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John Rae to be honoured in Westminster Abbey–but not for discovering the northwest passage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2014

William Barr
William Barr*
Affiliation:
Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada (wbarr@ucalgary.ca)
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Abstract

Since at least 2001 Ken McGoogan has been claiming that in discovering Rae Strait in 1854 John Rae also discovered the final link in the northwest passage. This claim is false, in that a substantial section of the passage further north, some 240 km in length (between Bellot Strait and where James Clark Ross had found the north magnetic pole) was still undiscovered in 1854. On the basis of McGoogan's false claim Mr. Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, has been pursuing a campaign to have a corrective plaque installed near the Franklin cenotaph in Westminster Abbey to the effect that Rae, and not Franklin, discovered the northwest passage. The Dean of Westminster and the Abbey authorities have decided that a simple tablet with the words ‘John Rae; arctic explorer’ but with no further elaboration, will be installed in the Abbey near the Franklin cenotaph.

Type
Notes
Information
Polar Record , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 219 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

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