#history of exploration

[croziers-compass]

Summary Notes of Terror Camp 2023 (10.12.23)

(A small summary of notes and references I took during Terror Camp Day Two - Antarctic Exploration!)

Branwell's Death Narratives

Captain Scott - The narrative tilts. It tilts according to who's written it.

Vitai Lampada by Newbolt

The Book of the Long Long Trail - Newbolt

Scott Supporters vs Critics. Was he a fool or a misunderstood individual? Challenge the complexities with which a Narrative is design and revolved around. Interrogate the Narrative and where it came from!

Caitlin Branden

Personal Bias and Individual experiences steer your experience with a particular Polar Expedition

"A wonderful Evening"

Which Member of the Expedition Are You?

What attracts you to your Expedition? What about your Expedition draws you to it? What do you talk about when you talk about the Expedition of your Heart?

Rach

"Terrebus"

Narratology

"How do we frame the Narrative and How does the Narrative Frame us?"

"We cannot ask reason to take us across the Gulf of the absurd"

" The real Quest was the books we tried to write along the way " - R - The Discord Chat

"We all have our special little guys"

"Perhaps being haunted is part of being Human"

"Any Narrative can become dangerous if it becomes The Narrative. Be aware of the Biases off the Narrative you are writing. Take responsibility for the Narrative."

"Carry your little Guys in your pocket"

Emma J. P. - From the South Pole to the Stars

Incredible Parallels twixt the Astral Exploration of Space and the Antarctic / Polar Explorations with Antarctica being a simile for time spent off of Earth itself.

Empty and Vast

Roald's Narrative during the South Pole Expedition!

Sam Botz - The Feminine (?) Antarctic

"The Last Imaginary Place on Earth."

Antarctica The Woman - Stephanie Krzywonos

"Flying and Singing Like Sparrows" - Le Guin

Phil M. (linked to Patreon) (Paper Doll Polar Explorer's Sea Chest)

Ross and Crozier Expedition!

"They were Hut Mates"

Crozier Passed His Leftenant Exam at 21 in the year 1817 Ross and Crozier serving under William Perry

They Celebrated St. Patricks day!

McCormick is our Narrator through much.

"EVERYONE WAS WET"

⚓ Robert McCormick's geological collections from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, 1839–1843

⚓ (Ross Volume 1) Voyages of discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic seas and round the world [microform] : being personal narratives of attempts to reach the North and South Poles ⚓(Ross Volume 2) A voyage of discovery and research in the southern and Antarctic regions, during the years 1839-43

by Ross, James Clark, Sir, 1800-1862 (links to Archive for JCR)

⚓Cunninham's Transcribed Journal

⚓ (An X/Twitter Acc. that follows JCR Expedition)

Becca (I got pulled away so my notes are sparse here) "I'll be blowed."

Some of these Cold Boys should not have been there. (The Scientists) Elephant Island was quite the ordeal.

Clark, Hussey, Wordie, James, the Four Nations that did not live together in Harmony.

All in the Middle of the Great War.

"Nerdy and Outside the Narrative"

Meg - Cold off the Press

"You tried"

"Mr. Clark proved the faunistic richness of the coastal Antarctic Waters, but, unfortunately, all his collections were lost with the ship."

Hussey - "This Scientist is an outlier and should not be counted"

Avery S. - Oddments, Riff Raff, and Pocket Full of Rocks

Dancing on Ice Floes

Giving sea shells as gifts!

-The importance of Collecting was incredibly valuably psychologically. To collect these specimens meant that one would have to survive to deliver them. It also helped create routine

Trading Rocks for Tobacco.

“Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, 'What is the use?' For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which will not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.” - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

"When you reach out to understand the world, even scientifically, you are reaching out to understand your place in it." - Avery S (Polar Exploration Conference Terror Camp 12.10.2023)

"How McClintock Of You" - The Discord Chat

Key Notes: With Francis Spufford and Sarah Airriess

(I was very invested in the conversations so I did not write as much as I would have liked. But some critical things really stood out to me.)

The Homosocial responses/responsibilities between the men. Care-giving and demonstrating tender roles with one another. 'Unexpectedly Gendered'

Francis has not seen The Terror

The way of Knowing these people is very unique. Reading their letters and their diaries provides a particular perspective allows you to know what they really were like - more than what their fellows may have known. You see a more intimate part of these explorers through their very personal narrations through their journals and letters.

"People are clouds of possible selves." - Francis Spufford He goes on to say something along the lines of: "Which is the problem with storytelling - as a narrator of storytelling you have to decide what comes out and what fades in the background of their personality."

"You have to decide as a Narrator." - Francis Spufford

Empathy as a Tool for Understanding

(This part was incredibly important to me.)

Sarah goes on to explain (thereabouts): You have to Listen to people. They (people writing or creating a Narrative/Narration of events) look at a historical figure and get a "snap" of them. From there they decide that they know everything about them. From there, it's like Cinderella's shoe and the step-sister cutting off parts of her foot to make it fit. You need to let these people liver and breathe as a dynamic person with feelings and thoughts. You have to be truthful. Otherwise you are doing that person a disservice and shoving them into a specific box that is meant to just fit your Narrative. You should try and be empathetic to the individual you are writing about as if they are still alive.

Spufford goes on to extrapolate on that with (thereabouts): Finding out what people meant to themselves is important. Some things you want to keep at arms lengths but still play an intrinsic role in their character. Being empathetic to these people is critical to respecting and acknowledging them with care and showing them that you care about them.

"Captain Scott is a Myth"

"The Unified Field Theory of Cold Men."

"Neurotypical people don't go to the Antarctic. Normal people are not drawn to the Antarctic."

Extra Important Links:

These are just some that I have saved from the Terror Camp. There were so many more but here is a handful.

Observations on ca. 175-year old human remains from Antarctica (Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, South Shetlands)

Cheer_Scott_expedition

Ursula K. Le Guin Books: The Wave in the Mind Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places (thriftbooks link)

An Empire of Magnetism (Global Science and the British Magnetic Survey in the Age of Imperialism) - Dr Edward J. Gillin

A Game! "To Keep the Meat"

The Popularization of Science in Nineteenth-Century America - Hyman Kuritz

"Have You Been There?" Some Thoughts on (Not) Visiting Antarctica - ADRIAN HOWKIN

The Ship that Never Was: The Greatest Escape Story Of Australian Colonial History - Adam Courtenay (Goodreads Link)

Tristian's Wordpress of Franklin Expedition Content

Francis Spufford! ⚓ Sarah Airriess ⚓

The Music Track for Terror Camp ⚓

Book Recs from Crewmate @jesslovesboats (thank you)

Thank you so much for the experience! This weekend was fantastic!

Personal Notes and Commentary

This was my first Terror Camp in its entierty. The weekend was such a delight. I had no idea what sort of experience I would be having. It was beyond my expectations. I got to learn a lot more about some of the other Expeditions that I was not as familiar with as I would have liked to be. My book list has expanded by a decent number. Getting to listen to Nive Nielsen and Paul ready was incredible. I loved everything about this experience. I cannot wait for @terrorcamp to announce the next year's event. I will certainly be attending it without a doubt. I look forwards to future projects and staying in touch with anyone else that would like to. Thank you again for such a wonderful experience! I want to give a shoutout to the people I know of the Tumblr Urls that contributed: @brainyraccoons , @jckielantern , @nopickls , @wllipt (who was a captioner), @vivtanner , @inkonfreshnewpaper - I do not know if I missed anyone. I went through the Muster Book to check out who had tumblrs. If I missed you, please let me know. I had a fantastic time. Thank you all.

With love, In heart and spirit, Second Leftenant, Wilbur

[fox-teeth]

Do you think someone will remember us?

DEEP TIME was originally published as an accordion-fold comic glued into a circular shape, so the story could be read backwards and forwards from any starting panel. Physical editions of DEEP TIME printed in bright red and teal risograph are avaliable in my shop.

[vintagecamping]

Road trip to Confusion Hill

Piercy, California

1970

[jesslovesboats]

Hello friends, I am back with more reading recommendations for your agonies! Next up we have the long awaited and much requested Sad Boat Fiction list. As with all of my lists, this is NOT exhaustive and there WILL be great books left off, and also you may or may not like these books! I only rec things that I've personally enjoyed or that come highly recommended by trusted friends, but taste in books is incredibly subjective, especially with fiction. If I missed your favorite, please add it in the comments or drop it in my DMs!

Now that I'm feeling more settled in my new job, I will hopefully have a lot more time to make book lists and do more virtual Readers' Advisory. I have lists in the works for women in polar exploration and companion reads for the HBO War series, but if there's something else you would love to see, please send me a message!

Classics of the Genre

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Media Tie-Ins

Who Goes There? (Filmed as The Thing) by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The North Water by Ian McGuire

Cold Skin by Alfred Sánchez Piñol

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Graphic Novels

Whiteout by Greg Rucka

How to Survive in the North by Luke Healy

The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard*

*this is only fiction in the broadest possible sense of the term, but there is a shiny new American version of this book coming out with a gorgeous new cover and you should pre-order it immediately

Science Fiction

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson

Romance

Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

My Last Continent by Midge Raymond

Inspired by the Terra Nova Expedition

The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard*

The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge

Terra Nova: A Play by Ted Tally

Antarctic Navigation by Elizabeth Arthur

*this is only fiction in the broadest possible sense of the term, but there is a shiny new American version of this book coming out with a gorgeous new cover and you should pre-order it immediately

Inspired by the Franklin Expedition

The Rifles by William T. Vollmann

Minds of Winter by Ed O'Loughlin

Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler

On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier

Literary Fiction

The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen

Inspired by the Classics

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

Modern Day Antarctica

How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior

South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Polar and Nautical Horror

Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Cold Earth by Sarah Moss

The Deep by Nick Cutter

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry

The Deep by Alma Katsu

Happy reading!

[nasa]

It’s Girl Scout Day! March 12, 2024, is the 112th birthday of Girl Scouts in the United States, and to celebrate, we’re sharing a lithograph of the Girl Scout alumnae who became NASA astronauts.

Girl Scouts learn to work together, build community, embrace adventurousness and curiosity, and develop leadership skills—all of which come in handy as an astronaut. For example, former Scouts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir worked together to make history on Oct. 18, 2019, when they performed the first all-woman spacewalk.

Pam Melroy is one of only two women to command a space shuttle and became NASA’s deputy administrator on June 21, 2021.

Nicole Mann was the first Indigenous woman from NASA to go to space when she launched to the International Space Station on Oct. 5, 2022. Currently, Loral O’Hara is aboard the space station, conducting science experiments and research.

Participating in thoughtful activities in leadership and STEM in Girl Scouts has empowered and inspired generations of girls to explore space, and we can’t wait to meet the future generations who will venture to the Moon and beyond.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[elixir]

Lost Gen X bedroom in the attic of an abandoned house.

[sansculottides]

pisses me off to no end when people on reddit or whatever complain that the show wouldve been better off without the tuunbaq.....did we watch the same show? the tuunbaq is everything, it held everything together. the tuunbaq is the main transformative element of the terror. the tuunbaq elevates the text beyond mere historical fact and lets it say something about the expedition's broader context of imperialism. it hunted the british men who were trampling on its home as a mere stopover, a side casualty, to finding the northwest passage (for, you know, "trade with china" after britain beat china into submission after the imperialist opium war). silna couldnt complete a proper ritual with it because of the british men - just as british colonizers have historically intruded and disrupted the practice of indigenous culture. and in the end the tuunbaq dies, after all the injuries it's taken from the british over the course of 10 episodes and finally chokes to death on the worst of them. because there's no escaping the reality of colonial history, and there is especially no fantastical escape for the colonizer. there's no proper way for us to move forward otherwise.

good historical fiction doesnt have to limit itself to accuracy - it needs empathy to draw out meanings in history using literary craft. thats what the tuunbaq means to me.... if you wanted a straight depiction of historical record, just go watch a documentary.. TUUNBAQ DENIERS DNI

[heritagebrowser]

The Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes is a Gothic royal chapel within the fortifications of the Château de Vincennes on the east edge of Paris, France. It was inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel within the Palais de la Cité in Paris. It was begun in 1379 by Charles V of France to house relics of the Passion of Christ. It is no longer used as a church, and is now a French historical monument operated by the Centre des monuments nationaux.

Here on display the side chapel with the tombe of the Duc d'Enghien who was executed in 1804. (He was charged , innocently it seemed afterwards, to be involved complotting against First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte.) The sculpture is made by Pierre Louis Deseine in 1824.

[somewhereincairparavel]

JASON GRACE PLAYS LACROSSE AND TENNIS. I CAN'T AND WON'T BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS-

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Mix Sahaphap gets to perform (and has the performance chops to perform) in a style that I’ve never seen any other male actor get to embody. Mix gets to unironically play the #strongfemalecharacter. The Beatrice, the Elizabeth Bennett, the Jo March. Strong-willed, emotional, kind-hearted.

Not only do the plot points line up, but Mix, more than any BL actor I’ve seen, fully leans into the embodiment of this archetype. In his roles, he rolls his eyes, pouts, banters flirtatiously, softens his posture and expression at small details. He doesn’t over-exaggerate and imposition other characters but his face also doesn’t hold back his character’s thoughts and judgments. And when the moments arrive, he lets all the hurt and anguish pour out in shatters of tears and visible heartbreak—the star-counting scene, anyone????—in a way that harkens to the operatic emotionality of well-done melodramas, soap-operas, and their contemporary Thai equivalent of Lakorn. It’s only that these have never been men’s roles in those.

It’s no surprise that one of Mix’s roles—Cupid’s Last Wish—is explicitly a gender body-swap, and Tian in A Tale of Thousand Stars is (albeit explicitly denied within the show) heavily connected to gender body-swapping. What Mix specializes in as an actor, and does exceptionally well, has been defined as feminine. To depict a kind of queer expression in this style is novel because it’s not camp, it’s not okama, it’s not a soft or femboy, it’s not a BL twink (Mix has been mostly excluded from the schoolyards and quads of the BL universe except for a role as a senior crush in Fish Upon the Sky). It’s too sincere and too adult for any of that.

In Moonlight Chicken we get to see, without the pretense of gendered mysticism, this performance style’s seduction, warmth, wit, and explosiveness within the framework of a general gay form of expression. It says that this kind of femininity might just be a gay thing. Not all gay men exhibit it, obviously—queer men aren’t a monolith. Still, it gives us something to consider about how we observe performance of queerness on screen, especially in front of an audience that puts so much more emphasis on ships, heat, and pairing chemistry to assess how well they perform a BL role. Could we look for other features to judge performance of queerness instead of how well they kiss?

Seme and uke roles would be the major performance style categories loyal BL fans assess actors with, yet even within the archetype his character’s fill within BL narratives, Mix’s performances differ from the typical uke depiction in BL because he really doesn’t perform them as passive. Rather, Mix’s characters and his portrayal of them are dynamic and demanding. It certainly fits certain stereotypes of ukes (Gilbert!) and their gay stereotype equivalent of bottoms as pillow princesses and brats. Mix’s characters, though, have more drive, agency, and compassion than that, and he plays them with all of those currents running underneath.

We certainly have openly gay writer/director Aof Noppharnach to thank for writing this kind of queer character for Mix to play in Tian and Wen. But for Mix’s specific commitment to the performance starting off with his (debut!?) role in ATOTS, we first have Earth to thank for believing in Mix’s ability and recommending him to portray the role of Tian, and then Aof’s acceptance despite his differing initial expectations for the character. Mix, Earth, and Aof have all been open about how Mix in his personal life and nature holds a lot of similarities to both his role as Tian in ATOTS and Wen in Moonlight Chicken. Some people might knock points off his performances because he’s like them. But his relationship to the characters, rather than dampening my enthusiasm for Mix’s performances, helps me appreciate his willingness to give an authentic performance in a style that hasn’t been encouraged on screens previously. It’s made more impactful that he chose to risk vulnerability to bring something personal that had previously been excluded from screens because of its gender deviance (and in broader society explicitly condemned). This doesn’t make a claim on Mix’s actual identity, but simply shows his willingness to understand and perform the expressions of his queer characters with an effort at empathy that many other actors would feel challenged to bring.

Some actors are chameleons, but some actors have a gift of a type within which they can explore depths and range that no one else can best. For me, that’s what Mix does in his work when directors and casting understands his talent. There’s a BTS video of Mix actually fainting during a scene while in Earth/Phupa’s embrace on the mountain that immediately brought to mind the wildly famous final scene in the film Camille where Greta Garbo as Marguerite dies in her lover’s arms.

For Mix, it was a serious incident due to regrettably extreme conditions and requiring the on-set paramedics, but these levels of theatrics, for me, are emblematic of what Mix is capable of as a performer, as well. After all, he had to faint in Phupa’s arms multiple times on purpose. It’s the kinds of Old Hollywood and heightened sentimental romance realms Mix takes his performances to! Then he can turn around and make it look easy to take that same character into grounded quips or dedicated everyday tasks. It only takes writers, directors, and audiences willing to see that men can feel this way and act this way. Mix has paved the way.

[ltwilliammowett]

Stained glass window in St Mary’s Church, Banbury - photo by Rex Harris

Pictured here is HMS Terror stuck in the ice. The image was taken from the Arctic reports and notebook of Admiral Sir George Back during his Arctic expedition in 1836. It was commissioned by Henry Back, the admiral’s brother and vicar of the church in c. 1860.

[magastadt-olivia]

Nature is so beautiful 😍💓🌹

[yorksnapshots]

A Pack Horse Bridge.

Found in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, England. Built in Sandstone in 1672 with the aid of a £20 grant, which would barely by a brick nowadays!

[vintagecamping]

Pit stop for buffalo burgers and more...

Oklahoma

1953

[bixels]

I'm not explaining why re-imagining characters as POC is not the same as white-washing, here of all places should fucking understand.

[the-golden-vanity]

I think the thing I like most about The Sea, as, like... a setting or a concept, is that in its vastness, its untameable nature, its unknown secrets, you have a lot of historically documented events that sound more like tales out of mythology and folklore.

Take, for instance, the fate of the Victory Expedition of 1829.

The Victory expedition was a private polar expedition led by veteran British explorer Captain John Ross. Twenty-three men set sail for the Canadian Arctic on the steamship Victory, but when the ship became trapped in the polar ice, there was no way to free it. The crew spent four years in the frozen north, surviving on rations from the wreck of a previous polar exploration ship.

Eventually, twenty survivors packed their belongings into small boats and hauled them over ice towards open water. And in that open water, there was a ship, the whaler Isabella of Hull.*

The Isabella's crew couldn't believe their eyes, because, as they told the Victory's survivors, "Captain Ross has been dead these two years."

And if that wasn't strange enough, the (very much alive) Captain Ross of the Victory had, on a previous Arctic expedition, been captain of the Isabella.

*Side note: the more I read about the Age of Sail, the more I realize that wherever official Explorers™ from a given Western nation go, their whalers have already beaten them there. Sometimes that's even the reason the explorers were sent.