Canoe cups

[Baggy]

Hiya

 

 

One of my great heroes John Rae an Orcadian ( orkney man ) joined HBC shortly after.

Was Rae the guy that discovered the key to the North West Passage?

 

 

The company used orkney men for many generations because of their toughness and resoluteness for hardship.

John Rae was all of that and more and was the first ' whiteman ' to recognise that the native eskimo were a peacefull and intelligent race and not 'savages' as they were then labelled. There is a great little book called ' Fatal Passage ' about John Rae and what life was like in ' The Great White North ' at that time.

I will see if I can track the book down, sounds very worth a read.

 

The 200 year old canoe cup looked like a shallow kuksa to me, this may make sense as I guess there are links to scandanavia (villings) from Orkney?

[born2trot]

Hiya

 

 

 

Was Rae the guy that discovered the key to the North West Passage?

 

 

 

I will see if I can track the book down, sounds very worth a read.

 

The 200 year old canoe cup looked like a shallow kuksa to me, this may make sense as I guess there are links to scandanavia (villings) from Orkney?[/quote

 

You bet he was the guy that found the missing link to the Northwest passage thats why its called the Rae Strait , NOT John Franklin ( i dont recognise him as a sir ) . As you say the scandinavian link is still strong there with seamanship at the forefront of this , they were brilliant rowers and boatmen .

An interesting little story is that the ' little maid of Norway ' who was also Queen Margaret of Scotland sailed from Norway to Leith in Scotland . She took ill on the voyage and their boat was blown off course but landed in what is now known as St Margarets Hope in south ronaldsay , Orkney. Only a child she died just a couple of days later...had she lived she would have become queen of Britain and united the crowns 400 years earlier.

[Sam Thompson]

Hiya

 

 

 

Was Rae the guy that discovered the key to the North West Passage?

 

 

 

I will see if I can track the book down, sounds very worth a read.

 

The 200 year old canoe cup looked like a shallow kuksa to me, this may make sense as I guess there are links to scandanavia (villings) from Orkney?[/quote

 

You bet he was the guy that found the missing link to the Northwest passage thats why its called the Rae Strait , NOT John Franklin ( i dont recognise him as a sir ) . As you say the scandinavian link is still strong there with seamanship at the forefront of this , they were brilliant rowers and boatmen .

An interesting little story is that the ' little maid of Norway ' who was also Queen Margaret of Scotland sailed from Norway to Leith in Scotland . She took ill on the voyage and their boat was blown off course but landed in what is now known as St Margarets Hope in south ronaldsay , Orkney. Only a child she died just a couple of days later...had she lived she would have become queen of Britain and united the crowns 400 years earlier.

 

 

And saved you skirt wearers a heap of pastings :001_tt2:

[born2trot]

 

 

And saved you skirt wearers a heap of pastings :001_tt2:

 

I suppose it would have Sam

[Sam Thompson]

I suppose it would have Sam

 

On interesting explorers, my Grandmother (who spends lots of time looking at family trees) has found a pretty solid link to David Thompson, the geographer. His brother married someone who gave birth to my great great someone or other... I think it's rather cool that my ancestor mapped most of Canada!

[born2trot]

On interesting explorers, my Grandmother (who spends lots of time looking at family trees) has found a pretty solid link to David Thompson, the geographer. His brother married someone who gave birth to my great great someone or other... I think it's rather cool that my ancestor mapped most of Canada!

 

DAVID THOMPSON !!!! Your possibly looking at one of possibly the greatest geographer of all time . The accuracy of his mapping of Canada still astounds experts to this day . Now there is a guy i would call Sir !!

[Sam Thompson]

DAVID THOMPSON !!!! Your possibly looking at one of possibly the greatest geographer of all time . The accuracy of his mapping of Canada still astounds experts to this day . Now there is a guy i would call Sir !!

 

 

He was rather good at it. Apparently they didn't use different maps until GPS etc. came in Which is rather impressive given he just had a furry hat, a sextant and pencil. I have some copies of his North west territories maps on the wall, very detailed and a very good talking point!

[born2trot]

 

 

He was rather good at it. Apparently they didn't use different maps until GPS etc. came in Which is rather impressive given he just had a furry hat, a sextant and pencil. I have some copies of his North west territories maps on the wall, very detailed and a very good talking point!

 

Now why arent people like that honoured ? It does my head in . What an impressive find that was Sam.

[Sam Thompson]

 

Now why arent people like that honoured ? It does my head in . What an impressive find that was Sam.

 

The thing is there is LOTS of people, especially around that time, that did stuff that was/is just taken for granted, yet you get an MBE for kicking a pig's stomach around...