Unravelling the Franklin Mystery, Second Edition by David C. Woodman

Unravelling the Franklin Mystery, Second Edition

Inuit Testimony

David C. Woodman

McGill-Queen's University Press · Print & ebook · March 9, 2015

David Woodman's classic reconstruction of the mysterious events surrounding the tragic Franklin expedition has taken on new importance in light of the recent discovery of the HMS Erebus wreck, the ship Sir John Franklin sailed on during his doomed 1845 quest to find the Northwest Passage to Asia.

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Genres
Pre-Confederation Canada, Polar Regions History, Exploration & Discovery
Published
McGill-Queen's University Press, March 9, 2015

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About this book

David Woodman's classic reconstruction of the mysterious events surrounding the tragic Franklin expedition has taken on new importance in light of the recent discovery of the HMS Erebus wreck, the ship Sir John Franklin sailed on during his doomed 1845 quest to find the Northwest Passage to Asia. First published in 1991, Unravelling the Franklin Mystery boldly challenged standard interpretations and offered a new and compelling alternative.

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Among the many who have tried to discover the truth behind the Franklin disaster, Woodman was the first to recognize the profound importance of Inuit oral testimony and to analyze it in depth. From his investigations, Woodman concluded that the Inuit likely visited Franklin's ships while the crew was still on board and that there were some Inuit who actually saw the sinking of one of the ships. Much of the Inuit testimony presented here had never before been published, and it provided Woodman with the pivotal clue in his reconstruction of the puzzle of the Franklin disaster. Unravelling the Franklin Mystery is a compelling and impressive inquiry into a part of Canadian history that for one hundred and seventy years left many questions unanswered. In this edition, a new preface by the author addresses the recent discovery and reviews the work done in the intervening years on various aspects of the Franklin story, by Woodman and others, as it applies to the book's initial premise of the book that Inuit testimony holds the key to unlocking the mystery. Read more

Where it sits

Exploration & Discovery53%
Pre-Confederation Canada46%
Polar Regions History35%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Pre-Confederation Canada
  • Indigenous Studies
Authors
David C. Woodman
Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Published
March 9, 2015
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Pre-Confederation Canada