Seeking owners of the book: Seek the Frozen Lands

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 Dominic Green 23 Dec 2020

Hi 

Strange one for you. Many years ago I was given a copy of the above book. I have just taken it out to read only to discover that my copy is missing half of page 117/118.

Does anyone have the said book and if so would they be willing to send a scan/picture of the page? 

thanks all!

 Harry Jarvis 23 Dec 2020
In reply to Dominic Green:

If you don't have any joy with this approach, you might be able to find the missing pages via GoogleBooks

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hwiWDwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_...

Unfortunately, you can't search by page number, but you can find whole chapters, so there may be a way of finding the missing text, even if it's as crude as printing a screen shot. 

 kamala 23 Dec 2020
In reply to Dominic Green:

I've just acquired the Kindle version of this, thanks to having seen your post. So it's only fair I should find that section for you! 

Page numbers will be different but if you give me enough detail to find the right bit, I'll send you a screengrab. Hope you're not in too much hurry, though - I do have some work I need to finish today but can have a look sometime in the next day or two.

OP Dominic Green 24 Dec 2020
In reply to kamala:

Thanks for your offer, let me go and find it and I'll get back to you. I hope you enjoy it, I remember talking to the author many years ago (probably about 20yrs) and he was probably one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Thanks to Harry for the tip, although it looks harder to locate than via the Kindle offer.

OP Dominic Green 24 Dec 2020

Thanks again. I've found the book.

So, it's towards the end of chapter 9 about the  Belcher Expedition. The passage starts: "Miertsching tells us:" 

and then it is back to normal on the other page at: ..."would have caused much unpleasantness and reprisal." 

And then I'm grand!

Thanks again

Dominic 

 kamala 24 Dec 2020
In reply to Dominic Green:

Brilliant, that should be enough to find it.

Not had time to do more than dip in so far, but I'm looking forward to diving in when I get my wretched report out of the way. Great to hear about your meeting with him, makes it seem more personal.

Give me a while to look up that section. And then let me know if you'd like a screenshot by PM or just copy/pasted text on here - or any other option...

 kamala 24 Dec 2020
In reply to Dominic Green:

Just found that "Miertsching tells us" occurs several times, could you give me a little more lead in?

Also just to check: in my version chapter 8 seems to be about the Belcher expedition, chapter 9 about the Fox, with no mention of Miertsching. So I'll assume it's really chapter 8 you want, unless you say otherwise?

Post edited at 10:56
OP Dominic Green 26 Dec 2020
In reply to kamala:

Hi

My apologies. Hmm, that's interesting. There may well be some slight differences between editions in that case.

Indeed, I have just looked and chapter 10 is 'McClintok's Voyage of the Fox'. The chapters appear to be re-numbered, I wonder why(?)

The section that I am referring to is towards the end of the chapter on the Belcher Expedition in the section subhead "Kellett's Storehouse".

Just before breaking into the quote  it reads: -

"In August 1853 - a very icy season - the Resolute and Intrepid broke out of Winter quarters, but by 11 November had only managed to move to a new winter position off Bathurst Islands. Miertsching tells us:..."

Thank you again - and Happy Christmas!

cheers

Post edited at 12:31
 kamala 03 Jan 2021
In reply to Dominic Green:

Sorry, been offline a while.

Interesting about those chapter numbers, perhaps I'll be needing to ask you for a missing chapter! Not least because your ending phrase "...unpleasantness and reprisal" doesn't seem to exist in my edition which is the revised edition from 2013. 

Text to follow in my next post; I'll give you as big a chunk I can to fill the gap even though I can only guess where it should end!

Hope you had a jolly Christmas, and all the best for the New Year (when hopefully we'll all be able to go exploring again...).

 kamala 03 Jan 2021
In reply to Dominic Green:

"In August 1853 – in a very icy season – the Resolute and Intrepid broke out of winter quarters, but by 11 November had only managed to move to a new winter position off Bathurst Islands. Miertsching tells us: ‘On 18 September the two ships sailed from Dealy Island with nine months provisions for 175 men; but as it is now accepted as certain that we shall not reach England this year, Captain Kellett has given orders to reduce the daily rations to two thirds as from today so that nine months will last twelve months.’
 
The plight of the Investigator was now linked to Kellett’s division, and its crew had to resign themselves to another winter in the Arctic, as guests on Kellett’s ships.

Assistance and Pioneer had also moved, but only 52 miles north of Beechey Island. Communication between the two divisions was conducted by use of dog-sledge teams. It was by this means that Belcher shocked his subordinates by instructing them to abandon their ships on 10 April. Kellett held a meeting with McClintock, McClure and Captain Richards, who had carried the message. McClintock was sent to meet and reason with Belcher. He would communicate the collective view that their ships were sound and adequately provisioned, together with the expectation that they would get clear the following summer. Belcher responded with an explicit order to abandon ship. Osborn, who commanded the Pioneer, was placed under arrest for his disagreement with Belcher and two of Belcher’s own officers on the Assistance were ordered off his ship and sent to the North Star. 

Before they left the ships, Captain Kellett assembled the Investigator crew on deck and thanked the men for their regular discipline and exceptional good conduct . He handed McClure a letter to the Admiralty in which he gave the crew of Investigator a glowing reference. This testimonial letter was to be of great benefit to them when they later arrived home, and when McClure claimed parliament’s prize for the discovery and completion of the Northwest Passage. 

On 25 April, at the entrance to Wellington Channel, McClure and his crew, en route to North Star, met Captain McClintock with his dog sledge on his way back to Kellett with Belcher’s order. The chronometers and other valuable instruments were to be brought along, but everything else was to be left behind. The excellent survey work of McClintock’s tireless subordinates was to be buried beneath the shame of four abandoned ships by order of their lazy, incompetent commander who was sick and simply wanted to go home. His subsequent court martial saw him acquitted due to the wide discretion given to him in orders. But the silence as his sword was handed back to him was indicative of his disgrace in the eyes of his navy peers.

The promotion of Sherard Osborn – whom Belcher had arrested – and Lieutenant May – whom he had reported to the Admiralty – also reflected the Admiralty’s scorn for the disgraced commander; there was no doubt that the ships would have sprung free later in the season. Belcher’s action led to further ignominy for the navy when Kellett’s ship, Resolute, unmanned, drifted into the Davis Strait and was boarded and sailed to America by a whaling captain. She was restored and returned to Queen Victoria by the US government – an inglorious end to the Admiralty’s official effort to find Franklin and his crew. The expedition had failed to search where Sir John Richardson and Lady Franklin had asked – namely, King William Land (later King William Island). By that stage, the Admiralty was determined to finish with the Franklin search and indeed with any further Arctic expeditions, a resolution further affirmed by the outbreak of the Crimean War. 

On return to England, McClure and his crew were feted as heroes. He was knighted and promoted to captain, and he and his crew were voted an award of £10,000 by parliament. McClure, however, refused to acknowledge the part played by Resolute in the rescue of Investigator’s crew, and declined to share the prize with Kellett and his men. Following a letter to John Barrow from Henry Kellett aboard Resolute – dated 12 April–2 May – suggesting that the Admiralty acknowledge the contribution of all who participated in Arctic expeditions, the Arctic Medal (1818–55) was awarded to all Arctic-expedition crews of that period. It is interesting to note that Mr Richard Saintfield of Cork proposed the inscription adopted for the medal, which was struck on 1 October 1856. It reads: ‘All those of every rank and class engaged in the several Arctic expeditions’.7"

------------------

That's the end of the chapter so should hopefully include your missing section. Let me know if you think there's still a gap. And if there's any overlap between this text and the text you actually have, I'd be very interested to know whether your edition seems to have more detail or less, or just a re-wording.

Also wondering about the chapters - list below. None of it important, though, it's just curiosity on my part...

Chapter list from my edition reads:

1 Eighteenth-Century Exploration 
2 Bransfield Sights the Antarctic Peninsula 
3 Sabine and Crozier Enter the Arctic 
4 Crozier, Captain of Terror 
5 The Franklin Expedition 
6 McClure and McClintock Search for Franklin 
7 McClure and Investigator Search from the Pacific 
8 The Belcher Expedition 9 McClintock’s Voyage of the Fox 
10 After the Franklin Search and the Nares North Pole Expedition 
11 Jerome Collins and John Cole of Cork 
12 Scott’s Discovery Expedition 
13 Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition
14 Antarctic Expedition of Terra Nova 
15 Epic Voyage of the Endurance 
16 Shackleton and Crean’s Final Voyages 
17 The Legacy of the Irish Polar Explorers 

OP Dominic Green 05 Jan 2021
In reply to kamala:

thanks for getting back to me, that’s great  I hope you enjoy the book  

I hope you had a good Christmas Thanks so much for that, I really appreciate it it’s really good of you to remember. Happy new year !
cheers

OP Dominic Green 05 Jan 2021

Chapter list from Collins Press 2003:

1 Eighteenth-Century Exploration 
2 Bransfield Sights the Antarctic Peninsula 
3 Sabine and Crozier Enter the Arctic 
4 Sabine, Lloyd and Beaufort Lead the Way

5 Crozier, Captain of Terror 
6 The Franklin Expedition 
7 McClure and McClintock Search for Franklin 
8 McClure and Investigator Search from the Pacific 
9 The Belcher Expedition

10 McClintock’s Voyage of the Fox 
11 After the Franklin Search and the Nares North Pole Expedition 

12 The Private Arctic Expeditions of Henry Gore -Booth
13 Jerome Collins and John Cole of Cork 
14 Scott’s Discovery Expedition 
15 Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition
16 Antarctic Expedition of Terra Nova 
17 Epic Voyage of the Endurance 
18 Shackleton and Crean’s Final Voyages 
19 The Legacy of the Irish Polar Explorers 

A few differences!

 Harry Jarvis 05 Jan 2021
In reply to kamala:

That page sounds fascinating! I will investigate further. 

If you are interested in polar expeditions, you may be interested in Michael Smith's biography of Tom Crean:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/an-unsung-hero/michael-smith/9780717189564

 Blue Straggler 05 Jan 2021
In reply to Dominic Green:

weren't you the Bond villain in Quantum of Solace?! 

OP Dominic Green 06 Jan 2021
In reply to Blue Straggler:

I was.

But don't be fooled, I didn't die, it's only a film.

Actually, I do know someone who works on the Bond franchise, so I am claiming that.

OP Dominic Green 06 Jan 2021
In reply to Harry Jarvis:

I must read it, I did visit his old pub in Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula many years ago and they had the book for sale there. 


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