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Explorer
- Rae was a highly respected explorer who mapped around 1,750 miles of Arctic coast either on foot or in small boats. His respect of the indigenous peoples of Canada made him many friends there and he is still respected by them to this day.
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Rae was a highly respected explorer who mapped around 1,750 miles of Arctic coast either on foot or in small boats. His respect of the indigenous peoples of Canada made him many friends there and he is still respected by them to this day.
- News
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To ultimately create an internationally significant visitor...
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The John Rae Society will hold two Open Days, on 18th and...
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First Arctic expedition 1846-1847. Rae travelled first to Repulse Bay. On advice from the Inuit, from here he planned to travel 40 miles across the base of Melville Peninsula to Committee Bay. But as weather conditions were poor, he decided to winter at Repulse Bay.
- And The Surprising Reason You Might Not Have Heard of Him
- Explorer Training
- Young Dr Rae
- Surveyor For The Hudson's Bay Company
- The First Expedition
- The Search For Franklin's Missing Ships
- The First Clue
- The Missing Link
- A Dreadful Discovery
- John Rae, Scapegoat
Orkney’s John Rae was one of the most successful of 19th century Arctic explorers. His success was largely due to his willingness to learn from the Inuit and First Nations people, who knew how to survive in inhospitable places. This attitude was highly unusual in the Victorian era of prejudice and racial arrogance. Ironically, Rae’s decency and res...
Rae was born at the Hall of Clestrain in Orphir, Orkney, on 30th September 1813. He was one of nine children to be raised in the house where their father was factor. * Image courtesy of Orkney Library and Archive Young John loved to fish, shoot wild fowl on hill and shore and sail the family’s small boat. This early education would serve him well i...
Rae studied medicine at Edinburgh University and the Royal College of Surgeons, qualifying at the astonishing age of nineteen. His father was the agent for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Stromness at the time. Young Dr Rae signed on as ship’s surgeon on the Prince of Wales, bound for Canada. Rae was forced to winter in Canada when the return route bec...
The Hudson’s Bay Company Governor-in-Chief, Sir George Simpson, selected the skilled and hardy Rae as the fittest man to finish mapping the Arctic coast. He invited Rae to receive training as a surveyor. Just getting to the training site would prove to be a test of Rae's skill, strength and determination. * Image courtesy of Orkney Library and Arch...
In his first Arctic expedition (1846-7) Rae took just a few men and modest supplies, intending to hunt and live off the land as his First Nations friends had taught him. Rae and his men built a stone house in Orkney fashion and called it Fort Hope. The men always prepared extra food, so they'd have a 'bite and sup' on hand in case of Inuit visitors...
Rae returned to the Arctic when he was chosen as second in command for Sir John Richardson’s 1848 search party. The men were dispatched by the Royal Navy to search for the lost Franklin Expedition. Franklin's two ships, carrying 129 men, had sailed from London in 1845. Stromness, Orkney, was the last British port of call for Franklin's ships, the H...
In his third Arctic expedition in 1851, Rae discovered the first trace of Franklin’s missing ships. He found a piece of wood and part of a flagstaff containing the remnants of silk cloth. The piece carried the unmistakable broad arrow mark, marking it as British government property. Rae was awarded the Founder’s Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical...
During his fourth Arctic expedition (1853-4), Rae made the important discovery that King William Land was not a peninsula but an island. His discovery of Rae Strait, which was named for Rae and skirts King William Land, was the last link in the only navigable Northwest Passage that existed at the time. Rae's passage was part of the network of open ...
Rae discovered disturbing evidence during this expedition as to the fate of Franklin and his men. He met Inuit who told him that a party of around 40 white men had died of starvation on King William Island, resorting to cannibalism in a final desperate attempt to stay alive. While Rae was prepared for dangerous arctic conditions, the inventory of t...
Returning to London heavy with with the tidings of the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew, Rae walked straight into a storm of controversy. Lady Franklin had been aggressively harassing the Admiralty for years. She'd even moved across the street from their offices, to more conveniently bedevil them. The Admiralty called Lady Franklin's house 'T...
Among its many remarkable history is that of John Rae, a pioneering Arctic explorer whose life and achievements are forever intertwined with these islands. This guide will explore the life of John Rae, his work with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the local landmarks that keep his memory alive.
Ken McGoogan, Fatal Passage: the untold story of John Rae, the Arctic adventurer who discovered the fate of Franklin – “A passionate redemption of Rae’s rightful place in history” (Edinburgh Times)
John Rae, Orkneyman and seasoned wilderness traveller, had qualified as a surgeon in Edinburgh in 1832, aged only 19; he had seen virtually all the ailments and injuries that were likely to afflict people in the inhospitable environment of the Arctic.
Oct 19, 2020 · John Rae was a surgeon from the Orkney Islands, an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and an important nineteenth-century Arctic explorer. He is probably most famous for being the person who first found conclusive evidence concerning the tragic fate of the Franklin expedition to the North American Arctic, and he is sometimes incorrectly ...
