John Rae (researcher)
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John Rae (born September 30, 1813 on the Hall of Clestrain , in Orphir on Mainland (Orkney) , † July 22, 1893 in London ) was a Scottish Arctic explorer and doctor.
Life
After studying medicine in Edinburgh , he joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a doctor . On their behalf, he undertook a research trip from 1846 to 1848 to complete the mapping made by John Ross in Hudson Bay . In the same year he accompanied John Richardson on an expedition to explore the Northwest Passage in the Mackenzie River area . After his return home he led the expedition and explored the area of Victoria Island and the Rae Strait named after him .
Through contact with local Inuit , he learned about the fate of John Franklin's missing expedition , after which numerous searches had been started in the mid-19th century. Rae concluded from the Inuit stories that Franklin's men must have moved south across the ice in heavy sleds and that they had also made use of the "last resort" of cannibalism in order to survive . Despite some bartered items that were obviously attributable to Franklin's crew, his statements were initially doubted and Rae was publicly criticized, especially with regard to the cannibalism theories (including the British writer Charles Dickens, the credibility of the reports of " Wild " in massive Question). It was only when an expedition led by Francis Leopold McClintock largely confirmed Raes' information in 1859 that he received the 10,000 pounds sterling offered to clarify the fate of the Franklin expedition .
In 1860 Rae was involved in building the telegraph line to America . In the course of this work he also visited Greenland and Iceland . In 1864 he took part in another telegraph project in northern Canada . In addition to the Rae Strait, which lies between King William Island and the Boothia Peninsula , the Canadian towns of Rae Isthmus ( Nunavut ) and Rae-Edzo ( Northwest Territory ) are named after him.
John Rae's body was transferred to Kirkwall on a paddle steamer. In the St Magnus Cathedral there was a large funeral ceremony, here there is also a memorial. His remains lie in a modest grave in the cathedral cemetery. Point Rae , a cape on the coast of Laurie Island in the archipelago of the southern Orkney Islands , is named in his honor .
Works
- Narrative of an expedition to the shores of the Arctic Sea . London (1850)
- John Rae, arctic explorer $ dthe unfinished autobiography , edited with an introduction by William Barr, Edmonton, Alberta: Polynya Press, 2018, ISBN 978-1-77212-332-6
literature
- Bunyan Ian: No ordinary journey : John Rae, arctic explorer. - Montreal: Univ. Pr., 1993. - ISBN 0-7735-1106-7
- MacGoogan, Kenneth: Fatal passage : the untold story of John Rae. - Toronto: Harper Perennial Canada, 2001. - ISBN 0-00-638659-8
Web links
- Dr John Rae - the unsung Arctic Hero on orkneyjar.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rae, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish arctic explorer and doctor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 30, 1813 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Orphir on Mainland (Orkney) |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 22, 1893 |
| Place of death | London |