The Arctic Fox: Francis Leopold McClintock: Discoverer of the fate of Franklin: Francis Leopold McClintock, Discoverer of the Fate of Franklin

by David Murphy

The Shackleton of his day, Leopold McClintock from Dundalk was the leading Arctic explorer of the Victorian era. First to bring definite information on the lost Franklin party, he rose to admiral and advised Scott before the 'Discovery' expedition in 1901. This fascinating tale starts when he enlisted in 1831, not yet twelve years old. He began exploration in 1848 on the ‘Enterprise’ expedition with Ross, the first in search of Franklin. After two further expeditions, he was the most experienced explorer in the Royal Navy, having sledged over 1,300 miles, over-wintered and discovered Prince Patrick Island. At the request of Lady Franklin, he commanded the ‘Fox’ in 1857 to search for Franklin. By 1859 he had found written records and human remains after Eskimos told him of a shipwreck and survivors. He returned home with the news that the entire crew of the Franklin expedition had perished, was greeted with acclaim and awarded honours. His account of the expedition became a best-seller. After his death a plaque remember him was unveiled at Westminster Abbey, portraits hung in London’s National Portrait Gallery and the McClintock Channel in the Arctic was named after him.

Genres: Nonfiction

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of the life of the Dundalk-born Leopold McClintock who journeyed four times to the Antarctic, searching for anything to do with the lost expedition of aging British explorer John Franklin and his 129 men. The book is well-researched, making good use of McClintock's memoir and letters, and the writing is clear and pragmatic. McClintock's big claim to fame was the 1859 discovery of a hand-written and printed note, recording the death of Franklin, in 1847, as well as various other deaths that had taken place by 1848. The rest of the men would follow suit and there has been plenty of debate over their loss with various theories offered, from starvation to lead poisoning from the canned food. McClintock also revolutionised the use of dogs pulling sledges while charted hundreds of miles of new geography. Quite naturally, once this part of his life is dealt with, his story falls flat with his return to civil life but that's not Murphy's fault. Mapping the Antarctic whilst solving a Victorian mystery about the vanishing of 130 men is a hard act to follow!

[Noah Oanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Leopold-McClintock - Irish man from Dundalk - one of the most famous polar explorer in 19th century during Victoria era but now he remains largely forgotten and is often only briefly referred to in exploration histories. There were still debates till now between historians about who first discovered about the Fate of Franklin and his crews in the Artic area - McClintock or Sir Rae (from Rae–Richardson Arctic expedition of 1848 ) but without efforts and trips over Artic from both man it would take longer to know about what happened to Franklin.

Francis Leopold is often referred to as the "father of modern sledging technique". Yet he was very conservative in some of his attitudes to Artic survival. He still preferred to use manpower to pull sledges. His rejections of their survival methods and Inuit's use of dog-teams meant that later British explorers who turned to him for advice would be infected with this prejudice.

Besides that, I found him quite an interesting man, not just an explorer but also a hell of navy captain, a writer, a researcher, a collector who enjoyed quite a bit of fame and connection with Royal families and the public. But he was quite also a philanthropist, a member of RNLI who always looked after his crews and his colleagues, friends and family. That is why I think he did not give up on looking for Franklin until seeing the evidence that they all perished in the Pole (4 times lucky!)

He should be remembered of not just the "Grand Old Man" of polar exploration but an important Irish man of his time. I mean more people should know about him.

Will study more about cannibalism theory during the Franklin's catastrophe also. I wonder would this theory has inspired Mark Twain to write "Cannibalism in the Cars"?!