jamesjamesonfitzjames

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

THE TERROR | 1.09

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

wip for the Edward Little girlies

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

i really like the idea of post-canon jfj returning to britain because he would just Not be okay. At all. which like obviously. who would be. but he would be so Uniquely not okay. we see through his storytelling and his confession to francis that he is always trying to create for himself a "great gilded life." and i love that phrasing. a Gilded life. because he passes off every horrifying terrible wretched thing that happens to him as a brilliant, daring exploit, and something that makes him Really Cool, actually. he turns every traumatic event he endures into essentially a form of marketing for himself. and their years in the ice are just about as bad as it gets. so what is someone whose primary defense mechanism their entire life's been turning their trauma into glory to do? continue doing that. build a new frame around themself. gild the walls of what they experienced. tell a story. retreat into the belief that you are better because of what happened, that it could not possibly have wounded you so deeply as you fear it did. and yet. and Yet. we saw throughout the entire expedition, but i'd say most especially after franklin died, just how Young james is. it's not obscure history to know he was passed over to lead the expedition because he was too young. and yet he had to lead it anyway, because franklin died like immediately. which was really embarrassing honestly. he had to be a leader and feel the crushing weight of everyone's death and everyone's suffering on top of his own and clearly in the moment he was Not coping well. and he would have to live with that after. obviously the degree to which things impact him would depend on when and how you choose to get them out of the ice, but he, and everyone he was close to there, would remember how undignified and painful it was. he can convince everyone who wasn't there that they were heroic and persevered off of honor and bravery---and doing even this much would require separating himself from everyone who Was on the expedition, because their undeniable and unforgettable suffering would be proof against the validity of his story---and to some extent he can convince Himself, but that all depends on the sensationalization; the dinners and dances and drama. it all depends on the story. and there's only so many times you can tell a story. there's only so many people that will listen. once it's been exhausted to every possible outlet---every newspaper has written about it, every family friend has heard about it---and the years pass, and the sensation dies, what's left? nothing. nothing but the suffocating reality of what you endured and the devastating lonliness you created to put off having to accept it. you are left with a deeply broken man who has completely isolated himself trying to ignore how broken he is. delicious

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

It's Franklin Expedition day! HMS Erebus and Terror departed Greenhithe, Kent one hundred and seventy-eight years ago today, on 19th May 1845.

The contemporary illustration of the expedition departing in The Illustrated London News:

In the last few days before he sailed, Franklin may have experienced a premonition of his fate. Suffering from the flu, he was resting at home with his wife, Jane, who had just finished sewing a silk Union Jack for him to take. Concerned about his illness, she draped the flag over his legs for warmth. He sprang to his feet: “There’s a flag thrown over me! Don’t you know that they lay the Union Jack over a corpse?” But on Sunday 18 May, the eve of his departure, with his wife and daughter present, the profoundly religious Franklin read Divine Service for the first time to his crews. And when the expedition sailed from the Thames the next morning, carrying 134 officers and men, most felt the Franklin expedition could not fail.

— Owen Beattie and John Geiger, Frozen in Time

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

none of you are prepared for this 1830 artillery officer's coat I found in the fort ti archives

I was like oh that's pretty, I like the lacing on the sleeves— OHHHH

THE CUNT!!! THE CUNT!!!!!

god DAMN I cannot imagine the price tag on this thing. all that gold lace on the front combined with the elaborate pattern on the back PLUS the giant ass fucking epaulettes. it's a rich man's coat if I've ever seen one but damn me if it doesn't go hard as hell.

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

THE TERROR ▸ 1.08 terror camp clear

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

Made this last night, let it simmer, realized the legs are all mangled and weird, had to crop it in a weird way. Anyways erebus lieuts time!!! Biblically accurate tall beefy Fairholme you will ALWAYS be famous to me <3

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

my mom: there isnt even a bible in here, go put smth catholic in your room

me:

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

for @theterrorbingo prompt "Francis Crozier"!

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

Imagine how differently things would have gone if Hickey got put with Jopson and Dundy’s hunting party instead of Hodge and Jirv’s. Jopson would have throat punched him, unprovoked, the second they were out of sight of camp. And you know Dundy’s drama loving ass ain’t doing shit about it.

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

Cloth mom jfj wire mother crozier

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

Oooooh ok genuinely curious:

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

lets party like its 1848 #TheCarnival

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

anyone else looking for beautiful girls stuck on the ice?

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

Under a full moon in Antarctica

danielkordan

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

whyhaveidonethis.jpg

[jamesjamesonfitzjames]

hands in the terror