Hern - Arctic Explorers: Shipwreck Tales from Alaska to California

Frances Hern enjoys sailing, but only where she is unlikely to encounter pirates, frostbite or scurvy. She also likes to have accurate charts and a Global Positioning System receiver on board so that her skipper knows where he is at all times.

This is Frances second Amazing Story. Her first book, Norman Bethune , tells about the life of the Canadian doctor renowned worldwide for his surgical treatment of tuberculosis. As well as non-fiction, Frances writes poetry and childrens fiction.

I would like to thank Susan Buss, the librarian at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, who helped me access books in the Henry Larsen Rare Book Room, and the very helpful staff at the Glenbow Museum Archives. I am also grateful for the services provided by the Calgary Public Library, the University of Calgary Library and the National Archives of Canada, as well as the Arctic Institute of North America and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

Thanks are due to Ray Gilles for tipping me off about the exploits of his countryman, Sir Hugh Willoughby. Fellow writers Lisa Murphy-Lamb and Joan Dixon gave me valuable feedback, editor Lesley Reynolds helped me with improvements to this second edition, and my immediate family and friends were, as usual, encouraging and supportive. One final thank you must go to Bill Pitcher at Golden Photography for generously providing the authors photograph.

Authors Note

Although metric measurement was adopted in Canada in 1971, the nautical mile is still used at sea. To ensure consistency, accuracy and to avoid confusion, the author has decided to use imperial measurements throughout this book.

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_____. Arctic Workhorse: The RCMP Schooner St. Roch . Victoria: TouchWood Editions Ltd., 2003.

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Copyright 2010 Frances Hern

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, audio recording or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher or a photocopying licence from Access Copyright, Toronto, Canada.

Originally published by Heritage House Publishing Co. Ltd. in 2010 in paperback with
ISBN 978-1-926613-29-1.

This electronic edition was released in 2011.

e-pub ISBN: 978-1-926936-13-0

e-PDF ISBN: 978-1-926936-35-2

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

Edited by Lesley Reynolds

Cover painting of HMS Alert and Discovery on the Arctic expedition of 1865-66 by William Frederick Mitchell, Fine Art Photographic Library/CORBIS (AALQ001794)

Heritage House acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF), Canada Council for the Arts and the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

www.heritagehouse.ca

To my parents, Win and Ron, who shared with me their love of a good story

While Franklin has been credited with finding the Northwest Passage, it was really an accumulation of know-ledge from many explorers, some of them searching for Franklin, that led to its ultimate discovery. With masterful Arctic sailing skills, guts, determination and their specially adapted ships, Amundsen and Larsen were eventually able to fulfill the dreams of all those who had searched before them. There isnt room in this book to mention all of the explorers who found their way to the maze of channels and straits that make up the Northwest Passage, but their legacies remain in the names on the maps and charts of the Arctic.