Captains of whaling vessels were experienced navigators of northern waters, and William Penny was in the vanguard of the whaling fraternity. Leading the first maritime expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, he stood out not just for his skill as a sailor but for his curiosity about northern geography and his willingness to seek out Inuit testimony to map uncharted territory. Hunters on the Track describes and analyzes the efforts made by the Scottish whaling master to locate Franklin's missing expedition. Bookended by an account of Penny's whaling career, including the rediscovery of Cumberland Sound, which would play a vital role in British whaling a decade later, W. Gillies Ross provides an in-depth history of the first Franklin searches. He reconstructs the brief but frenetic period when the English-speaking world was preoccupied with locating Franklin, but when the means of that search -- the ships chosen, the route taken, the evidence of Franklin's traces -- were contested and uncertain. Ross details the particularities of each search at a time when no fewer than eight ships comprising four search expeditions were attempting to find Franklin's tracks. Reconstructing events, relationships, and decisions, he focuses on the work of Penny as commander of HMS Lady Franklin and Sophia, while also outlining the events of other expeditions and interactions among the officers and crews. William Penny is respected as one of the most influential and innovative figures in British Arctic whaling history, but his brief role in the Franklin expedition is less known. Using primary sources, notably private journals from each of the expeditions, Hunters on the Track places him at the forefront of a critical chapter of maritime history and the geographical exploration that began after Franklin disappeared.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and indexes
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 919.804
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- r------
- ISBN
- 9780773552838 9780773558328
- LCCN
- G660
- LCCN Item number
- R67 2019eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaBNVSL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (viii, 519 pages)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00979254 (OCoLC)1089832846 (CaOOCEL)456813
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaBNVSL
Table of Contents
- Contents 6
- Acknowledgments 8
- Illustrations 10
- Prologue 24
- 1 Franklin Departs 26
- 2 William Penny and Arctic Whaling 31
- 3 The Summer of 1845 40
- 4 Whaling Interlude 47
- 5 Concern Mounts 62
- 6 A Silver Penny 82
- 7 Under Way 98
- 8 More Hunters on the Track 105
- 9 North from Disko 135
- 10 Sail versus Steam 148
- 11 A Massacre Reported 171
- 12 To the West Land 189
- 13 Into Lancaster Sound 202
- 14 Wellington Channel 223
- 15 West to Cornwallis Island 245
- 16 Beset in the Drifting Pack 257
- 17 Into Winter Quarters 267
- 18 Preparations for Winter 279
- 19 The Festive Season 299
- 20 The Sledging Season: A False Start 307
- 21 Second Attempt 326
- 22 Penny’s Boat Voyage 334
- 23 A Thousand-Mile Drift among Ice Floes 352
- 24 Homeward Voyage 364
- 25 Penny’s Arrival 373
- 26 The Inquiry 385
- 27 An Open Polar Sea? 401
- 28 A Dispute over Place Names 422
- 29 Penny’s Portrait 432
- 30 A Gratifying Acknowledgment 437
- 31 Persistence 459
- Postscript 481
- Unit Conversion Table 486
- Notes 488
- Bibliography 514
- Index of Names 526
- Index of Places 534
- Index of Ships 538
