May we be spared to meet on earth : letters of the lost Franklin Arctic expedition / edited by Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney, and Mary Williamson ; with the assistance of Alison Alexander, William Battersby, Matthew Betts, Rick Burrows, A.J. Campbell, Jonathan Dore, Alison Freebairn, Andrew Hill, D.J. Holzhueter, Olga Kimmins, Jonathan Moore, Alexa Price, Frank Michael Schuster, Michael Smith, and Michael Tracy ; foreword by Sir Michael Palin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Potter, Russell A., 1960- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Royal Navy--Officers--Correspondence.

Great Britain.

Great Britain. Royal Navy.

John Franklin Arctic Expedition (1845-1851)--Sources.

John Franklin Arctic Expedition.

Discoveries in geography.

Explorers--Great Britain--Correspondence.

Explorers.

Sailors--Great Britain--Correspondence.

Sailors.

Northwest Passage--Discovery and exploration--British--Sources.

Northwest Passage.

Arctic Ocean--Northwest Passage.

Arctic Regions.

Genre:

Personal correspondence.

Sources.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (505 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Montreal, Quebec : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth is a privileged glimpse into the private correspondence of the officers and sailors who set out in May 1845 on the Erebus and Terror for Sir John Franklin's fateful expedition to the Arctic. The letters of the crew and their correspondents begin with the journey's inception and early planning, going on to recount the ships' departure from the river Thames, their progress up the eastern coast of Great Britain to Stromness in Orkney, and the crew's exploits as far as the Whalefish Islands off the western coast of Greenland, from where the ships forever departed the society that sent them forth. As the realization dawned that something was amiss, heartfelt letters to the missing were sent with search expeditions; those letters, returned unread, tell poignant stories of hope. Assembled completely and conclusively from extensive archival research, including in far-flung family and private collections, the correspondence allows the reader to peer over the shoulders of these men, to experience their excitement and anticipation, their foolhardiness, and their fears. The Franklin expedition continues to excite enthusiasts and scholars worldwide. May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth provides new insights into the personalities of those on board, the significance of the voyage as they saw it, and the dawning awareness of the possibility that they would never return to British shores or their families."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Foreword / Michael Palin

Introduction / Russell A. Potter

Anticipation

Preparation

Sailing

London to Stromness

Stromness to Greenland

Last partings

Letters to the lost

Appendices. A : Harry Goodsir's "Zoology from the arctic expedition" with a fragment of a letter to Edward Forbes

B : Unattributed letters in the press

C : Franklin's two official despatches to the admiralty

D : A brief account of the role of steam power in the launch of the expedition

E : A note on the proposed route of the expedition

F : Capsule biographies of the writers of these letters.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-462) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Potter, Russell A. May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth

ISBN:

9780228013365

0228013364

9780228013372

0228013372

OCLC:

1302194572