Footnotes Of History

Quick note: Don't forget to sail yourself over the footnotesofhistory.com for more daring exploits from the past. With that announcement out of the way, today's episode is equal parts grand, intrepid adventure and terrifying horror story. In 1845, things were looking pretty good exploration-wise. Humanity knew where most things were and maps were *almost* as we see them today. That’s barring a few wars here and there in Europe – but I’m talking about islands, continents and oceans here, not Bismarck for once. But there was one itch that kept nagging at the compulsive brains of the great and the good - and that was the Arctic. The theory was sound: Logically, from the spherical shape of the globe, there should be some kind of route from Europe that went due north west across the Atlantic, between the coasts of Greenland and Canada. Then you would head sharply west at Baffin Bay and travel “over” the seas off the northern coast of Canada before finally heading south again into the clear waters of the Pacific.