Defenders of Arctic orthodoxy turn their backs on Sir John Franklin

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: McGoogan, Ken
• 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; Rae; Northwest passage; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247414000692; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247414000692

ABSTRACT William Barr's article on John Rae presents quite the spectacle (Barr 2014). Barr paints a picture of eminent British historians, staunch defenders of Arctic orthodoxy, scurrying around to deny Rae his rightful recognition and stumbling into an abyss of self-contradiction. In their anxiety to keep Rae in his ‘proper place’ at Westminster Abbey, Barr and his friends have repudiated Sir John Franklin's claim to being the discoverer of the northwest passage – the claim they sallied forth to defend.