J.

a man in a mask is holding a piece of paper with the words `` it was signed this morning '' written on it . ALT: a man in a mask is holding a piece of paper with the words `` it was signed this morning '' written on it .

Ross going to the papers like "Look, he says it himself!"

Well, I figured out what OJR was most likely talking about re: Abernethy turning down other offers 🥲😂 why was he so Like This, oh my god...

I do too after this! Also very intrigued by Inglefield after I found out he advocated exhuming+examining a Beechey lad but was voted down, and then later ended up doing it secretively at night with only officers present because they didn't want to tell the sailors, like what a story!!

Two screenshots from Woodward's Jane Franklin biography. Text: Early in 1872 Hall was in the news again - though he himself had passed beyond the reach of reporters. A skeleton which he had brought back from King William Land had been consigned to Inglefield, then British naval attaché in Washington, and Inglefield was asking Richards what to do with it. "My advice to him will be to put it in a box and bury it", Richards wrote to Jane, who doubtless knew that his brusqueries covered a very tender heart. "It could not be certainly identified - and would be no use to any one - probably if the Skeleton was married - his widow has taken another Skeleton before this." But Inglefield sent it to him,

and after more jokes and grumbles he procured the assistance of T. H. Huxley and "the Skellington" was tentatively identified - from the age and a gold-plugged tooth - as Le Vesconte of the Erebus.

The adventures of Richards and Inglefield's bothersome guest, and his potential skelewidow 💀💗💀 (The bones in question are those since proposed to belong to HDS Goodsir.) Hashtag myskellington

happy Saturday Chillin sunday

I was sad about Ozzy but I was even sadder about Tom Lehrer. Even though I'd been lowkey waiting for that headline for years. The *precision* that man had! The courage!

oh GORGEOUS

Jack Aubrey. #masterandcommander #russellcrowe #jackaubrey #aubreyad #digitalart #digitaloilpainting #ageofsail #COMMSOPEN #procreate

Ross and Crozier attempt to make their way up the harbour in the pinnace, but the wind springs their mizzenmast. The pinnace nearly founders, and they are forced to throw the dinghy overboard to lighten it.

The wreck of The Sir John Franklin (and other Franklin Expedition pubs of London). By Logan Zachary & Alison Freebairn.  July 15, 2025. { Outside the East India Docks.  May 25th, 2023. }    Perhaps everyone reading...

In a way, it’s sort of a good thing most of the pubs mentioned in this piece by @illuminator.bsky.social and @finger-post.blog are gone, because IMAGINE the carnage a Franklin pub crawl would create across London.

www.illuminator.blog/p/londonpubs...

No worries if you'd rather not drag it, but would love to know the title so I will know not to read it 😁

Vault 61: Jane Franklin in the Catacombs of Kensal Green Cemetery. By Logan Zachary & Alison Freebairn.  April 7th, 2024. { ▽ Jane Franklin, nameplate and coffin. }    Jane Franklin’s final resting place ...

Jane, Lady Franklin died OTD in 1875, aged 83. She was interred in the catacombs of Kensal Green Cemetery, and I'm not kidding when I say that getting down there to pay my respects in person was one of the best days of my life.
www.illuminator.blog/p/jane-catac...

I mean, it is historical (well-researched medieval) and it may not be your cup of tea (cosy-ish and there tends to be some str8 romance between side characters), but I've been enjoying the Cadfael Chronicles a lot for a light read lately

McCormick and Abernethy return to Swan Bay. They see a dozen black-necked swans, who are "sagacious enough to persistently keep to the centre of the lake," frustrating McCormick's intentions of adding them to his ornithological collections.

Omg... steady sherry and irish macca... it's like they're racehorses. Kellett another one for the handwriting wall of shame tbh 😂

Assistance - (Edward Belcher) - Ned North Star - (William Pullen) - Bill Resolute - (Henry Kellett) - HK Pioneer - (Sherard Osborn) - Steady Sherry Intrepid - (Leopold McClintock) - Irish Macca

I'm going through John Barrow Jr's Franklin Search correspondence & found this fun overview Captain Henry Kellett sent him of the captains of the vessels in the 1852-54 Search. Steady Sherry & Irish Macca!! [Kellett to Barrow Jr. 26 April 1852]
#NavalHistory

Image is from the Illustrated Arctic News, a shipboard newspaper produced during the 1850-1851 search for the #FranklinExpedition, a facsimile of which was published in 1852. It shows a scene from the theatrical production of Charles XII. There are two very pretty female-presenting people in tight brown tops and brightly coloured hooped skirts, worn with coloured stockings. and a strapping male-presenting person in a tricorn hat, frogged navy jacket, white breeches and high black boots.

Shocked to hear that someone's had their nomination for a top Navy job rescinded for taking part in drag acts on board.

As if that wasn't a major part of shipboard life for centuries.

L-R George Frederick McDougall, Richard Bulkeley Pearse and George Frederick Mecham of #HMSResolute in 1850-51.

Ohh, I see. That wd be typical. I'm browsing through PP now, so I'll keep an eye out for it!
Amusingly, if it did bother JR more than JC, that actually tracks with John being more abstemious in habit. Though I find it v hard to believe he didn't drink at all lmao, temperance pamphlet or no!

No, I'm sure it was rife. It's a wonder most sailors in RN were functional rly, on their grog rations. (Meanwhile OJR claimed he himself didn't drink, which made me laugh.)
A's drinking is also another of those things I keep seeing without a primary source ref tbh, quite annoying.

The new(ish) 'umbrella' site for archive collections across Scotland is worth checking out/bookmarking despite the sad fact that not all archives have added their catalogues: it can only get better! Pleased to see it includes university collections.
yourscottisharchives.com

Ayy, Abernethy! Came across a report of speech given by OJR where he implied that A. had been approached to join other Franklin search exp.s but wd only go out with him -- any idea if he was just uh, practicing his creativity? From how ppl keep stressing A.'s drinking, I'd not expect many offers...

A general view of some of the gravestones, a chapel and remains of a wall at Old St. Peter's Kirk, Peterhead, on the first sunny day following weeks and weeks of rain, wind and raw cold.

Close-up photo of a gravestone of Thomas Abernethy, a seaman, polar explorer and one of many Franklin Expedition searchers. He was a local boy who came from nearby Longside, and spent most of his life when he wasn't at sea, in Peterhead (apart from a spell in Chatham).

Image of transcribed words from Abernethy's monument: "Erected by Rebecca Young in memory of her deceased husband Thomas Abernethy, second officer of the ship Victory, and who shared in the perils and privations of the expeditions to the Arctic seas commanded by Sir E. Parry and Sir John Ross in the years 1823, 1829, 1833. Born 1803, died 1860. And the above Rebecca Young."

Visited Thomas Abernethy yesterday after a long time. His gravestone had survived another winter - no mean feat in Peterhead AND facing the sea - but this is Abernethy, whose widow would have needed a massive wall of granite to reflect his service record in the Arctic and the Antarctic alone.

Oh same on 7 and 8. ❤️ I'm kinda new to BF; I've p much just listened to whatever I could find that had the Master in it, and with 8 I started from Dark Eyes. But I think I prefer single stories to long arcs tbh 😅

oh, any Big Finish recs? (hello btw, good to see you again!)

I think we should all approach life with the unfounded enthusiasm and confidence of Sir John Ross in 1829 tbh
(Westmorland Gazette, 18th July)

Francis Crozier reclines fetchingly on the Arctic shale on his side posed like Dr Ian Malcolm with one arm resting on his raised bent knee but in full battered-looking cold weather naval slops and with a little sun protector tucked under his hat. Somebody else is bending down next to him and a few other people are milling around in the background. The eternal reminder: SATURDAY CHILLIN’ Don’t fucken @ me I’M CHILLIN’

4 July 1842: Carysfort exercises her guns; Cunningham records, "very good firing She made, having flag, Staff, and buoy away at Separate Shots".

Sir John Ross, engraving, 1833. [My collection] He's looking very honest and friendly. #NavalHistory

When you make fun of Sir John Ross for Croker Mountains, this is who you're making fun of!!

Likewise! I took a looong break from polar affairs to get obsessed with Classic Who, but I started to really miss seeing you all in my feed! So I begrudgingly made Yet Another Account