Journal article
Collaring nature: The use of foxes to find and rescue the members of the lost Franklin expedition
POLAR RECORD, v 60, e5
19 Jan 2024
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The mysterious disappearance of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror while searching for the Northwest Passage under the leadership of Sir John Franklin in the 1840s led to more than thirty different expeditions seeking to find the lost ships and their 129-man crews. It also fostered the first and only use of wild animals as a means of communication in such a rescue operation. Since covering the vast search areas was challenging, if not impossible during sub-freezing winter conditions, some of the would-be rescuers turned to Arctic foxes as couriers of information that they hoped might direct the lost explorers to safety. Based on excerpts from the participants' diaries and published reports from the period, and on the physical evidence that survives, this paper describes the role Arctic foxes were asked to play in one of the greatest (unsuccessful) rescue efforts ever undertaken in the Far North.
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Details
- Title
- Collaring nature: The use of foxes to find and rescue the members of the lost Franklin expedition
- Publication Details
- POLAR RECORD, v 60, e5
- Publisher
- CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS; CAMBRIDGE
- Grant note
- I am indebted to Douglas Wamsley, the owner of the diary of William Gibson, the carpenter's mate on HMS Investigator, for sharing the relevant entries quoted in this paper and for his knowledgeable advice and encouragement on this article and on all things Arctic over many years. I am grateful to the Academy of Natural Sciences for granting me the time to pursue this research for publication. Portions of this paper were presented by the author at a conference entitled Maritime Animals: Telling Stories of Animals at Sea held at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich 25-27 April 2019.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001145208500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85183646340
- Other Identifier
- 991021861188604721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Environmental Sciences