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THERE STOOD NO FRIENDLY FINGER-POST TO GUIDE US

  • Robert Anstruther Goodsir
    • Part one: Australia, 1880
    • Part two: Humble headstones, painted black
    • Part three: Silent for four long winters
    • Part four: “Cabined, cribbed, confined”
    • Part five: Unreliable memories
  • Searching for the Franklin Expedition
    • Sophia Cracroft
    • Jane Franklin
    • Robert Anstruther Goodsir
    • Edward Augustus Inglefield
    • Robert McClure
    • Erasmus Ommanney
    • William Penny
    • Johan Carl Christian Petersen
    • John Rae
    • Frederick Schwatka
    • John Stuart
  • Kensal Green Cemetery
    • John Barrow Junior
    • Sophia Cracroft
    • Bedford Pim
    • John Sylvester
  • About me

Protected: “You may depend on it, there was no lack of fun in that company.”

Posted on August 8, 2019

by Alison Freebairn

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“Beechey Island had been traversed from end to end, every nook and corner examined by many keen and anxious searchers, but not a scrap of writing or despatch from Franklin had been found. The trail was lost, the searchers utterly at fault. Or, rather, I should say, we were like a band of travellers who had come to cross roads where there stood no friendly finger-post to guide us on our way.”

Robert Anstruther Goodsir, 25th December 1880

Recent Finger-Posts

  • Robert Goodsir and the Franklin graves on Beechey Island January 4, 2021
  • Hidden traces of Erasmus Ommanney December 6, 2020
  • Finding HMS Investigator at the 1891 Royal Naval Exhibition November 21, 2020
  • The Pointing Hand of King William Island September 30, 2020
  • The mystery of the missing Erebus clerk September 13, 2020
  • Immortal beloved: the grave of Sophia Cracroft August 24, 2020
  • The Beechey Island Memorial Board at the Science Museum August 1, 2020
  • Sultan: A Franklin sled dog in London June 27, 2020
  • Jane and Amélie: a portrait of two ladies June 7, 2020
  • Communication channels: how one little search note found its way home May 21, 2020

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