The Voyage of the Fox
Author: Captain Francis McClintock
Since the time of Columbus Europe’s seafarers, explorers and navigators have looked west to find a passage around the southern and northern ends the Americas to India, the Spice Islands and beyond. Sir John Franklin led an expedition to search for and chart the North-West Passage and his vessels the “Erebus” and the “Terror” were last seen in Baffin Bay (off the North -Western coast of Iceland) in 1845. In 1847 they were given up as lost.
In England ten years later, with the prompting and financial aid of Lady Franklin a ship was modified for Artic exploring (even having a steam engine and propeller), outfitted and Captained by Francis McClintock to search for the lost Franklin expedition. The good ship “Fox” set out to determine the fate of Franklin’s two vessels and un-ravel the mystery – did Franklin’s party discover the North-West Passage?
The “Fox” spent two years searching the island chains above Hudson Bay and the 70th Parallel. The “Fox” was embedded in the ice pack west of Barrow Strait. McClintock and parties traveled this frozen territory with dogs and sleds purchased for the Eskimos and small boats when the water leads opened up. Hundreds of miles were covered, including a search of the Parry Islands and beyond. The sailors of the “Fox” endured incredible cold and hardship. McClintock’s past Artic voyages taught him the way of pack ice and it’s crushing dynamics. None the less, the Fox” had some harrowing encounters and escapes, the survival of which might even border on luck.
As stories of polar travel go, the most compelling aspect of the Antarctic expedition of Shalkelton’s vessel the “Endurance” were the photographs Australian Frank Hurley took and the fact that no man was lost. The most compelling fact of the ‘Fox’ voyage to the Artic – despite the lack of pictures, maps and only a few sketches – is McClintock’s fine prose, his wonderful powers of observation and the fact he solved the riddle as to whether Franklin discovered the Northwest Passage.Attachment: BookFox.jpg (Downloaded 11 times)
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