Nova on PBS - last-second head's-up

[turbo]

"Arctic passage" (Part one) is starting just now. Franklin and his crew's attempt at the NorthWest passage. This is a GOOD repeat!

 

[edward]

Thanks for the heads up. I just checked and it comes on at 8:00 locally.

 

[turbo]

Enjoy, Edward. This NOVA presentation is one of my favorites.

 

[Ouabache]

"Arctic passage" (Part one) is starting just now. Franklin and his crew's attempt at the NorthWest passage. This is a GOOD repeat!

Sounds like the kind of vid I would like to see. I wonder if they have any background music from the late Stan Rogers' tune Northwest Passage..

For those not familiar, here's the chorus:

cho: Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

And here be Stan singing the chorus --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_RMuHWq2_4

 

[turbo]

I have a LOT of Rogers' music, and love this song (as well as most of his maritime stuff). He also invokes McKenzie and David Thompson in that song - Canada was REALLY wild and tough, and exploring it was made much more difficult than what became the US simply because the climate was so unforgiving to the unprepared.

 

[turbo]

When the first civilian European settlers (not just fishermen, trappers, traders, etc) started showing up in New England, they were expecting winter conditions appropriate to equivalent latitudes in western Europe. SURPRISE!

 

[turbo]

For some enlightenment, I live south of the 45th North parallel (latitude) in forbidding territory that no European settler could possibly have survived without the aid of the native population and years of preparation (not possible then).

Look at some of the places in Europe that lie on the 45th parallel. No wonder so many colonists died. They thought they were moving to paradise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_parallel_north

 

[Ouabache]

I have a LOT of Rogers' music, and love this song (as well as most of his maritime stuff). He also invokes McKenzie and David Thompson in that song - Canada was REALLY wild and tough, and exploring it was made much more difficult than what became the US simply because the climate was so unforgiving to the unprepared.

Ah Alexander McKenzie, David Thompson. Two biggies in Canadian lore.
And don't forget Henry Kelsey (who Rogers inadvertently penned brave Kelso), Kelsey worked for Hudson Bay Company & was probably first European to view the great Canadian prairie. Yea I enjoy Stan's music, a good listen (especially for those who are not familiar) is his live album, Between the Breaks

Nathan certainly didn't fall far from the tree. His voice hauntingly stirs an image of his Dad in his http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6Lu4vskmg".

The 45th parallel is just smidgen north of Bangor. (I visited there a few moons ago).
Well those early settlers ought to have gotten a clue, when those who first arrived sent back word, "Hey, we're freezing our a%#es off over here. Head south!"

I requested NOVA's Arctic Passage, from my library. It'll be a few days before they get it..

 

[Ouabache]

I have a LOT of Rogers' music, and love this song (as well as most of his maritime stuff).

Did you happen to hear any of his brother Garnett's music? Evidently he and Stan worked together, for some time.

e.g.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0c3gA76uPQ" (tune starts 1:20)

 

[turbo]

I don't remember the titles of all Stan's CD's that I have (they were all vinyl, at first, of course) because they are buried in the bowels of my 400-CD Sony changer. I have a live CD from Halifax, NS in which Stan mentions Garnet in the introductions, and I may have picked up some of his music in compilations, but I don't think I have any of Garnet's solo work.

Edit: just watched the "Small Victory" video. That's a tear-jerker for any horse-lover who supports rescue efforts.

 

[Integral]

For some enlightenment, I live south of the 45th North parallel (latitude) in forbidding territory that no European settler could possibly have survived without the aid of the native population and years of preparation (not possible then).

Look at some of the places in Europe that lie on the 45th parallel. No wonder so many colonists died. They thought they were moving to paradise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_parallel_north

They finally did find a paradise on the 45th parallel.. right here where I iive in the Willamette Valley. It just took another couple centuries to get here.

 

[Ouabache]

I was just borrowed the video from the library & watched the first segment. What began very optimistically, turned gloomy, with a theme of the perfect storm, it appears the Franklin expedition was doomed. (sailing into an arctic ice flow... and bad timing, where there was no summer melt for at least 5yrs).

It would have made sense, to learn skills from those who live in that environment. Certainly, if they had befriended the Inuit & employed their arctic survival skills, history may have recorded a more successful outcome.

I haven't viewed the next segment on Amundsen's voyage yet. However being from a colder country (Norway), I am guessing he faired better.

 

[turbo]

It would have made sense, to learn skills from those who live in that environment. Certainly, if they had befriended the Inuit & employed their arctic survival skills, history may have recorded a more successful outcome.

They were confident in their ships, their supplies, and their technology, which were all inadequate to the task.

 

[Ouabache]

They were confident in their ships, their supplies, and their technology, which were all inadequate to the task.

Then the British Admiralty appears very naive, considering Franklin had 1st hand knowledge of the hardships traversing the arctic maritimes. He almost died during his previous expedition.

You would think they include some logical contingency plans, in case the ships got stuck for an extended period. Or were they just cocky, like the designers of the Titanic. Packed with food rations in the latest technology, lead-laced tins..

 

[tribdog]

was this the expedition where they had canned food for the first time, unfortunately they used lead to seal the cans?

 

[turbo]

Then the British Admiralty appears very naive, considering Franklin had 1st hand knowledge of the hardships traversing the arctic maritimes. He almost died during his last expedition.

You would think they include some logical contingency plans, in case the ships got stuck for an extended period. Or were they just cocky, like the designers of the Titanic.

It's my opinion (only) that the admiralty kept throwing technology at the problem to brute-force it. If the British had colonized (nicely) the northern extent of Canada, they could have easily gained access to the skills and knowledge of the Inuit within a few decades at most, and could have surveyed all of the (presumed) NW passage without risking ships and crews. Instead, they assumed that their "superiority" would carry the day. Bad choice.

 

[Ouabache]

was this the expedition where they had canned food for the first time, unfortunately they used lead to seal the cans?

Yes it was one of the first expeditions that carried tinned food. I don't have access to historical records just now, however wiki tells us they did not purchase their provisions from top-shelf suppliers. Though lead was certainly a bad choice of material, evidently the problem was poor process control.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Franklin"

From wikipedia...
(They brought with them), three years' worth of conventionally preserved or tinned preserved food supplies. Unfortunately, the latter was supplied from a cut-rate provisioner who was awarded the contract only a few months before the ships were to sail. Though his "patent process" was sound, the haste with which he had prepared thousands of cans of food led to sloppily-applied beads of solder on the cans' interior edges and allowed lead to leach into the food.

It's my opinion (only) that the admiralty kept throwing technology at the problem to brute-force it. If the British had colonized (nicely) the northern extent of Canada, they could have easily gained access to the skills and knowledge of the Inuit within a few decades at most, and could have surveyed all of the (presumed) NW passage without risking ships and crews. Instead, they assumed that their "superiority" would carry the day. Bad choice.

I think you're right.

 

[Ouabache]

Amundsen takes on the Arctic Passage

I just viewed the 2nd segment of the Arctic Passage. It seems Amundsen took my advice, and learned from the natives, how to survive and get around. He also had the benefit of hindsight, having studied the writings of Franklin’s expedition, and also better charting of the waterways, drawn by members of Franklin rescue parties. And he made it though to the Beaufort Sea! Wooowoo.. I suspect somewhere in his final report was, yes there is a NW passage but not a recommended shortcut to Asia.

 

[turbo]

I suspect somewhere in his final report was, yes there is a NW passage to the Pacific but not a recommended shortcut to Asia.

Yes. All poorly-supplied, unreinforced cargo ships should take the NW passage to cut time off the Europe-to-Asia run, and to provide a steady larder to the Inuit who have enough sense to explore ice-bound ships.

 

[Ouabache]

I have a LOT of Rogers' music, and love this song (as well as most of his maritime stuff). He also invokes McKenzie and David Thompson in that song - Canada was REALLY wild and tough, and exploring it was made much more difficult than what became the US simply because the climate was so unforgiving to the unprepared.

I don't remember the titles of all Stan's CD's that I have (they were all vinyl, at first, of course) because they are buried in the bowels of my 400-CD Sony changer. I have a live CD from Halifax, NS

I never saw Stan in concert and only caught glimpses of him here on the net. Have you watched the documentary about him, called http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uCFs06j7E8", The Legacy of Stan Rogers, made in 1989? You can view it on youtube in 6 parts.

 

[turbo]

I never saw Stan in concert and only caught glimpses of him here on the net. Have you watched the documentary about him, called http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uCFs06j7E8", The Legacy of Stan Rogers, made in 1989? You can view it on youtube in 6 parts.

I'll look for that. Thanks.