Journey to the Polar Sea: Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the Years 1819-20-21-22, by John Franklin; published in the UK by Conway Maritime Press, 2000; hardback; Canadian publisher is Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. ISBN 1- 55054-814-X 

This is Franklin’s famous ‘Narrative’, as read avidly by Shackleton, Nansen and Amundsen. It’s been out of print for some time but Franklin-fever appears to be sweeping Canada as we approach the bicentennial of this man’s journeys and it’s good to have the opportunity of reading these astonishing journeys afresh. Franklin was sent by the British Admiralty to explore the northern coast of Canada as part of a series of adventures to find the fabled North-West Passage. You’ll find a good potted history of these forays in ‘Barrows Boys’ and a more comprehensive description in a superb book by James P Delgado called Across the Top of the World: the Quest for the Northwest Passage, published by Douglas & McIntyre in 1999. At the time Franklin was sent out, with very limited resources, much of the north of Canada was already being exploited by the Hudson Bay and North West Companies. These two companies were at times almost literally at war with each other, and Franklin travelled across the Canadian Shield from the western shore of Hudson Bay from post to post, at virtually each one with duplicated stations belonging to each company. He carried with him very little in the way of supplies but he had letters of introduction which allowed him to tap these various stations for food, ammunition and the like. He didn’t arrive in a good year as western European diseases had swept through the native populations locally. Using canoes he steadily moved towards his goal and after a journey of more than 18 months set up an overwintering camp south of the Coppermine, his route to the Arctic Ocean. What followed was both extraordinary and harrowing. Over the following summer season, which was short, he and his men, a group of native Indians and two esquimaux, moved down the Coppermine River to the sea by canoe. Once there they travelled along the coast to the east in the hope of meeting ships sent by the Admiralty from the Atlantic. Unbeknown to them the ships had become icebound but in any case they were not to be found and Franklin and his men were left in a difficult position. It was late August, the rivers were about to freeze, they did not have the supplies they would need to overwinter at that latitude, and they’re only hope was to move south somehow. In their search for a route south they discovered the mouth of the Hood River (which was named after a member of the expedition) and the astounding Wilberforce Falls. But this didn’t give them a route to the south. They found themselves forced into an overland trek, over an increasingly cold land bereft of any game, fighting for their lives. They reached their camp with winter well settled in after a nightmare journey, starving and exhausted. By the time help arrived more than half the expedition had died. With very good reason when Franklin eventually returned to London he was hailed as “the man who ate his boots”!