illuminator newsletter #26
NEW TODAY
Researcher Russ Taichman has found a wooden model of the monument from the lost vault/grave described by Sŭ-pung-er on King William Island, the site sought for by Louie Kamookak, Dave Woodman, and Tom Gross. Numerous attempts over the years have been made to try to imagine what this monument looked like, through translated Inuit testimony. However the model now found by Taichman was likely carved by Sŭ-pung-er himself, for Charles Francis Hall who then preserved it. Taichman identified the artifact in the Smithsonian collections in Washington DC — and then also, in an 1869 relics sketch in Harpers Weekly.
For Polar Record:
Dive season 2023: The RV David Thompson, Parks Canada’s research vessel for Erebus and Terror, reached the Erebus wreck site three days ago on September 5th. This is nearly a month late compared to bigger seasons like 2019, but only a handful of days behind the 2022 season, which recovered paper from the Erebus steward's pantry. That 2022 season had begun “excavation of what could be the Second Lieutenant’s cabin, continued the excavation of what is believed to be the Third Lieutenant’s cabin, and completed excavation of part of the Captain’s Steward’s pantry” (link). I would expect, especially with a shorter season, that they would continue ploughing in the same furrow, those presumed cabins of Fairholme and Le Vesconte — and perhaps start on 1st Lieut. Graham Gore, if they can reach him. However they cannot go too far in this same direction, as they are approaching the large collapsed upper deck pieces (which will require a massive operation to reach the cabins underneath).
SINCE THE LAST ISSUE
The lost/2nd set of daguerreotypes went on sale at Sotheby’s yesterday, with bidding open until September 21st (link to bid). News coverage has been extensive, with Sky’s Katie Spencer reporting from in front of Franklin's Waterloo Place statue in London.
The lost/2nd set will be open to public exhibition at Sotheby’s of London, New Bond Street, from September 15th to 20th (link to opening hours).
Russell Potter has written about the set at Visions of the North:
https://visionsnorth.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-newfound-franklin-daguerreotypes.html
LAST WORD
We knew that the Greenwich copy of Collins' daguerreotype portrait had the highlights blown out, making his facial features appear petite compared to his SPRI daguerreotype. In hindsight, it might have been proposed that the same effect on a lesser scale had also distorted Crozier. The idea hadn’t ever occurred to me. Both the Greenwich copies of these portraits have a sort of worried or paranoid look, which vanishes in their original daguerreotypes.
