His shot failed to despatch the bird cleanly and, after descending near the deck, it recovered and flew away with one leg broken. On seeing hovering over the ship what he believed to be a new species of Lestris, or Arctic Yager, described by Audubon, the great American bird illustrator, as an ‘indefatigable teaser of the smaller gulls’, he took a pot-shot at it. “The bird life, was, as ever, of great interest to ship’s surgeon McCormick. ‘We have now but Weddell’s track to get beyond,’ wrote Captain Ross, referring to the whaling captain’s 74☁5'S, a record that had stood since 1823.”Įrebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time Measurements showed that Erebus and Terror had reached latitude 71☁4'S, passing Captain Cook’s furthest south. And there was another cause for celebration. all that could be desired for giving effect to such a magnificent panorama.’ For Joseph Hooker, it was simply ‘one of the most gorgeous sights I have ever witnessed’. The sky was a clear azure blue, with the most brilliant sunshine. The glaciers that filled their intervening valleys, and which descended from near the mountain summits, projected in many places several miles into the sea. Nevertheless he was, like everyone else, humbled and overawed by what he saw as they drew closer to land. All he could see was that this ‘coastline’ had effectively blocked the way to his most coveted goal, the South Magnetic Pole.
Surprisingly, Ross’s first reaction was less than ecstatic. Expertly researched and illustrated with maps, photographs, paintings, and engravings, Erebus is an evocative account of two journeys: one successful and forgotten, the other tragic yet unforgettable.“With a cry of ‘Land Ahoy!’, Lieutenant Wood confirmed that not only had Erebus and Terror become the first sailing ships to break through the ice-pack, but they were now the first ships to come face-to-face with irrefutable proof that an Antarctic continent existed. Delving into the research, he describes the intertwined careers of the two men who shared the ship's journeys: Ross, the organizational genius who mapped much of the Antarctic coastline and oversaw some of the earliest scientific experiments to be conducted there and Franklin, who, at the age of sixty and after a checkered career, commanded the ship on its last disastrous venture. Palin travels across the world-from Tasmania to the Falkland Islands and the Canadian Arctic-to offer a firsthand account of the terrain and conditions that would have confronted the Erebus and her doomed final crew. It was rediscovered under the arctic waters in 2014. Michael Palin brings the fascinating story of the Erebus and its occupants to life, from its construction as a bomb vessel in 1826 through the flagship years of James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition and finally to Sir John Franklin's quest for the holy grail of navigation-a route through the Northwest Passage, where the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea for more than 150 years. Driven by a passion for travel and history and a love of ships and the sea, former Monty Python stalwart and beloved television globe-trotter Michael Palin explores the world of HMS Erebus, last seen on an ill-fated voyage to chart the Northwest Passage.
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