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

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Barr, William
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2014
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Northwest Passage; Westminster; Bellot Strait; Rae Strait; Rae; North Magnetic Pole; Northwest passage; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247414000527; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247414000527

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.