![]() ![]() She was constantly campaigning for John to get better jobs and positions, or fighting for his reputation. That’s very much the key to her role in this whole story. ![]() Jane was fascinated by the latest developments in science, literature and art, but because she was a woman, she had to achieve a lot through her husband. She was a very modern woman – bright and well-educated, with an enormous amount of energy. Jane Franklin is one of the book’s most fascinating figures – what can you tell us about her? I think that the British have a rather peculiar attitude to noble failures – such as Scott’s doomed mission to the south pole, or all those who died in the trenches – where grief and glory are strangely tied together. It became such a huge national calamity that it would have been blasphemous to suggest that they shouldn’t have attempted it. Funnily enough, I don’t think anyone really got to grips with the question of whether or not Franklin’s men should have gone in the first place. It shows an old ship’s captain with a map of the arctic laid out on his lap, and his daughter leaning against his knee, as he looks out into the distance – there’s a real sense of desolation to it. John Everett Millais’s 1874 painting The North-West Passage encapsulates this later national sentiment about the expedition. People wanted to believe that these men had sacrificed their lives for a worthy cause, something that reflected well on their country. ‘Magisterial … Brings energy, wit and humanity to a story that has never ceased to tantalise people since the 1840s.As more evidence emerged, the next stage was national mourning. ‘I absolutely loved it: I had to read it at one sitting … Fascinating.’ - Lorraine Kelly, ITV Lorraine This beautifully produced volume - colour plates, outstanding maps - is a landmark achievement.’ - Ken McGoogan, author of Fatal Passage ![]() He turns up obscure facts, reanimates essential moments, and never shies away from taking controversial positions. ‘Palin is a superb stylist, low-key and conversational, who skillfully incorporates personal experience. The Erebus story is the Arctic epic we’ve all been waiting for.’ - Nicholas Crane ‘Thoroughly absorbs the reader… Carefully researched and well-crafted, it brings the story of a ship vividly to life.’ - Sunday Times Vividly recounting the experiences of the men who first set foot on Antarctica’s Victoria Land, and those who, just a few years later, froze to death one by one in the Arctic ice, beyond the reach of desperate rescue missions, Erebus is a wonderfully evocative account of a truly extraordinary adventure, brought to life by a master explorer and storyteller. The ship was filled with fascinating people: the dashing and popular James Clark Ross, who charted much of the ‘Great Southern Barrier’ the troubled John Franklin, whose chequered career culminated in the Erebus ‘s final, disastrous expedition and the eager Joseph Dalton Hooker, a brilliant naturalist - when he wasn’t shooting the local wildlife dead. Michael Palin - Monty Python star and television globetrotter - brings the remarkable Erebus back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic. In 1848, it disappeared in the Arctic, its fate a mystery. HMS Erebus was one of the great exploring ships, a veteran of groundbreaking expeditions to the ends of the Earth. ![]()
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