BCS Winter Lecture - The exploration of the North West Passage

This lecture will feature speakers from the John Rae Society and the Royal Geographical Society, examining, comparing and contrasting the explorations of Dr John Rae and Sir John Franklin. The talks will especially focus on their quests in the mid 1800s to discover the North West passage in Northern Canada which would link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The contrast between the two men is significant with differences which will be highlighted in the talk in upbringing/social standing, career choice and approach to exploration. Here there was much controversy engendered by factions and supporters of both men with claims and counter claims about what had been achieved. The talk will examine some of these disputes including evidence of surveying and the background to the disappearance of the lost expedition commanded by Sir John Franklin and the part Dr John Rae had in uncovering the truth and his subsequent vilification for doing so.

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Fiona Gould of the John Rae Society had a career in teaching and supporting students with Special Education Needs (SEN), gifted children and asylum seekers, a career which led to Fiona’s appointment as Project Manager for West Sussex LEA, whereby she established an outreach support service for students with social communication difficulties. Since retiring and living in Orkney, Fiona has worked as a volunteer for Advocacy Orkney and for The John Rae Society as membership secretary, leading historical and archival researcher and has been developing the partnership.

Eugene Rae is the Principal Librarian of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). He has worked at the Society for twenty- five years and is part of a team that looks after the two million items contained within the Society’s Collections. He has a particular interest in the history of exploration and has lectured for the Society on such topics including “Reaching for the Poles: From Phipps to Fiennes: a look at some of the explorers who tried to reach the North or South Poles and some who tried to do both”. Eugene Rae holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in United States geography and literature from the University of London.