Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 14 May 20 - 06:13 AM

"I would suggest that stories about food caches should be taken with a large pinch of salt."
I don't know the rights and wrongs of all this but I do know that taking the word of past generations "with a pinch of salt" has lost us a geat deal of information
Sorry, I'm not in the habit of dismissing the reminiscences of a 94 year old lady or her forbear sailor and descendant researcher out of hand
If they all believed it I felt it worthwhile to pass on - make of it as you will
Jim

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,LynnH
Date: 14 May 20 - 05:06 AM

Given that the only sailors to survive the Franklin expedition were those sent home early from ports like Stromness because of sickness, I would suggest that stories about food caches should be taken with a large pinch of salt. If subsequent search parties did find 'caches' of tinned food -and that was what the Franklin expedition carried - then they must have been tins that had been jettisoned in an effort to lighten the loads the crew were carrying and hauling. As far as I am aware, the reports of the various search expeditions make no mention of food caches on the known route south along King William Island. What was found were traces of cooked human flesh in abandoned cooking pots along with very obviously clean scraped and cut bones.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 14 May 20 - 03:26 AM

A medal that has been on display in Orkney's Stromness Museum for years has been identified as one awarded posthumously to Sir John Franklin.

Military historian and medal collector Hiram Dunn spotted the medal on a visit to Stromness. But when the museum told him it had been donated by Rosalind Rawnsely, he realised there could be a direct family link to Sir John Franklin. He said, "nobody ever knew where Franklin's Arctic Medal was".

Jeremy Mitchell from the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich said it was appropriate that Franklin's medal had ended up in Orkney. "People forget that Stromness was (Franklin)'s last landfall, and the expedition spent three days here before disappearing off to the Arctic."

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 14 May 20 - 03:05 AM

Traditional singer, Jessie McDonald (MacColl's The Vintner) once told the story of a relative who was a crewman on a later expedition to the area where Franklin's ship was stranded and how that ship also became iced in
The only reason they survived was another crewman whose grandfather had sailed with Franklin, remembered family stories of Franklin's men burying caches of food during their attempts to find a way out of their predicament
The second lot managed to find some of the food which had been preserved by the ice
This story was recorded by Scots researcher, Ruaridh Greig
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 13 May 20 - 07:30 PM

I'm working (slowly) on reproducing CD-rs of the Red Duster show "North West Passage - The Fate of Franklin and His Gallant Crew" which Ron Baxter and I devised and performed for Fylde Folk Festival, 1998.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 May 20 - 06:53 AM

well i am afraid it is the other way about lord franklin is sung to the tune the croppy boy,
who or who is not a good singer is debatable.
in my opinion,one of the best revival singers who was streets ahead of most of his contemporaries as a SINGER, was Tony Rose. singing is not just about having a good voice

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 12 May 20 - 03:48 AM

From Mainly Norfolk; Nic Jones sang The Croppy Boy to the tune of Lord Franklin in 1967 on the Halliard's first album, It's the Irish in Me. Dave Moran reminisced in the notes of the album's 2011 reissue.

"We enjoyed making this LP for the experience, and in the expectation of then doing our broadside songs. Maybe this last track was Nic looking to that next recording, because I think our freer rhythmic delivery in beginning to pop out in this song, and it makes for a very good version of a very good song by a very good singer."

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 May 20 - 03:12 AM

The Croppy boySearch Results
Web results

The Croppy Boy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Croppy_Boy
"The Croppy Boy" is an Irish ballad set in 1798 rising relating to the despair of a doomed young "croppy" or rebel. Broadside versions[edit]. Versions of the ballad first appeared shortly after the rising sung by street pedlars and there are several broadside songs printed

Subject: RE: Lord Franklin in Copyright?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 May 20 - 10:11 PM

What's the source of the melody for this song. I'm guessing it's older than Lady Franklin.

Am I right?

I suppose Dylan owns the copyright. He's the only one who made money off this song.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 18 - 11:01 AM

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/sh/tixaWyQzFX/what-lies-beneath/

What lies beneath

Three summers ago, divers found the first wreck of the Franklin Expedition. Using state-of-the-art technology, they're now piecing together what led to the tragedy

In the murkiness shrouding the wrecks of the Franklin Expedition, the mysteries are endless.

How did HMS Erebus and HMS Terror end up where they did in the mid-19th century, meeting a sad demise in the icy depths off the coast of what is now Nunavut?

What about John Franklin and the 128 men who set out with him from England on their quest for the elusive Northwest Passage? What did they do as their grim fate became apparent?

And who were the last survivors?

In the face of so many unknowns, Parks Canada underwater archeologists and researchers are bringing many high-tech underwater tools and techniques to bear. And in that hunt, they've already latched onto some tantalizing discoveries, from DNA inside a boot to pewter buttons they think belonged to two Royal Navy sergeants on the expedition.

There is a certain irony in using cutting-edge technology to explore the Franklin ships. When Erebus and Terror set sail from Greenhithe in 1845, the wooden warships had been reinforced with iron sheeting for polar exploration and were renowned for the scientific and naval innovations on board.

Still, none of that staved off the tragic end of Franklin and his men after the ships were beset in ice off King William Island in 1846 and deserted two years later, according to a note left by the crew in a cairn.

The wrecks were found in 2014 and 2016, respectively, and state-of-the-art technology is being martialed to aid in their exploration. But beyond probing what remains within their wooden timbers, there is the hope that what researchers find will help them get inside the heads of the men on that expedition as disaster struck.

See the rest at the link.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 Oct 17 - 06:07 AM

I caught the tail end of a programme last night about the discovery of the wreck. Hunt for the Arctic Ghost, Channel 4 9pm.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 18 Oct 17 - 05:51 AM

I wouldn't call Franklin incompetent; he was venturing into a remote and unknown region which suffered an extreme climate.

From National Museums Greenwich; Death in the Ice

In May 1845 two ships, HMS Erebus and Terror sailed from Britain to what is now Nunavut in Northern Canada. Explorations of the Arctic coastline had led to great optimism that finding and charting the final part of the North-West Passage ? the seaway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ? was now within reach. Explorer John Franklin, who had made two previous attempts to find it, was keen to claim the prize.

By previous standards the Erebus and Terror were powerful and luxurious, with heating systems and vast supplies of preserved foods. In late July, the two ships were seen by a whaler in Baffin Bay, waiting for ice to clear in Lancaster Sound and to begin their journey to the Bering Strait.

Franklin?s two naval vessels sailed up the Wellington Channel before turning south toward Beechey Island, where they would spend the winter. In the spring, they sailed south down Peel Sound but, off the northernmost point of King William Island, were trapped by the ice flow down the McClintock Channel.

Franklin?s ship was trapped in the ice in a remote and desolate area, which Inuit rarely visited, calling it Tununiq, ?the back of beyond?. [Franklin's crew] couldn?t rely on local people for meat, clothing, and oil, as other expeditions had. But they had enough supplies for about three years, and British expeditions were experienced at overwintering in the Arctic.

In the spring of 1847, a party from the expedition travelled across the ice to Point Victory on shore and deposited a written record of their progress. It is thought they reached Cape Herschel on the south coast of the island, filling in the unexplored part of the North-West Passage. Sir John Franklin died in June that year.

Still trapped in the ice, Erebus and Terror drifted south until Captain Crozier ordered their abandonment in April 1848. Weakened by starvation and scurvy, the 105 surviving men headed south for the Great Fish River. Most died on the march along the west coast of King William Island.

After two years without receiving any communication from Franklin?s mission the Admiralty sent out a search party but without success. A total of 39 missions were sent to the Arctic but it wasn?t until the 1850s that evidence of what befell the men began to emerge.

In 1854, Dr John Rae brought back Inuit stories that the expedition had perished somewhere to the west of the Back River. It appeared some of the men had resorted to cannibalism as many bodies were mutilated and body parts were found in cooking pots.

Read more at http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/john-franklin-final-north-west-passage-expedition-1845#sk1mGytyCyuF2qjI.99

From Scot Free Tours; DICKENS, JFK AND CANNIBALISM: THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION AND ABERDEEN

Rae's report provoked outrage in Britain, with the most notable critics being Lady Franklin and Charles Dickens. Their argument basically consisted of saying that Englishmen would never become cannibals because it just wasn't cricket. This became a debate about national character and racial traits and Dickens tried to discredit the truth of the accounts coming from those inferior races ? the Inuits and the Scots.   

As part of this disagreement on what really happened to the Franklin expedition, Dickens' friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins wrote 'The Frozen Deep', a play ostensibly about the Franklin expedition but really it's more like 'The Phantom of the Opera on Ice' - its focus is on a love triangle with lots thrown in about self-sacrificing love and a brooding anti-hero.

Dickens found much to like in it for he put on several performances of the play - taking the starring role himself. It was while acting in the play he met the eighteen-year-old Ellen Ternan for whom he would leave his wife of 22 years. If that wasn't enough, the main character and the tortured love triangle also provided him with the inspiration for 'A Tale of Two Cities'.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Teribus
Date: 05 Sep 17 - 02:40 AM

1: The wreck of HMS Erebus from Franklin's lost expedition was discovered just west of O'Reilly Island in Queen Maud Gulf, in September 2014.

2: On 12 September 2016, the Arctic Research Foundation announced that the wreck of Terror had been found in Nunavut's Terror Bay, off the southwest coast of King William Island. The wreck was discovered 92 km (57 mi) south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned, and some 50 km (31 mi) from the wreck of HMS Erebus, discovered in 2014.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Sep 17 - 07:18 PM

I caught a performance by David Newland at Orillia's Mariposa Folk Festival this summer - "The Northwest Passage". He's apparently been up there a few times and is putting together a recording of what was, indeed, an excellent hour of music and narration. He's working on it this autumn so I expect it will be out some time next year.

sian, west wales

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Sep 17 - 06:55 PM

Some are of the opinion that franklin was incompetent

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Sep 17 - 05:58 PM

If it's the exhibit I believe it is, it's been touring. One of the first stops was at the museum of Natural History in New York. Well worth the price of admission. He got into a mess and got himself and his crew out without the loss of a man.
Shachleton's timing was bad, though. He was pretty much without acclaim when he got home. Seems there was a war going on.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 04 Sep 17 - 02:31 PM

While not about Franklin (or even John Rae) there is another "icy" exhibition going on in Edinburgh right now, "Enduring Eye" at the National Library of Scotland on George 1V Bridge: this follows the voyage of Ernest Shackleton in the "Endurance" to Antarctica in 1914-17. The exhibition continue until November 12th.
See: https://www.nls.uk/news/press/2017/06/antarctica-photographs

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 04 Sep 17 - 03:40 AM

Thanks - found it!!!

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 04:37 PM

CJB

Concerning Franklin

https://soundcloud.com/comesingitplain-1/concerning-franklin-and-his-gallant-crew

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 01:36 PM

Some 20 years ago, I visited Stromness museum and John Rae's house while sailing from Greenock to Shetland aboard the Norwegian tall ship Staadsraad Lehmkuhl. As we sailed out next morning, I sat with the rest of the watch at the break of the poop and sang my version of the song (much like Paul Clayton's - but that's another story...). Great memory.

Regards

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 12:22 PM

Does anyone have this please ...

http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/c/co/concerning_franklin_and_his_gallant_crew.html

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 09:51 AM

Franklin's medal found

BBC News 27 July 2017;

A medal that has been on display in Orkney's Stromness Museum for years has just been identified as one awarded posthumously to Sir John Franklin.

Jeremy Mitchell from the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich said it was appropriate that Franklin's medal had ended up in Orkney.

"People forget that Stromness was (Franklin)'s last landfall, and the expedition spent three days here before disappearing off to the Arctic."

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 08:28 AM

~~~~~~~~~
exhibition in London:
Death in the Ice:  Franklin's Final Expedition 
14 July 2017–7 Jan 2018 10am–5pm
National Maritime Museum
http://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/franklin-death-in-the-ice 


~~~~~~~~~~
review from Andy Turner(+ AT singing Lord Franklin)
https://afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/death-in-the-ice/ 

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 04:31 AM

Arctic explorer Pen Hadow has announced his next challenge - to lead an expedition to the North Pole by yacht.

The 55-year-old will be leading the six-week Arctic Mission, which will set off from Nome in Alaska (USA) in the first week of August.

The expedition team will be on two 50-foot yachts – Bagheera and Snow Dragon II.

Read more at http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/explorer-pen-hadow-aims-first-person-sail-north-pole-yacht-57013#8Ewed5XawC1ZqG7h.99

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Thompson
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 02:50 AM

Inuit people have described meeting the crazed, cannibalistic remnants of the Franklin expedition, poor souls.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 02:24 PM

HMS Erebus - captained by James Clark Ross - and HMS Terror had previously sailed to the Antarctic.

Antarctica: Life in a hostile land is on display at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery and allows visitors to look at people's relationship with the most hostile continent on Earth.

The exhibition includes a 360° virtual reality tour of the UK's Halley VI research station, photos from Ben Osborne, original Antarctic video footage, equipment and mementos lent by Shropshire's Antarctic veterans, and objects associated with Sir Ernest Shackleton himself.

The museum will be hosting the exhibition until Sunday, September 17 2017.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 27 Jul 17 - 01:38 PM

There is an exhibition at The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich until 7th January called Death In The Ice: The shocking story of Franklin's final expedition.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Oct 16 - 07:05 PM

Sorry, it's been a long time coming, but glad that Rob Naylor managed to get his own copy of Gill Bowman's CD which includes her John Rae song. I'm posting the words below for anyone else who might be interested, with Gill's permission. The CD is called "Unsung Heroes" but is maybe not on general release now.

JOHN RAE                        Gillian Bowman

1. In the year of Our Lord, 1833,
He set sail for Hudson's Bay over the sea,
A company man, a ship's surgeon was he,
A young man of barely twenty.
But he took to the life of the wild Rupert's Land,
He was eager to learn, he was quick to command,
He studied the ways of the Dogrib and Cree,
Hunting for fresh food a-plenty.

Chorus
With his gun in his hand, and his deerskin coat,
He could hunt, he could fish, he could sail any boat,
And his name was John Rae, and his spirit was free,
From Stromness he sailed away.

2. His boyhood in Orkney ensured he was suited
To a life in the wilderness, tough and sure-footed,
As the Hudson Bay Company governor put it,
"John Rae's the fellow we need".
With some well-chosen men he could duly set forth
To fill in the gaps on the maps of the North,
To King William Island and the cold Arctic coast,
John Rae's the man who'll succeed.
Chorus

3. The first white explorer, the first expedition
To learn from the Inuit's native tradition,
Travelling light, living off of the land,
Succeeding where others had foundered.
And he brought news of Franklin whose game was so great,
From the Inuit tribesmen he learned of their fate,
And the tale was so gruesome, it served to create
Suspicion of all he recounted.
Chorus

4. And he lived not for glory, he lived not for gain,
At one with the elements, snow, wind and rain,
And the trusted in God, and the power that came
From his own self-reliance and knowledge.
In St Magnus Cathedral, his figure reclines
As if taking his rest in a forest of pine,
At peace with the world, and a man of his time,
His spirit goes a-walking for ever.

Final chorus – sing it all then repeat 3rd line, ending on "free".

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 16 - 06:31 PM

Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

Paul Watson in Vancouver
Monday 12 September 2016

The long-lost ship of British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, HMS Terror, has been found in pristine condition at the bottom of an Arctic bay, researchers have said, in a discovery that challenges the accepted history behind one of polar exploration's deepest mysteries.

HMS Terror and Franklin's flagship, HMS Erebus, were abandoned in heavy sea ice far to the north of the eventual wreck site in 1848, during the Royal Navy explorer's doomed attempt to complete the Northwest Passage.

All 129 men on the Franklin expedition died, in the worst disaster to hit Britain's Royal Navy in its long history of polar exploration. Search parties continued to look for the ships for 11 years after they disappeared, but found no trace, and the fate of the missing men remained an enigma that tantalised generations of historians, archaeologists and adventurers.

Now that mystery seems to have been solved by a combination of intrepid exploration – and an improbable tip from an Inuk crewmember.

On Sunday, a team from the charitable Arctic Research Foundation manoeuvred a small, remotely operated vehicle through an open hatch and into the ship to capture stunning images that give insight into life aboard the vessel close to 170 years ago.

more at the link.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,Bradfordian
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 08:00 PM

Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship Documentary-YouTube

bradfordian

Subject: LYR ADD- The Arctic Voyagers, Or Lady Franklin's L
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 08:10 PM

another post by Mark Gregory on his Australian Folksongs site

OCR typos corrected, except for one - I've emailed Mark about them.

The Arctic Voyagers, Or Lady Franklin's Lament For Her Husband (1853)


As near the beach I one morn did roam,
I met a fair lady ; who, all alone
In grief lamenting, cried pity me,
And send my sailor safe o'er the sea.
And as in sorrow she did bewail,      
She said from England my love did sail,
In health and vigour, with heart alive.
In Eighteen hundred and forty five.

Chorus.
She cried what troubles I have gone through
For noble Franklin and all his crew.

From me my darling, alas ! did stray,
To the frozen regions, in the month of May,
Three hearty cheers bid the ffoipa adieu,    ffopia?
With noble Franklin, and his brave crew.
Through storms and tempests, through frost and snow,
What they encountered no one does know.
Tell me ye mermaids, if in the deep
Brave Franklin with his sailors sleep.

Oh, no ! Oh, no ! that never be
They are far away, o'er the raging sea,
To ease my sorrow, my grief, and pain,
They must to England return again.
Oh ! heavenly father, who dwells on high,
Who beholds the mother and the orphan cry.
Thou alone, only him can save,
The British tars from the briny wave.

Oh, God, all dangers protect them through,
Guide noble Franklin and all his crew,
Who for seven years through the ice did roam,
Bring them safe again to their native home.
Oft on my pillow I with grief am tossed,
I think poor Franklin and all are lost,
But angels whisper, and say don't weep,
Your husband's safe on the briny deep.

Or, if Britannia could only view
The noble Franklin and his long-lost crew,
All safe and well to their homes arrive,
Happy and joyful, and all alive.
Return her thanks on her bended knees,
To Him who wafts them across the seas,
In glorious accents will raise her voice,
And all Great Britain will rejoice.

You pretty maidens come join with me,
And pray for them on the briny sea,
God will protect them while on the main,
And safe to England bring them again,
No pen can write, no tongue unfold,
What they endured in the piercing cold,
Oh, God on high listen to our prayers,
Our troubles ease and dry up our tears.

Dry up our sorrows and ease our pain,
And send brave Franklin back again.

NOTE - From the Tasmanian Newspaper the Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania Saturday 15 October 1853 p.3.

Dave de Hugard writes:-
'The Hobarton Guardian' version of 'Lady Franklin's Lament of 1853 is certainly an early version of the song. For your interest I attach the following extract:

'...After serving (1836-43) as governor of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Franklin was sent in search of the Northwest Passage in 1845. His ships, Erebus and Terror, were last seen in Baffin Bay on July 25 or 26, 1845.

When nothing was heard from the party, no fewer than 40 expeditions were sent to find him. In 1854, Dr John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company found the first proof that Franklin's vessels had sunk. In 1859, Leopold McClintock, commanding Fox, a search vessel outfitted by Lady Franklin, discovered a cairn that revealed Sir John had died on June 11, 1847, in King William's Land and had, in fact, found the Northwest Passage. Further expeditions were sent to the Arctic, but they simply confirmed the earlier discoveries...'

This Hobart version (1853) precedes 'the first proof that Franklin's vessels had sunk (1854)

Subject: LYR ADD- Lament On the Fate Of Sir J. Franklin And
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 07:53 PM

another broadside ballad from Mark Gregory's Australian Folk Songs site

Lament On the Fate Of Sir J. Franklin And His Crews

You tender christians I pray attend,
To these few lines that I have penn'd,
Of Sir John Franklin and his brave band,
Who've perished far from their native land.

Chorus

So listen now while I tell to you,
The fate of Franklin and his brave crew.

It's now fifteen years since he set sale,
With joyous hearts and a pleasant gale,
In frozen regions to cruise about
The north-west passage for to find out.

There was many sad and an aching heart,
As from their friends these brave men did part,
To plough their way o'er the raging main,
For fear they should ne'er return again.

When six dreary years they had been away,
Some other vessels without delay,
Were sent to search for the missing crews,
But, alas ! of them they could hear no news.

A gloomy mystery for nine long years,
Their wives and children has kept in tears,
In deepest anguish they did await,
The ship sent out to learn their fate.

Poor Lady Franklin in great despair,
In anguish wild she tore her hair,
Saying "Ten thousand pounds I'll give for news,
Of my loving Franklin and his brave crews."

The government in this present year,
Did pensions give to their families dear,
But Lady Franklin refused the grant,
Crying 'give me my husband, I no money want.'

At length sad tidings of this brave band,
Has reached the shores of their native land,
By which we hear they are all dead,
Tho' suffering much ere their souls had fled.

As through the frozen seas they pushed,
Their ships by blocks of ice were crushed,
And offering prayers for their babes and wives,
Many brave souls did lose their lives.

Forty poor creatures from a watery grave,
With one of the boats their lives did save,
And o'er the ice they now took their way,
To reach in safety famed Hudson Bay.

What horrid sufferings of pain and want,
These frozen regions no food did grant,
At length, oh horrid ! for want of meat,
Their dying comrades they had to eat.

How horrid was the sight when found,
Their limbs and bodies lay scattered round,
The flesh granw'd off from every bone,
Oh may their souls to heaven have gone.

Now for to finish and make an end,
May God their families from want defend,
And while their loss we sadly deplore,
We hope such horrors to hear no more.

Subject: LYR ADD - Lady Franklin's Lament For Her Husband
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 07:49 PM

Ozcatter Mark Gregory has posted 2 new Franklin songs/poems on his Australian Folk Songs website

Lady Franklin's Lament For Her Husband   Broadside ballad

You Seamen bold, that have long withstood
Wild storms of Neptune's briny flood.
Attend to these few lines which I now will name,
And put you in mind of a Sailor's dream.

As homeward bound one night on the deep,
Slung in my hammock I fell asleep,
I dreamt a dream which I thought was true,
Concerning Franklin and his brave crew.

I thought as we neared to the Humber shore,
I heard a female that did deplore,
She wept aloud and seemed to say,
Alas ! my Franklin is long away.

Her mind it seemed in sad distress,
She cried aloud I can take no rest,
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give,
To say on earth that my husband lives.

Long time it is since two ships of fame,
Did bear my husband across the main,
With one hundred seamen with courage stout,
To find a north-western passage out.

With one hundred seamen with hearts so bold,
fear have perished in frost and cold,
Alas, she cried, all my life mourn,
Since Franklin seems never to return.

For since that time seven years are past,
And many a keen and bitter blast,
Blows o'er the grave where poor seamen fell,
Whose dreadful sufferings no tongue can tell.

To find a passage by the North Pole,
Where tempests wave and wild thunders roll,
Is more than any mortal man can do,
With hearts undaunted and courage true.

There's Captain Austen of Scarboro town,
Brave Granville and Penny of much renown,
With Captain Ross and so many more,
Have long been searching the Arctic shore.

They sailed east and they sailed west,
Round Greenland's coast they knew the best,
In hardships drear they have vainly strove,
On mountains of ice their ships were drove.

At Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blows,
The fate of Franklin nobody knows.
Which causes many a wife and child to mourn,
In grievious sorrow for their retain.

These sad forebodings they give me pain,
For the long lost Franklin across the main,
Likewise the fate of so many before,
Who have left their homes to return no more.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 09:38 AM

Tattie,

I'm now in direct contact with Gill. She has the song recorded on a CD and will send it to me! I emailed her via her agent and she got back to me very quickly.

That's just great.....her taking the time to get in touch with me and offering to post out a CD to me. Can't wait for it to get here!

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 10 Aug 15 - 03:25 AM

Tattie,

Spent the 99p. Nice one!

Thanks for asking Gill for me. I'll be learning the other one too, once I can work out the chords.

Rae definitely deserves to be more well-known.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 09 Aug 15 - 03:51 AM

You might also like to check out this song "The Orcadian" by Alan Reid (ex-Battlefield Band). Only a wee snatch, but maybe worth 99p for the download?

The Orcadian

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 09 Aug 15 - 03:40 AM

That's a good song, Rob, but not Gill's! Note the credits at the bottom of the page in your link.

I have asked Gill again if she has recorded her John Rae song on any album, and wil let you know the answer. She did say she sang it again at her weekly session in Edinburgh kast week, but afraid I was away and missed it.

Lesley Riddoch wrote an excellent article criticising the Channel 4 programme for failing to mention John Rae, see:
John Rae

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 09 Aug 15 - 03:02 AM

Hey, I found it!!!!

Version from Tiller's Folly:


Ballad Of John Rae

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 09 Aug 15 - 02:37 AM

I'd still love to be able to find the lyrics and tune to Gill Bowman's song about John Rae, as I'd still like to do it at sessions as a counterpoint to "Franklin". Rae's story definitely deserves a bit more exposure.

Tattie?

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 08 Aug 15 - 12:29 PM

'penned and circulated by Lady Franklin herself'.

Very doubtful. It has all the hallmarks of the broadside hack, and therefore very close to the folksong it became and that which we love.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 08 Aug 15 - 09:47 AM

I just watched the Channel 4 doc. "Hunt for the Arctic ghost ship."

It tells the story of the expedition and how Erebus was found.
They searched somewhere called "ship place" in Inuit oral tradition and quickly found it using sonar.

There is film of the well preserved wreck including interior shots.

It was a hundred miles further South than had been believed.
It means they reached a part of the passage that had been charted from the West, completing the mission.

The song was played over the end credits, but a trail was put over the beginning.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 11:04 PM

It seems there are two basic manifestations of this ballad. The one we generally hear seems to originate in a broadside that may have been penned and circulated by Lady Franklin herself. These are the "Sailor's Dream" type. There is one in a different meter that describes the voyage in detail, including encounters with the doubtful esquimaux and lines like

"What hope can scale this icy wall,
High over the main flag staff?
Above the ridges wolf and bear
Look down with patient, settled stare
Look down on us and laugh"

"A Ballad of Sir John Franklin," from  Sartain's Magazine, May 1850
by George Boker
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/sartain.html

Another source of odes was a poetry competition sponsored by the British Association which yielded a variety of epics.
en.citizendium.org/wiki/John_Franklin

Among the entries was this by Algernon Swinburne.Though it did not win, it is generally thought to be the best of the lot by today's standards
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/swin.html

Another is "The Life The Character and The Death of Sir John Franklin" by Edward Owen. Typically Victorian, these, needless to say, have never become songs that I know of.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 07:08 PM

The brass bell from the HMS Erebus was unveiled in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Erebus bell

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,Skivee, guesting in
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 05:16 PM

That sounds marvelous, Julia L. Please do pass along the info.
Craig

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 05:14 PM

Any more news of the Erebus?

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 05:00 PM

Hi folks- just listened to a Maine version of Franklin in the Helen Hartness Flanders collection, sung by Will Merritt Ludlow Maine 1941. Still deciphering the lyrics, but it has the captain's named as well as the intro verse similar to the broadside from Glasgow transcribed above by Q on 12 Oct 2010.   

Would love to know more about that source- Merritt learned the song from his mother who was from Scotland.

Have also found a similar version posted by a Czech C&W band... ? Will pass on info if they respond to my query

best- Julia

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: WindhoverWeaver
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 12:13 PM

meself, I think you are right that Stan "made up" the name Kelso: I found this online "Stan Rogers discussed the process of writing Northwest Passage in a radio interview in 1982 and admitted that he had been unsure of Kelsey's name and had guessed Kelso while recording the song." (http://http://www.sea-of-flowers.ca/weblog/sea/archives/2004/04/brave_kelso.php)

Let me just add that I love both Stan's song and Lady Franklin's Lament, and often do both.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: meself
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 11:59 AM

Apologies for belabouring the side-business of the song, but .... "Kelso" is Stan's creation, as far as I can see - presumably it's an odd rendering of "Kelsey". And to explain my observation that he "likens himself" to the iconic explorers of what became Canada: "How then am I so different from the first men through this way?" (I don't think he's talking about the Aboriginals. Not to say that they didn't have their explorers, too ...).

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: JHW
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 04:51 AM

A shipwreck uncovered beneath the icy wastes of northern Canada has been identified as long-lost HMS Erebus.

The Victorian-era vessel became part of nautical folklore after it vanished in the mid-19th Century.

Its captain, Sir John Franklin, had been searching for the fabled Northwest Passage.

Experts confirmed that the wreck, discovered last month, was indeed the celebrated Royal Navy vessel.

Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
From: WindhoverWeaver
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 03:52 AM

The one reference to Franklin is actually in the chorus: "To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea". The song also references several other explorers: Kelso, Mackenzie, and David Thompson.

A slight connection, whereas Lady Franklin's lament and similar are actually about Franklin and the tragedy.