#books about the Franklin Expedition

[cockroachesunite]

Considering setting up an art shop, does anyone have any recommendations? Etsy, redbubble, etc? There’s a lot of options and it’s a bit daunting, but I’d love to sell my work just as soon as I can figure out how!

[queensthiefofattolia]

Finally watched The Terror and turns out everyone was right. It has fundamentally altered my brain chemistry and consumed my waking thoughts. So that's cool I guess.

[frmulcahy]

So guess who just learned about The Ministry of Time a couple hours ago because I received a copy 👀

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

james fitzjames about his birth father's family, the gambiers

(from may we be spared to meet on earth)

[madqueenalanna]

i just learned yesterday that the winter that caused the franklin expedition's boats to freeze, eventually leading to their deaths, was the same winter that stranded the donner party, 1846. what a horrible year to have been alive

[butchsaint]

how titillating. where is the rpf (frozen in time, pg. 8)

[graveyardrabbit]

I spent like all day running around to various thrift stores trying to find the right jacket cover in fake blood for my Halloween costume, and I wasn’t successful on that end but I did find manage to find a copy of The Worst Journey In The World, so I’m going to so that that’s a different kind of success

[apocalypticdemon]

writing is so fun. i decide to start writing my silly little fics and now i have a reading list at least 7 books deep. good lord.

[blodeuweddschild]

Permanently tempted to make every assignment about a random topic so I get to forcibly educate my tutors about the use of geothermal energy in Iceland or the Acali sex raft when all they wanted was some design shit

[petoskeystones]

hello here is a link to download an epub of the 2014 edition of frozen in time w/ margaret atwood's foreword and here is a link to download a pdf of the 2004 edition (also w/ atwood foreword but idk if it's the same exact one)

also margaret atwood's short story "the age of lead" which is kind of sort of about my darling john torrington can be found in her book wilderness tips <3

can you recommend some historical documents / other sources to learn about your ice mummies? :) I love natural mummification, and the franklin expedition, and I need a rabbit hole to fall into

ok i cannot stress enough how much you need to read frozen in time: the fate of the franklin expedition by owen beattie and john geiger. there should be an epub/pdf version around somewhere online if you look hard enough. this book is the holy grail of franklin expedition ice mummy anthropology and investigative forensic archeology and i think it ought to be required reading if you want to be a reputable franklin expedition nerd !!!!

and if you don't have time to read a whole book or are still curious before it arrives in the mail, then good news! you can watch buried in ice, the nova documentary from 1988 which is ABOUT the exhumations of the lads on beechey island by the same team who wrote frozen in time. and then i'm also going to direct you to @radiojamming's exceedingly detailed and beautiful research into john hartnell's life, and also @entwinedmoon's exceedingly detailed and beautiful research into john torrington's life. as far as i know i don't think anyone on this webbed site has done a deepdive into william braine's life but if anyone HAS then I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT.

also here are the autopsy reports for torrington & hartnell.

here's the radiology report for hartnell & braine

[arthurwilde]

Everyone should watch the Terror because it's a masterpiece on a million different levels but you should be aware of what it will do to you. I just watched an hourlong history channel documentary about a dude who tried to go to the North Pole on a submarine in 1931 and I was riveted. I read a 400 page book about the Franklin Expedition this summer and I thumbed through pictures of the Shackleton Expedition and was absolutely amped when the Endurance was found. I'm almost certainly going to cave and buy a rare Canadian map detailing the route of the rescue efforts to find the Franklin Expedition. This is who I am now. It happened to me and it will happen to you

[bertie-w-wooster]

if I had (hypothetically) made a reading list of 55 works about the Franklin Expedition and related areas, including the pdfs of most of the articles and a couple of the books on it, would anyone be interested in it? pls lmk in the comments or tags!

update: I have posted it, check the reblogs or my blog to find it

[frmulcahy]

You know those coffee table books that are just like, a timeline of a certain topic and they give you the cliffs notes of each major event so it’s an intro to the subject as a whole?

Anyways I want The Big Book of Polar Exploration

[areyougonnabe]

do you have any book (or other media) recommendations for someone looking to go completely insane about arctic exploration now that they've finally caved and watched the terror after holding strong since 2020? i'd love to dive more into the franklin expedition and especially fitzjames and crozier but i'm also very interested in this cherry dude you've been posting about recently.

NONNY OF COURSE I DO. the last time i got an ask like this was over 2 years ago, so i am eager to deliver a refined version of my POLAR FLOWCHART...

SO YOU JUST WATCHED THE TERROR. AND NOW YOU WANT TO READ BOOKS.

A) Do you want to read more about the Franklin Expedition specifically?

If YES, go to B.

If NO, I'M OPEN TO WHATEVER, go to C.

B) Do you care about super detailed historical accuracy or do you just want a fun breezy intro book? Alternatively do you like ice mummies?

If YOU ARE KIND OF A STICKLER, go to D.

If YOU JUST WANNA VIBE AND LEARN THE BASICS, go to E.

If YOU WANT THE FUCKING ICE MUMMIES, go to F.

C) Do you want another story where people die and are sad and fucked up but also hold each other and experience intimacy in extremis?

If NO, YOU KIND OF WOULD RATHER HAVE AN UPLIFTING ONE THIS TIME, go to G.

If YOU DEFINITELY JUST WANT MORE POLAR MISERY, go to H.

D) Would you rather learn more about what happened before the expedition or what happened during/after?

If you want the JANKY FRANKLIN SHITSHOW PREQUEL, try The Man Who Ate His Boots by Anthony Brandt.

If you want the AMBIGUOUS HORROR OF DYING WHITE MEN INVADING A LAND THAT ISN'T THEIRS, try Unraveling the Franklin Expedition by David C. Woodman.

E) Would you rather have a polar-specific overview or a more general book on exploration history of the era that includes polar stuff?

If you want ICY BOYS ONLY, try Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin.

If you want to read about GUYS HAVING A BAD TIME IN HOT PLACES TOO, try Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming or James Fitzjames: The Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition by William Battersby.

F) STRONG AS FUCK ICE MUMMY MONDAY

The ONE YOU WANT IS Frozen In Time by Owen Beattie and John Geiger.

G) Is your vibe more "the power of friendship and brotherhood to overcome immense challenges" or "worst fucking rich boy gap year of all time" ?

If you want to be stirred by fine leadership qualities and hope against all odds, try Endurance by Alfred Lansing.

If you want to be entertained by awful leadership qualities and deranged crew antics, try Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton.

H) Would you want your dead heroes to be beloved and valorized or ignored and forgotten?

If you're all in on posthumous legends, try A First Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston or The Worst Journey In The World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

If you want to be one of the only ones who care, try The Lost Men by Kelly Tyler-Lewis.

BONUS RECS

If you want to know about ghosts, mediums, and the psychic ghost child Little Weesy who is one of the most legendary Franklin-adjacent curiosities: The Spectral Arctic by Shane McCorristine

Either before or after you read Worst Journey (before might be better if the full book intimidates you, but only if you've prepped with the Preston): the Worst Journey In The World graphic novel by Sarah Airriess

For after you have loaded up on Franklin and Terra Nova lore (the book doesn't hit as hard without deep emotional attachment to both imho): I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford

If you need to know more about the Discovery expedition-era Toxic Polycule (Scott/Shackleton/Wilson): Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition by Beau Riffenburgh

(very selfish recommendation motivated by wanting more people to care about him) If you want vivid detail on the day-to-day life of the Terra Nova expedition: With Scott: The Silver Lining by T. Griffith Taylor

and lastly but CERTAINLY not least:

If you are "very interested in this cherry dude i've been posting about recently" and have prepped with the Preston and/or WJ: Cherry by Sara Wheeler ... then you will understand.

[ltwilliammowett]

My son (12) spent the weekend with his grandparents and watched a documentary about things in the ice. There was also a segment about the ice mummies of the Franklin Expedition. Let's put it this way: when I came home from hospital earlier today, he was sitting at the table with my books on the subject and was busy reading. I would say that the next generation is in the starting blocks….

[bossybigeyes]

do you ever see those cute stickers of books and think damn i wish someone would make some of those for my favourite titles about the lost franklin expedition?