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Charles Comfort; Opalescent Sea, Ingonish

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Funnily enough this recommendation is endorsed by the experts. FE research is probably the most polluted historical community.

seeing people on reddit give each other theeee most unhinged recommendations for books on the franklin expedition / polar stuff in general is dealing me damage in real time. yeah sure erebus by palin is "the best book yet on the franklin expedition" should we all kill ourselves

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HMS Excellent was a gunnery training school based on a hulk at Portsmouth.

Erasmus Ommanney (the Cove, the Plover) was also on the Donegal [x]. John Ommanney was his uncle. (Crozier intended to visit Erasmus' father Francis Ommanney, a Navy Agent, post Cove.)

HMS Donegal, 74-guns, heading down the Tagus (John Wilson Carmichael, 1837) [x]

Edward Little's handwritten letter

I already shared this on the Facebook group, but if you've missed it, there it is : I have found a letter handwritten by Edward when we was serving on the HMS Donegal, and adressed to Captain Drake

ADM 1/3004

It reads as follow :

" HMS Donegal, in the Tagus,

July 21st 1838

Sir, being desirous to join HMS Excellent for the purpose of becoming more efficient in the exercice of gunnery, I have to request you will be pleased to forward this my application for an appointment to that ship, to Read Admiral Sir John Ommanney,

I am, Sir, your Obedient humble servant

E. Little, Lieutenant

To Captain Drake, HMS Donegal "

On the back we can read :

"Submitted for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

Donegal in the Tagus,

22 July 1838

John A. Ommanney, Rear Admiral"

Update : the following line reads "Cannot be complied" which is consistent with him not getting the transfer

Thank you @muchtodoonterror for the help !

(I can't seem to decipher the rest except for the date)

But there is no mention of the transfer in his record, so I guess it was refused ? Since he was still aboard the Donegal until 1840

Comparing it to his signature on the Terror allotment papers from 1845 :

From the Franklin Expedition Wiki

My bet is on him being left handed !

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Captain charged, missing sailor named. Pockets of fire still on the Solong. The Stena Immaculate salvage assessed. No ongoing pollution from either ship.

UPDATE: The Solong shed a quantity of plastic nurdles, described as pellets the size of lentils, which have washed ashore.

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Mary Jo Van Dell（American）

Approach, Great Lakes Freighter, Two Harbors, Minnesota 2018 Oil on linen 37 × 41in. via

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After 132 years, the final resting place of the 300’ steel steamer Western Reserve has been discovered roughly 60 miles northwest of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), using Marine Sonic Technology side-scan sonar aboard the non-profit’s research vessel, David Boyd, made the initial discovery in late summer 2024. Subsequent ROV (remotely operated vehicle) deployments confirmed the identity of the shipwreck, revealing a ship broken in two, with the bow section resting on top of the stern in approximately 600’ of water.

Caught in a gale, the ship started sinking at around 9:00pm, August 30, 1892. Both lifeboats were launched, both overturned, one immediately, the other the following morning. The captain, his family he'd invited for a cruise and all but one crewmen were lost.

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UPDATE: Captain of the Solong arrested, the ship's still on fire, but no dangerous cargo onboard; both ships expected to remain afloat. Crew of the Solong Filipino and rvssian, the Stena Immaculate American crewed.

TIMELINE

Live

The Stena Immaculate - a US oil tanker - was hit by the Portuguese cargo ship, the Solong, while at anchor.

It came out of the blue, a tanker crew member told the BBC's Rowan Bridge. He and his colleagues were buying new clothes in the local Asda - they had no time to collect their belongings before being rushed onto lifeboats. The whole incident from impact to evacuation lasted about 30 minutes.

The coastguard said 36 people were brought ashore, one of whom was hospitalised.

Solong's owner, Ernst Russ, later shared that one member of its 14-strong crew was missing. This was confirmed by the coastguard as it announced that the search had been called off.

The Stena Immaculate was carrying jet fuel for the US government when it was struck, some of which is spilling into the sea, sparking concerns for the marine life in the area.

The Stena Immaculate sailor, who has years of experience at sea, describes hearing shouts to brace before the impact. He adds that the Solong didn’t immediately stop, and that it drove into their ship for what seemed like 10 minutes.

Other crew members have described how it appeared nobody was on the bridge of the Solong at the moment of the crash, he says.

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Unhappy five year anniversary to "dusting the shelves and raising things to the surface"!

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Loftie's account, this post was were it started.

The letter was of course from James Ross. Common typo up to this day. (On Crozier calling James 'John')

Something interesting about the account. Loftie describes discussions and "patient consideration", in other words, a process. We know that Crozier replied to Ross immediately upon receiving his letter, Dec 30 1844. His next of Dec 31 explains the rush and the confusion. All that deliberation took place after he'd said yes. He was still having second thoughts in Feb 1845 (letter to Ross Feb 18, also Franklin quoting Crozier's letter to his agent on Feb 24, "[Crozier] supposes it has blown over"; he wanted to believe he was off the hook).

Over the years Loftie's narrative seemingly concertinaed into one question and one answer. In reality, the toing and froing likely went on for weeks.

“a more unassuming, a more gentle man l never was acquainted with.”

It’s crying hours over Francis Crozier in Italy nearly saying no to the expedition.

Thank you @laissezferre and @tttack for the source and for the identity of at least one of Francis’ “quiet friends” in Italy.

(also: “Sir John Ross”??? Oops.)

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Julien Nicolas, a scientist at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the unusually mild temperatures in the depths of the polar winter were linked to a deep low-pressure system over Iceland, which was directing a strong flow of warm air towards the north pole.

The Copernicus data showed daily average temperatures were more than 20C above average near the north pole on Sunday, with absolute temperatures above -1C as far north as 87°N.

The findings were confirmed by an Arctic snow buoy, which logged absolute temperatures of 0.5C on Sunday.

“This was a very extreme winter warming event,” said Mika Rantanen, a scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. “Probably not the most extreme ever observed, but still at the upper edge of what can happen in the Arctic.”

The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average since 1979, and extreme heat has become hotter and more common.

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"It will take us, I imagine, the first two years, two seasons, on the [River] Deben because nobody knows how to row a ship like this so we've got to work that one out," [Sean McMillan] explained.

"There are no machines, no power tools, the whole process is exactly as it would have been in the 7th Century," Mr McMillan added.

"The trees are split - it's called cleaving - where they are deliberately split along the grain, so you end up with a sort of pie chart of triangular sections.

"Those are then planed down using hand axes to achieve the one inch thick planks from which the ship is built."

The original ship excavated at Sutton Hoo is believed to be the burial ship and grave of King Rædwald - the 7th Century Anglo-Saxon ruler of East Anglia.

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Of all the known letters Crozier sent, this is the only one with an intact seal. The museum wouldn't show it, but an actor did, accidentally. Nice one.

Also, notes on the RMG transcript:

in that I have no patience – in short I have no patience Rattler towed – Ratler [sic] towed make a good season work of it – make a good seasons work page change not indicated at "we can only make a good" reducing my compliment – reducing our compliment [sic] In Fury if you recall – In Fury if you recollect your Loving friend – your sincere friend

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Palin’s ‘Erebus’ is vivid and heartfelt, but it’s also a bit like

The superbly magnificent Erebus made this great journey, occasionally flanked by a support vessel called *checks smudged writing on hand* Error.

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Owen Stanley, HMS Erebus and Terror, 1845.