000 --> 01:35:34.999
he will logically give him credit for
having his enemies in his heart.

01:35:35.000 --> 01:35:39.999
To be sure. There is more, there is more. I have little
doubt. He believe every savage to be in his heart covateous,

01:35:40.000 --> 01:35:44.999
trechareous, cruel, a man, man is an idiot.

01:35:45.000 --> 01:35:49.999
And a master of fiction.

01:35:50.000 --> 01:35:54.999
What do you make of my evidence? Knowing
John Franklin, I’d be much surprised,

01:35:55.000 --> 01:35:59.999
if he gave up his teacup while
he still breathes. (inaudible).

01:36:00.000 --> 01:36:04.999
We all know, it is a rare
and haven’t (inaudible).

01:36:05.000 --> 01:36:09.999
Yes and that is the big issue. The British will
readily embrace horrendous facts of natives

01:36:10.000 --> 01:36:14.999
murdering and eating British men
but they will not even begin

01:36:15.000 --> 01:36:19.999
to attempt to fathom
British eating British.

01:36:20.000 --> 01:36:24.999
You had a cannibal on your first journey.
A voyager.

01:36:25.000 --> 01:36:29.999
So what great element

01:36:30.000 --> 01:36:34.999
of British character makes us impervious?
Even amongst us,

01:36:35.000 --> 01:36:39.999
it is looked upon with the utmost revolt.
Not arguing pre-disposition John.

01:36:40.000 --> 01:36:44.999
None of us will be predisposed to what it
is. We few British, who have (inaudible)

01:36:45.000 --> 01:36:49.999
there are things for which
nothing here can prepare us.

01:36:50.000 --> 01:36:54.999
There have been several occasions when I have
doubted my vision. Yet in one or two occasions

01:36:55.000 --> 01:36:59.999
when I’ve doubted my mind. Some, I suspect even British
have found themselves no more than themselves.

01:37:00.000 --> 01:37:04.999
Now, I can’t speak for 130 men but I knew
John Franklin as well as men can be known

01:37:05.000 --> 01:37:09.999
and I would swear on my Bible that
he would have sooner eaten a bullet

01:37:10.000 --> 01:37:14.999
than a morsel of human flesh. No
specific reference to Franklin.

01:37:15.000 --> 01:37:19.999
You will report a certain that the few
remaining men all British with families here

01:37:20.000 --> 01:37:24.999
consumed their fellows. That you
cannot be so naïve to think,

01:37:25.000 --> 01:37:29.999
you would not cause a storm
bringing back such news especially

01:37:30.000 --> 01:37:34.999
on the word of another. Yes, but if
that word of another had been British,

01:37:35.000 --> 01:37:39.999
would I then have believed.
You know, by many, you are.

01:37:40.000 --> 01:37:44.999
But he is a doctor. The choice was made.

01:37:45.000 --> 01:37:49.999
It was and you mean it. I gather,
you found it, unfeasible to go

01:37:50.000 --> 01:37:54.999
to (inaudible) to the site.
And why would I sense

01:37:55.000 --> 01:37:59.999
that you know the answer to that question?

01:38:00.000 --> 01:38:04.999
How important that shamanism
will play in this thing?

01:38:05.000 --> 01:38:09.999
You know, there has been a tragedy,

01:38:10.000 --> 01:38:14.999
there has been an unparallel
tragedy in the northern inuit,

01:38:15.000 --> 01:38:19.999
everybody know it. They have seen
some of the ships, you know,

01:38:20.000 --> 01:38:24.999
that are not good to go back to
their native countries or whatever.

01:38:25.000 --> 01:38:29.999
And men are walking around the country.
Many of them not,

01:38:30.000 --> 01:38:34.999
and it was not pleasing my view if I was too
(inaudible) and they were so fictitious at that time.

01:38:35.000 --> 01:38:39.999
They weren’t gonna be hanging
around all there for a while.

01:38:40.000 --> 01:38:44.999
So I think these were facts because I think
William as a young man probably discouraged

01:38:45.000 --> 01:38:49.999
going back to, I know, he was quite afraid.
The, the greatest insult

01:38:50.000 --> 01:38:54.999
to a trained British navy officer
would be to have to go to help

01:38:55.000 --> 01:38:59.999
for help to a native
person which is absurd.

01:39:00.000 --> 01:39:04.999
But that, at that time was the prevalent
opinion. On the question of going native,

01:39:05.000 --> 01:39:09.999
can I give you my favorite quotation from that
time. It says, the objective of polar exploration

01:39:10.000 --> 01:39:14.999
is to explore properly and not
to evade the houses of the game

01:39:15.000 --> 01:39:19.999
through the (inaudible) of going native.
And quite right to. These were sailors.

01:39:20.000 --> 01:39:24.999
They were seamen, they were on a ship and they were
going by water. Thank. I had to find one phrase

01:39:25.000 --> 01:39:29.999
that perfectly summed up the arrogance

01:39:30.000 --> 01:39:34.999
and pomposity of Victorian Britain.
You found it beautifully there.

01:39:35.000 --> 01:39:39.999
I find that not only incredibly
offensive but just absolutely

01:39:40.000 --> 01:39:44.999
mind blowingingly uh… ignorant.

01:39:45.000 --> 01:39:49.999
But you’re talking as a 21st century man. We’re dealing with
mid-19th century here. It doesn’t make it the standard view,

01:39:50.000 --> 01:39:54.999
it doesn’t make it right.

01:39:55.000 --> 01:39:59.999
Umm… Rae differed hugely from them.

01:40:00.000 --> 01:40:04.999
That he was born and raised in Orkney.

01:40:05.000 --> 01:40:09.999
Uh… his world view was completely
different from people who owed

01:40:10.000 --> 01:40:14.999
disposition to privilege, to wealth.

01:40:15.000 --> 01:40:19.999
[sil.]

01:40:20.000 --> 01:40:24.999
Really important that I
introduce myself to you.

01:40:25.000 --> 01:40:29.999
I’m one of the savages that your grandfather
eluded to. Sorry. I believe this was the time

01:40:30.000 --> 01:40:34.999
where this nation had to unite together.

01:40:35.000 --> 01:40:39.999
It has a national disaster at its hand.

01:40:40.000 --> 01:40:44.999
Instead, everybody

01:40:45.000 --> 01:40:49.999
including Jane, lady Franklin,

01:40:50.000 --> 01:40:54.999
your grandfather were
so allowed to destroy.

01:40:55.000 --> 01:40:59.999
The characters are very important
people including my race

01:41:00.000 --> 01:41:04.999
who are known worldwide
as most innocent people

01:41:05.000 --> 01:41:09.999
of the whole earth. But that character

01:41:10.000 --> 01:41:14.999
assassination that your grandfather did

01:41:15.000 --> 01:41:19.999
to call us a murderous individuals who would
creep upon the weak as the white people

01:41:20.000 --> 01:41:24.999
and ambush them. He was so loud

01:41:25.000 --> 01:41:29.999
to write an article that
was cruel and false

01:41:30.000 --> 01:41:34.999
and yet no one no Englishman

01:41:35.000 --> 01:41:39.999
has ever taken responsibility
to say, I’m sorry.

01:41:40.000 --> 01:41:44.999
This still has an impact on my people

01:41:45.000 --> 01:41:49.999
because no person in this living
wants to take any sense of ownership

01:41:50.000 --> 01:41:54.999
to try and establish the reconciliation.

01:41:55.000 --> 01:41:59.999
I really believe it is important though.
We could help you.

01:42:00.000 --> 01:42:04.999
Instead of destroy the
inability to work with you.

01:42:05.000 --> 01:42:09.999
Why do you think that happened?
I have absolutely no idea

01:42:10.000 --> 01:42:14.999
and umm… well, it doesn’t make any difference
to history but on behalf of my family,

01:42:15.000 --> 01:42:19.999
that I certainly apologize for
what Charles wrote which was

01:42:20.000 --> 01:42:24.999
astounding in its victedness.

01:42:25.000 --> 01:42:29.999
And the only thing I can think because
again it was very out of character.

01:42:30.000 --> 01:42:34.999
And I just think it’s very easy
for him in a London study,

01:42:35.000 --> 01:42:39.999
in a London office to take a pen and write

01:42:40.000 --> 01:42:44.999
and make these accusations. It ties in with
public opinion. It’s an easy way of selling

01:42:45.000 --> 01:42:49.999
but to actually understand what effect,
it was going to have on an entire race

01:42:50.000 --> 01:42:54.999
and an entire people, like I can’t think

01:42:55.000 --> 01:42:59.999
he would have possibly
stopped to think about it

01:43:00.000 --> 01:43:04.999
because it would have been completely out of
character for him to do that. Completely out of

01:43:05.000 --> 01:43:09.999
he spent his entire career in England championing
the causes of those that were fighting

01:43:10.000 --> 01:43:14.999
and those that were being downtrodden
by the country, by the government,

01:43:15.000 --> 01:43:19.999
by the ruling classes. So and
that’s why I was so surprised

01:43:20.000 --> 01:43:24.999
when you first put me on to the household
words article and it is just vindictive.

01:43:25.000 --> 01:43:29.999
He spent all of his life traveling to prisons
and factories and schools and hospitals.

01:43:30.000 --> 01:43:34.999
But he didn’t go to the Arctic. Umm… It
occurred to me just listening to you.

01:43:35.000 --> 01:43:39.999
Is wouldn’t it be that actually Dickens was

01:43:40.000 --> 01:43:44.999
so strong in his response,
really, really coming out strong

01:43:45.000 --> 01:43:49.999
because he was aware that, that was
actually the feeling of sensitivities

01:43:50.000 --> 01:43:54.999
of the Victorians at the time.
That, they were just an attack

01:43:55.000 --> 01:43:59.999
to a nation’s sensitivity. You
don’t eat your friend. Yeah.

01:44:00.000 --> 01:44:04.999
In 1857, so a few years later,

01:44:05.000 --> 01:44:09.999
during the Indian mutiny, Dickens would
advocate not justice or even retribution

01:44:10.000 --> 01:44:14.999
but actually genocide, quote, “I wish, I were
commander in chief of in India” he would write.

01:44:15.000 --> 01:44:19.999
I should do my utmost to exterminate
the race upon whom the stain of the

01:44:20.000 --> 01:44:24.999
late cruelty rested. So in other words,
there is another, there is another.

01:44:25.000 --> 01:44:29.999
Oh boy…

01:44:30.000 --> 01:44:34.999
[sil.]

01:44:35.000 --> 01:44:39.999
I love Dickens. I love Dickens. You know,
but he, but he had this, this blind spot.

01:44:40.000 --> 01:44:44.999
I think in this one way,
he, he didn’t transcend

01:44:45.000 --> 01:44:49.999
his times. And I think of the time,
where he hadn’t had a crime.

01:44:50.000 --> 01:44:54.999
We haven’t had the great wall. We
hadn’t have the, we slept on horrors

01:44:55.000 --> 01:44:59.999
for hundreds of years now. And it’s going on
at this moment as we sit around this table.

01:45:00.000 --> 01:45:04.999
Umm… but at that time, the
only people who were capable

01:45:05.000 --> 01:45:09.999
as far as good Englishman was concerned
of doing that sort of thing was savages.

01:45:10.000 --> 01:45:14.999
And you know, they were an easy
target and so they were attacked.

01:45:15.000 --> 01:45:19.999
Very important, there is a
very important, all of you,

01:45:20.000 --> 01:45:24.999
the cast as well as John again,

01:45:25.000 --> 01:45:29.999
you’re welcome to (inaudible) at any time.
So any of you ever

01:45:30.000 --> 01:45:34.999
put your photo up there. Tom,
welcome, any time to come up to

01:45:35.000 --> 01:45:39.999
(inaudible). It’s been an honor
for me to be here. Earlier,

01:45:40.000 --> 01:45:44.999
you apologized for, for uh… from to me

01:45:45.000 --> 01:45:49.999
and for my people about the, what
your grandfather had written about.

01:45:50.000 --> 01:45:54.999
This apology is very important

01:45:55.000 --> 01:45:59.999
and I accept it on behalf of my people.
For the people of (inaudible).

01:46:00.000 --> 01:46:04.999
It is more than I asked for when I
came here when I was hoping something

01:46:05.000 --> 01:46:09.999
eventually would come here. So
umm… we have the inuit people

01:46:10.000 --> 01:46:14.999
particularly people who were
impacted as well as my tribe,

01:46:15.000 --> 01:46:19.999
I really try to work
primarily John, Raes guides.

01:46:20.000 --> 01:46:24.999
I accept your apology and I want
you to know you are a friend

01:46:25.000 --> 01:46:29.999
and you are welcome to come to
(inaudible) any time. Thank you.

01:46:30.000 --> 01:46:38.000
[sil.]

01:46:45.000 --> 01:46:49.999
How many hundreds of years does it take?

01:46:50.000 --> 01:46:54.999
I, I find this whole project from my personal point of view
absolutely fascinating because just from my family point of view,

01:46:55.000 --> 01:46:59.999
it paints an entirely different
picture of Charles Dickens

01:47:00.000 --> 01:47:04.999
that we know from, from the mainstream
history books and the stories.

01:47:05.000 --> 01:47:09.999
Umm… I’m pleased you’ve
managed to meet and talk.

01:47:10.000 --> 01:47:14.999
That’s very special and I will take up your
invitation. If you ever want to come to Kent…

01:47:15.000 --> 01:47:19.999
It is dramatic.

01:47:20.000 --> 01:47:24.999
Thank you.

01:47:25.000 --> 01:47:29.999
Thank you very much.

01:47:30.000 --> 01:47:34.999
Great to see you.

01:47:35.000 --> 01:47:39.999
Keep that alive.

01:47:40.000 --> 01:47:48.000
[music]

01:47:50.000 --> 01:47:54.999
John Rae was laid to rest in his
beloved Orkney at St. Magnus cathedral

01:47:55.000 --> 01:47:59.999
in 1893.

01:48:00.000 --> 01:48:04.999
Rae had plans to sail a small school

01:48:05.000 --> 01:48:09.999
to the path that he had found
to prove it was the final link

01:48:10.000 --> 01:48:14.999
in the northwest passage. But it was
not to be. Until half a century later,

01:48:15.000 --> 01:48:19.999
when (inaudible) vindicate John
Rae by sailing through the strait

01:48:20.000 --> 01:48:24.999
that now bears his name.

01:48:25.000 --> 01:48:33.000
[music]

01:48:55.000 --> 01:48:59.999
Spirits from Orkney.

01:49:00.000 --> 01:49:04.999
[music]

01:49:05.000 --> 01:49:09.999
To John. To John.

01:49:10.000 --> 01:49:14.999
And to the, to the boys. Yeah.

01:49:15.000 --> 01:49:23.000
[music]