#Arctic Exploration

[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.

[sky-walkerem]

not to sound like I’m in the thick of it but I found a how would you die in a polar expedition quiz

[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.

[idontkniwanythgin]

Reading anything about Arctic explorers you're just sitting there like

[cockroachesunite]

world’s saddest, sickest owl

[xenoanamorph]

John Shaw Torrington🩵 An attempt at a facial reconstruction.. I did this in 2020 and for some reason was very hesitant/shy(??) about posting it. To be fair, not much “reconstruction” was necessary since he was in remarkable shape at the time of his exhumation (and I assume he still looks fabulous thanks to that good ol’ permafrost treatment🧊).

Now some thoughts… because I’ve never articulated this online before..💭

I’ve had a fixation on him since I was 14 (I’m 29 now) and have attempted many times over the years to draw him in a more…well, alive state..

and I’ll just say it straight up; I think he has a beautiful, ethereal face. I’ve always thought that, even when I was a kid. If he looks that way in death, I can only imagine what that beauty was like when he was among the living. I tried to capture that in this drawing..

Anyway.. I could ramble on…

This, I think, is the most presentable drawing out of all the attempts I’ve done in the 15 years I’ve ‘known’ him— though it certainly won’t be the last. 🩵

I’m planning on doing similar portraits of Hartnell and Braine… I expect Braine will be difficult because he was not in good shape compared to the other Beechey boys..

** I’m overwhelmed by the positive responses this piece got! Tysm everyone!🥲🙏 It really makes me so happy to see JT get so much love— and I’m sure it warms his heart as well 🩵

[jeyneofpoole]

i need to be put down

[diemelusine]

Portrait of Arctic explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1886) by Georg von Rosen. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

[florafaunagig]

Arctic Dreaming: Polar Bear's Restful Pause

[clove-pinks]

The Banham Family Magic Lantern Collection. From the auction description:

Of Franklin Expedition and Polar Interest. Thirty-two slides in original box, probably assembled from several sets on Arctic expeditions including those led by Parry and the 'Franklin search'. Single hand-painted glass slides in wooden frames 6 7/8 x 3 3/4 x 3/8 inches.

There are dozens of images, and I recognise some of them from classic polar exploration books like Voyage of the 'Fox' and Parry's narratives. Otherworldly, glowing colours bring the scenes to life.

'Moonlight in the Arctic Regions', 'Parry's First Meeting with the [Inuit]', 'A Magnetic Observatory', ships overwintering, and 'Funeral On The Ice' for an unnamed British subject.

[theenbyroiderer]

Nanoq Arctic Museum <3

[blue-grama]

Excuse me, where are my Arctic tragedy girlies at? Not in the Bridgerton tags, that's for sure. This is the face of a man who is walking into an episode of AMC's The Terror. That ship is getting crushed in pack ice. This man is eating someone or getting eaten. I hope he marries Cressida and she gets to spend the rest of her days writing to the Admiralty, begging for search-and-rescue missions. It would be enrichment for her. A noble reason to be a bitch. You see my vision.

[ltwilliammowett]

A beautiful moon shaped vase made of enamelled glass. The clear body is decorated with gilded and raised white enamel. The star of the vase is the enamelled scene, which is supposed to represent the exploration of the Arctic with a sailing ship and a small rowboat. Around 1870

[mytortoisegotstuckinatupperware]

GUYS NO

[suddenly-frankenstein]

love is... making observations and keeping the log together <3

[xenoanamorph]

John T🩵❄️🌊

(Real ones will know why I wrote his name like that!)