the royal arctic theatre

A huge congratulations to Terror Camp 2025 presenter Kaitlyn Gorsalitz @alongblank on her contributions to the recent identification of the remains of FOUR (!!!!) new Franklin Expedition men, as part of Dr. Douglas Stenton's research team.

You can read the full scientific paper here!

And for access to Kaitlyn's presentation “When We Meet Next”: Investigating Franklin Men and Their Families, please email command [@] terror dot camp for last year's TC recordings.

These pieces of sail cloth were found in the wreck of Ma‘agan Mikhael B, a late Byzantine ship which dates between the 7th and the 9th century AD. This is an exciting piece in itself, because fabrics preserve very poorly in salt water.  But then compare it with this piece here.

A very important chronology of James Clark Ross’s hair.

Franklin Relics brought by Dr. Rae, 1855 Walter William May

Charles Wilkes after the U.S. Exploring Expedition 🤝 JCR after the Ross Expedition

I was deeply saddened when I first saw Admiral Dumont d'Urville upon his return to Toulon. I found him lying on a bed, struggling with energy against the cruellest of illnesses. He was no more than a ghost, a worn body that dragged itself painfully about with the help of a small walking stick; but his calm and austere features were still very expressive, and his eagle's eyes shone when he told me, with great energy, about some of the episodes of his great voyage. He told me, during one of the frightful crises caused by his gout, 'My friend, I am finished, a being who is now worn-out. I feel that I don't have much time left in this world, but a consolation is that I shall die in the happy satisfaction of never having harmed anyone, and that my name will perhaps not be forgotten in the annals of our maritime history. I hope that my report on my last campaign is at this very moment in the hands of the Minister of Marine, and that he will be good enough to reward all my brave companions. As for me, if I do not obtain the reward that I hope for, I shall hand in my resignation and spend my last days here, under these beautiful skies. I shall give instructions for my burial in this modest garden, beside my three children who have been resting here for several years.'

Francis Crozier and "The House of Beauty"

"a fresh and bright edifice... a house all light and grace" - Julian Hawthorne

Two of Francis Crozier's letters to James Ross from Florence are addressed from Casa Del Bello, Via della Fornace. Alexander K notes that this address is now Via dei Serragli 132 (various shorter streets having been absorbed into it, including Via della Fornace). There, on the south bank of the Arno, a short stroll away from the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and Ponte Vecchio, stands a handsome house. Here it is today:

A plaque on the building commemorates Nathaniel Hawthorne, who stayed in the house for two months in 1858, entertaining such illustrious friends as Robert and Elizabeth Browning and penning "The Marble Faun". Hawthorne and his family stayed on the house's piano floor and paid $50 a month for their apartments.

I've not been able to find much yet about what the inside of the house might have looked like. This biography of Walter Savage Landor describes a residence that "allured the Hawthornes with its spacious suite of rooms extending around the four sides of a small court, with lofty, frescoed ceilings and sumptuous hangings, and the usual Italian profusion of marble tables, mirrors, and upholstered furniture. The terrace was a constant delight to Hawthorne where he sat daily."

Francis himself doesn't tell us anything about Casa Del Bello. But it's lovely to imagine him under those frescoes, with a view of the courtyard, with a terrace pleasant perhaps even in the depths of Tuscan winter.

Here is a very beautiful 1844 map of Florence.

Do you hate your job? Feel like you're better at doing something else, but wound up stuck in a dead-end job you hate? Do you come home every day drained and miserable?

Well, you'd have an understanding ear in polar explorer William Edward Parry. After several expeditions to the Arctic seeking the Northwest Passage, Parry was "promoted" to a job in the Hydrographical Department at the Admiralty. It was a dull, soul-sucking job he hated so much that, as reported by his wife Isabella, "He...generally comes home quite tired and worried, only fit to lie on the sofa and be made much of."

Isabella's skillful roasting of her husband's complaints aside, hating your job seems to have been a universal even if you were a famous polar explorer, so if you don't like your job, you're in good company!