Long Distance Voyageurs

Polynesian Double Canoe

Probably the most extraordinary voyages ever accomplished by man on Earth were not the voyages of the early European explorers of the age of exploration but the voyages of the Polynesians after 1 C.E. Sadly we do not have the details of the voyages themselves; we merely have the indisputable results, that when Europeans explored the Pacific they found Polynesians from Easter Island to Hawaii to New Zealand.1 Obviously the Polynesians had got there, for otherwise they would not be there to begin with. The obvious question is how did they do this? The facile answer is that they sailed there; which is obviously true and frankly rather trite. The real question is how did they actually sail there?

Going Nowhere

Ktesias - Conman

Conmen and fraudsters have been the bane of human existence for thousands of years but perhaps one of the most blatant is the explorer as a Conman. This is so because a faker who says he has been to place X who has not been to place X risks being found out by someone who does in fact get to place X and therefore exposed.

The reason is that if you’ve never been to a place you are almost certainly going to get something wrong and if the place is made up someone may find out that the place is in fact made up by not finding it where it is supposed to be.

Thus we get past historical accounts of places that turn out to be spectacularly wrong.

Perhaps the place to start in terms of Con Men talking about places that don’t exist is the fantasies of some early ethnographers. In some cases their accounts are so distorted that wilful distortion is obviously the case.

Thus we can start with the Greek Historian Ktesias, who should be some sort of patron deity to fraudsters and tellers of lying tales. Ktesias lived in the 4^th century B.C.E., and lived for a time at the court of the Persian King, as Royal Physician. This gave him an unparallelled opportunity see things from from the point of view of the Persians and of course access to a vast number of reliable informants concerning Persian history and affairs. Well Ktesias muffed it, it seems. It appears that his Persica is unreliable and too a large extent a series of melodramatic stories of harem intrigue and frankly extremely unreliable.1

New Guinea

Growth within Limits

Farms: Highlands New Guinea

In the 1920’s when people began to explore the interior of the island of New Guinea what they found surprised them immensely. Beforehand the dense jungles and swamps of the coast and the fact that these areas were chock full of fevers, disease and parasites aside from being a stunningly forbidden landscape of primeval jungle had prevented European explorers from getting far into the interior. The coastlines were generally not that thickly populated with a Neolithic tribal people divided into numerous small tribes that spoke numerous diverse languages. The expectation was that they would find that the interior was similarly populated with scattered tribes separated by thick jungle in a thinly populated landscape.

The actuality was a surprise instead of thick jungle with a thin tribal population; they found a thick population of Neolithic farmers living in mile after mile of villages and gardens numbering in the millions. The population of Highland New Guinea was dense; where one village and its gardens ended another began. Jungle was confined to high steep areas and swamps and was scattered about in isolated spots.

To say no one expected this is an underestimate. It was the last thing that westerners expected to find. Further these were a Neolithic people with stone tools and virtually no use of metal for any purpose whatsoever. Further they were divided into hundreds of small tribal groups speaking hundreds of mutually unintelligible languages. In fact their culture was so Stone Age that they didn’t even have “Chiefs”, what they had were what Anthropologists call “Big Men”. The difference being that “Chiefs” had some sort of coercive authority and prestige and the position had hereditary aspects and further that chiefs acquired products for redistribution that further cemented their authority by setting up networks of obligation. In the case of “Big Men”, the coercive authority was non-existent, networks of obligation minimal to non-existent. “Big Men” were simply men who had acquired more influence than others in local affairs.

In fact the societies were pretty egalitarian and the only truly significant difference in status was a rather sharp sexual division of labour. The other common characteristic of the various societies was a rather chronic state of war between the various tribal groups. The result was a fairly significant level of deaths in males through inter-tribal conflict. In fact it was the very loose way in which authority was structured that prevented conflicts from being settled in any permanent fashion so that disputes become conflicts that created a situation of feud and counter feud. The resulting violence was endemic and persistent. The lack of the authority of "Chiefs" or the equivalent meant that conflicts could never be settled securely.

What did emerge was the codification and ritualization of violence and dispute settlement that helped to keep the violence within bounds and to at least some of the time settle disputes. Thus war between tribes in New Guinea tended to be highly ritualized and refined. Although this presumably helped to keep the violence from wreaking the societies involved it didn’t particularly help end it. That would have required an exterior authority imposing peace and since no such authority existed, peace was at best intermittent.

The intrusion of Western influence did bring that outside authority and it was able to impose peace of a kind. Something that the older generation of New Guineans are perfectly happy with. Other changes not so much.

And aside from being linguistically so different from each other. The cultural variety among the New Guineans was and is amazing. Not surprisingly it has provided much grist for the anthropological mill since then. And for being the source of a great many stories of headhunting and cannibalism.

When Westerners first saw these societies they thought that they were seeing a fossilized series of Neolithic societies that had little changed in thousands of years. Thus New Guinea 1000 or 2000 etc., years ago would be little different from what is now and that New Guinea society provided a glimpse into the past of human societies during the Neolithic period.

The argument was that basically New Guinean societies had little “real” history and that things stayed the same. Further that New Guinean society and people “must” be highly conservative and fearful of change so that their societies would change so little over the years. Added to this it was thought that agriculture in New Guinea at most c. 3,000 years ago where it was adopted by the hunter gatherers of the island who swiftly adopted it and then basically stagnated shortly after the adoption.

All of the above is simply wrong.

New Guinea seems to have been originally settled more than 45,000 years ago by hunter gatherers who lived in and off the dense jungles with their abundant plant and animal life. For almost 37,000 years New Guineans lived has hunter gathers in New Guinea. Then agriculture came. And remarkably it was far older than anyone expected. It was thought that agriculture had entered New Guinea from outside that proved not to be the case.

Firstly agriculture was established in New Guinea not 2,000 - 3,000 years ago but more than 7,000 years ago and further the New Guineans had developed agriculture on their own.

The New Guineans cultivated taro, bananas, yams and sugarcane, which they appear to have domesticated entirely on their own. Thus making New Guinea one of the small number of places on Earth in which agriculture originated independently. The New Guineans added to the list of items they cultivated and domesticated, pigs, chickens and most importantly the sweet potato. Those three items came from outside New Guinea. And they also had the dog. They of course continued to exploit jungle and rivers and creeks for their natural resources.

After the adoption of agriculture the population of the New Guinea highlands slowly increased and the jungle decreased. This was because as the population expanded the areas under cultivation grew. Further the woods were increasingly mined out for wood. The resulting deforestation was gradually apparent and by 1,200 years ago it appears a crisis was reached. Now often the effects of deforestation are cataclysmic in this case the New Guineans adopted a solution. They, if the pollen, records are anything to go by, fairly quickly took up silviculture, the planting and cultivation of trees. They started growing en-mass and deliberately the Casuarina tree, (“Ironwood”). For both fuel and for buildings material and tools. The tree also grows fairly quickly and has a positive effect on the soil. The wood is also very hard, hence the name “Ironwood”, although it is also brittle. This enabled the New Guineans to stop the continuous encroaching on what was left of the native forests in the highlands and so preserved them for future generations to exploit for their natural resources.

In the meantime several volcanic eruptions significantly increased soil fertility and thus led to an expanding population. But far more important in leading to an expanding population was the arrival of the sweet potato c. 400 years ago. The sweet potato from the Americas wasn’t just a supplement to the previously domesticated plants and animals it was a earth shaking arrival. That was because the yields of sweet potato per acre of cultivated land were several time that of the other New Guinea domesticated plants. The result was a population explosion. Yet it appears the New Guineans adapted. By intensification of their cultivation techniques.

Thus the New Guineans used intensively natural fertilizers, such as weeds and, grass etc., pig and chicken manure, even ash from fires. They practiced irrigation to both get water to where it was needed and to carry it away. They practiced crop rotation, built terraces on steep slopes. And so on and so forth. The Casuarina tree proved to be a perfect tree in that it could be grown in amidst their gardens. It had a large leaf fall that added nutrients to the soil and further its roots helped to fix nitrogen into the soil.

Agricultural fields
Highlands New Guinea

The New Guineans were thus able to avoid a collapse caused by too much pressure on the ecological system. In fact the only serious problem New Guinean’s faced traditionally was getting enough protein in their diets hence the importance of chickens and pigs.

However it is also clear that the New Guinean’s do have a history. They developed agriculture by domesticating their own plants then their population expanded has agriculture spread throughout highland New Guinea. They then adopted from outside both the Chicken and the pig, with the ecological and social changes that brought. Later still they coped with, successfully volcanic eruptions and with the population growth brought by the adoption of the sweet potato. Thus these Neolithic / stone age people did in fact have a history. It was however a history with limits. Instead of stagnation we have change over time within the matrix of Neolithic, hoe agriculture societies. In fact the fragmentation and variety of New Guinea traditional societies was a the product of vigorous growth both in population and changes in technology and social relations brought on by both.

Thus instead of being a picture of the past New Guinea when first encountered in the early part of the 20^th century were the end product of thousands of years of change and adaption. And pretty successful adaption at that.  

For it appears to be the very fact that traditional New Guinea societies were so fragmented that helped them to adapt. Has said above traditional New Guinea societies do not even have chiefs. The result is that things are decided by endless discussion and debate until a decision is reached. This is important because it means that decisions once made are implemented locally in these small scale societies. So how did this help them to adapt?

Well the very fact that societies were small scale made moving very difficult. You try to move and you run into angry neighbours who won’t let you move. So just moving away was not much of a solution. Also there were too many societies to make dispossession of your neighbours a realistic option to begin with. The highly ritualized nature of warfare also didn’t help. Further the democratic ethos of the societies inhibited the emergence of war chiefs who could have created or tried to create a militaristic society. Well if moving and conquering was not an option than adaptions had to be local.

Everyone could see that deforestation, poor yields from gardens, lack of wood was a problem. Since moving was not an option other solutions had to be tried. The democratic ethos ensured that decisions had the approval of the majority and so were carried out by consensus and peer pressure. Since everyone could see the problem and new solutions had to be found and that moving was not an option, solutions were found, adopted and carried through to completion.

Thus within the limits imposed by the geography and culture of New Guinea societies growth happened and change happened. This was no world outside of history but a world of growth and change within limits.

I wonder if this as any lessons for us? I suppose what it means is that growth does not necessarily have to involve endless qualitative growth to greater and greater accelerating growth and development. Growth can involve the steady improvement of technique within limits. The limits being that the structure of society and even certain basic technologies change surprisingly little. It is possible that human technology does indeed have growth limits. I suppose that the continued growth of output of human power sources does have a limit. After all on current trends the growth of such energy sources would turn cause the earth surface to radiate temperatures of 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a few centuries. Or that in a few thousand years the number of humans would weigh as much as all the mass in the Universe. So I suppose there are real limits.

Of course the New Guinean’s didn’t live in paradise. The area had lots of tropical diseases, there were certain dietary problems that occurred and of course the chronic state of inter-tribal warfare didn’t help things. Still over all the New Guineans adapted and adapted successfully to various challenges over the past couple of thousands years. And so can we.

New Guinea Man

Bibliography

Practically all the stuff about New Guinea and adaption to change is taken from:

Diamond, Jared, Collapse, Penguin Books, London, 2005, pp. 277-286.

Other material

Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs and Steel, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1998, pp. 147-150, 303-304, 306-307, 317-319, 346-347.

Neumann, Katharina, New Guinea: A Cradle of Agriculture, Science Express, June 19, 2003.

Denham, Ted, Envisaging early agriculture in the Highlands of New Guinea: landscapes, plants and practices, World Archaeology, v. 37, no. 2, 2005, pp. 290-306.

Denham, T. P., Haberle, S. G, Lentfer, C, Fullagar, R, Field, J, Therin, M, Porch, N, Winsborough, B, Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea, Science Express, June 19, 2003.

For a view of how agriculture, ecology and culture interact in a traditional New Guinea society along with warfare see:

Rappaport, Roy A., Pigs for the Ancestors, Yale University Press, New Haven CONN, New, enlarged Edition, 1984.

For an interesting if exaggerated gloom and doom prediction of man’s future and limits to growth see:

Meadows, Donella H., Randers, Jorgen, Meadows, Dennis L., Behrens, William W., The Limits to Growth, Universe Books, New York, 1972.

Pierre Cloutier 

The Big one

And Silliness

Mt. Denali / McKinley

There are of course lies in the history of every nation, comfortable myths that are simply not true. And half-truths that are frequently even worst than out and out lies. Here are a few lies as commemorated at American historic sites across the USA.

The Nile and Diogenes

Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and the
Head Waters of the Nile



It is extremely unlikely that the overwhelming majority of people have heard about the explorer Diogenes who sometime in the first century C.E. was blown off course in the Indian ocean and ended up in the port of Rhapta on the African coast near, or at modernday Dars es-Salaam in modernday Tanzania. 

 Diffusionistic Fantasies V

What would they leave behind?

One of the great questions concerning pre-Columbian contact between the Old and the New World is artifacts. One would expect that if extensive contact had happened between the Old and New World that we would have artifacts left behind by those visitors / explorers. Well pre-Columbian Old World artifacts are conspicuous by their absence in the New World.

Notes on Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

There is the the opinion that the explorer Christopher Columbus was an amazingly far-sighted genius who saw that the world was round when everyone else thought it was flat and convinced people to fund his effort to reach India / China by sailing west and that no on had thought of that before.

Of course virtually everything in the above paragraph is myth. It was for example received educated opinion in Europe in Columbus’ time and had been so since the Greeks that the Earth was round.1 That particular myth I may look at at another time. Here I will look at the myth of Christopher Columbus as lone genius.

Supposedly the received view is that Columbus was a lone genius who had an idea that no-one had before. The idea being that one could reach Asia by sailing west. This is false as the following quotes from Admiral of the Ocean Sea, by Samuel Eliot Morison indicate.

Morison was to put it mildly a hero worshipper of Columbus, as indicated by his grossly apologetic way of dealing with the way Columbus dealt with native Americans, so his comments are of interest. For Example Morison says:

Why not try sailing west, to Japan, China and India?

What would prevent it? No flat-earth theory certainly; for of all the vulgar errors connected with Columbus, the most persistent and the most absurd is that he had to convince people "the world was round." Every educated man in his day believed the world to be a sphere, every European university so taught geography, and seamen, though they might doubt the practical possibility of sailing "down under" or holding on when you got there, knew perfectly well from seeing ships "hull down" and raising mountains as they approached, that the surface of the globe was curved. Aristotle was reported to have written that you could cross the ocean from the Spains to the Indes paucis diebus, in comparatively few days; and Strabo, the Greek geographer who died about a.d. 25, hinted that it had actually been tried. "Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate the earth do not say that they have been prevented from continuing their voyage by any opposing continent for the sea remained perfectly open, but through want of resolution and the scarcity of provision.”2

Also:

Whilst no valid ground exists to question the traditional concept that Columbus's purpose was to reach Asia by sailing west, there is plenty of room for argument as to where he got the idea, and when.
....

Certainly the theory was not original with him. We have already seen what Aristotle was reputed to have said, and what Strabo did say, about the possibility of sailing west to the Orient. Since there was no doubt of the world being a sphere, almost everyone admitted that Columbus's theory was valid;...3

Interestingly enough this Columbus worshipper said in his The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, Samuel Eliot Morison, Oxford University Press, New York, 1971, the following concerning L'Anse Aux Meadows, (this is c. 11 years after the discovery):

Finally in 1960, a Norwegian archaeologist named Helge Ingstad located a spot in northern Newfoundland, L'Anse aux Meadows, which he thought might be "it". Years of summertime diggings by competent archaelogists have (it seems to me beyond a reasonable doubt) proved this place to have indeed been Vinland, where Leif Ericsson spent one winter, and where members of his family founded a short-lived colony. So, now that the location of Vinland has been solved, we may proceed with the story told in the sagas.4

Nope; Columbus did not see things no-one else did and this as long been known and acknowledged.

Just where did Christopher Columbus thought he was heading for? Some have asserted he knew that he was going to America. This seems to be rather unlikely given what the man wrote himself.

The following are quotes from the following The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus.5 Which consists of translations of Columbus' logs letters and contemporary or near contemporary histories of his voyages.

From the log-book of Christopher Columbus' first voyage. I note that Bartolome De la Casas,6 preserves Columbus' log in the form of a digest with extensive direct quotes, unfortunately the original is now lost. From the preamble:

...your Highnesses decided to send me, Christopher Columbus, to see those parts of India and the princes and peoples of those lands and consider the best means of their conversion.7

Wednesday, 3 October

,...his {Columbus} purpose being to journey to the indies. He says that he would be foolish to delay.8

Saturday, 6 October

That night Martin Alonso said that it would be well to sail south-west by west, and the Admiral thought that he had the island of Cipangu {Japan} in mind, and saw that if they missed it they would not so easily come to the mainland and that the best thing would be to go there first and to the islands afterwards.9

Saturday, 13 October

But in order not to waste time I wish to go and see if I can strike the island of Chipangu.{Japan again slightly different spelling}10

Wednesday, 17 October

It has rained practically every day since I have been in those Indies.11

Sunday, 21 October

After this i shall set out for another island which, according to the indications given me by the Indians whom I have aboard, must be Chipangu.{Japan}12.

In passing I shall see the others that lie between and according to whether I find a quanity of gold or spices I shall decide what to do next. But I am determined to go to the city of Quinsay {in China}, to deliver your Highnesses' letters to the Grand Khan and request his answer which I shall bring back.13

Tuesday, 23 October

I should like to depart today for the island of Colba {Cuba}, which I believe according to the indications of its size and riches given us by these people must be Chipangu.{Japan}14

Wednesday, 24 October

...for if I am to believe the indications of all those Indians and those I have on board - I do not know their language - this is the island of Chipangu {Japan} of which marvelous tales are told, and which in the globes that I have seen and on the painted map of the world appears to lie in this region.15

Sunday, 28 October

The Admiral understood that the Gran Khan's {Title of the ruler of China} ships come there and that they are large and that the mainland is ten days' journey away.16

The next material is from a letter of Columbus describing his first voyage and written on his return trip.

When I reached Cuba, I followed its north coast westwards, and found it so extensive that I thought this must be the mainland, the province of Cathay.{China}17

In this island of Hispaniola I have taken possession of a large town which is most conveniently situated for the goldfields and for communications with the mainland both here, and there in the territory of the Grand Khan, with which there will be very profitable trade.18

The next material is from a letter of Columbus describing his fourth voyage (1502-1504).

They say that Ciguare is surrounded by water, and that ten days' journey away is the river Ganges. These lands seem to lie in the same relation to Veragua as Tortosa to Fuentarabia or Pisa to Venice.19

I arrived on 13 May at the province of Mago, which borders on Cathay {China}, and from there set out to Hispaniola.20

It is said that inland in the country lying towards Cathay {China} they have gold-embroidered materials.21

The above make it quite clear where Columbus thought he was going. It is also clear that he still thought he was near Cathay (China) during his last voyage. Which is a little strange given that by this time some Europeans were talking about the Americas as not being Asia but a “New World”.

1. For more about this myth see Myth of the Flat Earth, Wikipedia Here.

2. Morison, Samuel Eliot, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1942, vol. 1, p. 45. Here are two fuller translations of the passage that Morison quotes part of:

8. Perception and experience alike inform us, that the earth we inhabit is an island: since wherever men have approached the termination of the land, the sea, which we designate ocean, has been met with: and reason assures us of the similarity of those places which our senses have not been permitted to survey. For in the east the land occupied by the Indians, and in the west by the Iberians and Maurusians, is wholly encompassed [by water], and so is the greater part on the south and north. And as to what remains as yet unexplored by us, because navigators, sailing from opposite points, have not hitherto fallen in with each other, it is not much, as any one may see who will compare the distances between those places with which we are already acquainted. Nor is it likely that the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas by narrow isthmuses so placed as to prevent circumnavigation: how much more probable that it is confluent and uninterrupted! Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate the earth, do not say they have been prevented from continuing their voyage by any opposing continent, for the sea remained perfectly open, but through want of resolution, and the scarcity of provision.(Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, Book 1, Ch. 1, s. 8)

From Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, v. 1, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1903. Copy available from the Internet Archive Here.

8 We may learn both from the evidence of our senses and from experience that the inhabited world is an island; for wherever it has been possible for man to reach the limits of the earth, sea has been found, and this sea we call "Oceanus." And wherever we have not been able to learn by the evidence of our sense, there reason points the way. For example, as to the eastern (Indian) side of the inhabited earth, and the western (Iberian and Maurusian) side, one may sail wholly around them and continue the voyage for a considerable distance along the northern and southern regions; and as for the rest of the distance around the inhabited earth which has not been visited by us up to the present time (because of the fact that the navigators who sailed in opposite directions towards each other never met), it is not of very great extent, if we reckon from the parallel distances that have been traversed by us. It is unlikely that the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas, thus being separated by isthmuses so narrow and that prevent the circumnavigation; it is more likely that it is one confluent and continuous sea. For those who undertook circumnavigation, and turned back without having achieved their purpose, say that the they were made to turn back, not because of any continent that stood in their way and hindered their further advance, inasmuch as the sea still continued open as before, but because of their destitution and loneliness. (Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, Book 1, Ch.
1, s. 8)

From Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, available from LacusCurtius Here.

3. IBID, p. 78.

4. Morison, Samuel Eliot, The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, Oxford University Press, New York, 1971, p. 38.

5. Columbus, Christopher, The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Edited by J. M. Cohen, Penguin Books, London,1969.

6. Bartolome De la Casas, who became known as defender of the Indians, and is almost the perfect choice for becoming the patron Saint of human rights was a 15th-16th century monk who is also invaluable for editing and preserving many documents related to the European discovery of the Americas. Columbus; log of his first voyage being the most important.

7. Columbus, p. 37.

8. IBID, p. 49.

9. IBID, p. 50.

10. IBID, p. 57.

11. IBID, p. 67.

12. IBID, p. 71.

13. IBID, p. 71-72.

14. IBID, p. p. 72.

15. IBID, p. 73.

16. IBID, p. 76.

17. IBID, p. 115.

18. IBID, p. 120.

19. IBID, p. 288.

20. IBID, p. 294.

21. IBID, p. 298.

Pierre Cloutier

Around Africa according to Herodotus

Some of the most amazing feats of exploration are very poorly known. For example it appears that the first circumnavigation of Africa was achieved some time during the reign of Pharaoh Necho II of the Saite dynasty, (610-595 B.C.E.).1 Herodotus describes the voyage as follows:

For it is clear that Libya [Africa] is surrounded by water except for where it borders Asia. The first one we know of to have discovered this fact was Nechos king of Egypt. After he had stopped excavation work on the canal, which extended from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent some Phoenicians off on boats with orders to sail around Libya and back through the Pillars of Herakles [Straits of Gibraltar] into the Mediterranean Sea and to return by that route to Egypt. And so the Phoenicians set out from the Erythraean Sea [Red Sea] and sailed the Southern Sea. Whenever autumn came, they would put in to shore at whatever region of Libya they happened to have reached in order to sow seeds. There they would wait for the harvest, and after reaping their crops, they would sail on again. This they did for two years, and in the third, they came around through the Pillars of Herakles and returned to Egypt. They mention something else which I do not find credible, though someone else may: that when they were sailing around Libya, the sun was on their right side as they went.2

Phoenician Merchant Ship

Not surprisingly the above account has given rise to much discussion about whether or not it describes a real event. The consensus seems to be that it does for two main reasons.

First the amount of time given for the voyage, more than two years is realistic given the types of ships available and their limitations. Certainly the added detail of the crews stopping twice to sow crops also rings true. Secondly the detail that Herodotus records only to dismiss it as unbelievable, i.e., the sun being on their right is in fact true. This is true because in the Northern Hemisphere the sun if one is sailing westward the sun would always be on the left in the south. When one crosses the equator, the sun would appear overhead and then south of the equator the sun in the Southern Hemisphere would appear to the right in the north.3

It is in fact the second detail that is most convincing and it is rendered even more convincing in that Herodotus dismisses this as untrue. Apparently because he was unaware of the idea of the Earth having a spherical shape.4

Even in antiquity the above story was doubted by many. For example:

In giving the names of those who are said to have circumnavigated Libya Poseidonius says that Herodotus believes that certain men commissioned by Neco accomplished the circumnavigation of Libya; and adds that Heracleides of Pontus in one of his Dialogues makes a certain Magus who had come to the court of Gelo assert that he had circumnavigated Libya. And, after stating that these reports are unsupported by testimony,…5

The Historian Polybius also expressed doubts:

Just as with regard to Asia and Africa where they meet in Aethiopia no one up to the present has been able to say with certainty whether the southern extension of them is continuous land or is bounded by a sea,…6

Finally the great polymath Ptolemy had Africa joined to Asia! For example see this map made from the coordinates given in Ptolemy’s book.7

Ptolemy’s World Map

Also the whether or not the voyage actually happened has been doubted up to today, for various reasons.

The lack of detail for example, even the name of the Commander is not given. The lack of detail is hardly surprising however given that at the time it is unlikely that much more than a summary report would have been deposited in any archive or that after c. 100 years there would be much recorded except a brief summary and oral reports.

Further in regards to Herodotus; he may have heard details and simply recorded a bare summary of what he heard. We do know that Herodotus did not record everything he heard.8

So it appears that the lack of detail such as a notification of the disappearance of the Great Bear constellation, etc., is not much of a problem, further why then not ignore the telling detail of the position of the sun?

In fact the lack of elaborate detail, and fanciful stories are powerful indicators that the story is likely true. It sounds relatively prosaic and the only detail that Herodotus gives that he considers fanciful is absolutely true! Further the argument that the Pharaoh Necho would never approve of such a speculative venture is completely speculative. The fact is we do not know enough about him to judge what was or was not within his character.9

As for problems such as if they could make the voyage if they lacked a compass? It should remembered that they were following a coast line. On the way south on their west side and on the way north on their east side. This is not all that difficult. Given that sea travel in those days tended to be coast hugging and not a huge amount of cross oceanic travel, and considering that this particular voyage being into the unknown would if anything tend to be even more coast hugging it is not likely that a compass would be necessary to do it at all.10

Some have alleged the voyage is to short. This can be dismissed without further ado. The voyage took over two years, plenty of time even with two stops to grow crops. The idea that the sailors from the Northern latitudes would not have been able to judge when to plant makes them singularly unobservant and they could also ask the locals.11

As for why such a voyage was not repeated at a later date if it was in fact done. It should be remembered that the evidence we have indicates that later attempts to circumnavigate Africa were through the Mediterranean and down the west coast of Africa. There the currents and winds, especially for the vessels used in antiquity made such an attempt very difficult. In fact the Portuguese when they attempted it had great difficulty, because of winds and currents near the African coast. In the end they found that sailing far out into the Atlantic and then at the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope sailing East was the best way to do it. For the ships of antiquity such a voyage was frankly suicidal!12

Africa

The following is a possible reconstruction of the voyage. They probably left in November from a Red Sea port, they would have sailed out of the Red sea and into the Indian Ocean. There the wind and current would sweep them south. Until the Mozambique current caught them and moved them even further south past the Cape of Good Hope. Near by they may have stopped and sowed and harvested some crops, perhaps in May. Circumstances along with their orders would have urged them north, since the currents and winds that eased their journey south would have made any return voyage back up the east coast of Africa in the ships they had extremely difficult.

After the harvest the winds and currents would have helped them north up to the great bend of Africa. Along the Guinea coast they would have encountered winds and currents that were hostile but they could get past those obstacles because they could use oars. Some time in November December they would have stopped in Morocco and sown more crops and after harvesting them returned through the Mediterranean to Egypt after a voyage of c. 2 ½ years!13 They must have been glad to get home.

Of course for both the Phoenicians and Nechos this trip served to tell them that going around Africa for trade or shifting ships was not practical at the time. It also was a feat of sailing that was not duplicated, that we know of, for c. 2000 years. It was simply not practical until the late 15th century.

It is however of interest that even that long ago men were trying out daring feats of exploration and discovery and that man thirst for knowledge is not a modern invention.

1. Herodotus, The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories, Random House Inc., New York, 2007, p. 297-298, Cary, M. & Warmington, E. H., The Ancient Explorers, Second Edition, Penguin Books, London, 1963, pp. 110-119, James, Peter, & Thorpe, Nick, Ancient Mysteries, Ballantine books, New York, 1999, pp. 368-369, Casson, Lionel, The Ancient Mariners, Minerva Press, New York, 1959, pp. 129-132, Morison, Samuel Eliot, The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 5, Rennell, James, The Geographical System of Herodotus, V. 2, Second Edition, C. J. G. & F. Rivington, London, 1830, pp. 348-408, at Internet Archive Here.

2. Herodotus, 2007, Book 4, s. 42. Some translations add “-to northward of them.” See Herodotus, The Histories, 2nd Revised Edition, Penguin Books, London, 2003, Book 4. s. 42.

3. Herodotus, 2007, p. 299, Footnote 4.42.4a, James, pp. 370-371, Cary, p. 115, Casson, pp. 131-132.

4. James, p. 370.

5. Strabo, Geography, Book 2, s. 4, at LacusCurtius, Here.

6. Polybius, The Histories, Book 3, s. 38, at Lacus Curtius, Here.

7. See also Ptolemy, The Geography, Book 4, at Internet Archive, Here.

8. Lateiner, Donald, The Historical Method of Herodotus, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1989, pp. 59-75, Cary, pp. 114-115.

9. Cary, p. 115, Casson, pp. 131-132, James, pp. 369-373.

10. Cary, 115-116. James, IBID.

11. Cary, pp. 116-117, Casson, pp. 131-132.

12. Cary, pp. 117-118, Morison, Samuel Eliot, The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. 220-223, James, p. 374, Rennell, pp. 348-408.

13. Cary, pp. 117-119, James, p. 374, Casson, 131-132, Rennell, pp. 348-408.

Pierre Cloutier

The Peglar Papers:
An Addition

After a posting I did concerning the disastrous Franklin Expedition and the Victory Point document, which is the only document found that gives much if any detail concerning the actions and fate of the members of the Franklin Expedition after they lost contact with Europeans in 1845, I had the good luck to carry on a brief and informative correspondence with Russell Potter an expert on the Franklin Expedition and whose blog Visions of the North, contains much interesting information concerning said expedition.

In one of his postings Russell Potter discusses a collection of papers found by McClintock on a skeleton he found on the south coast of King William island in 1859.1

Location on King William Island of place where Peglar’s body and papers were found

I have little to add to the posting regarding Harry Peglar and his papers except that to give some more particulars concerning the content of said letters. In an article published in 1954 R. J. Cyriax and A. G. E. Jones published some but not all of what could be made out of the documents found, which not surprisingly were in poor condition.2

One of the documents was a summary of Harry Peglar’s navy service and it goes as follows:

November 1825
This is to Se( ) H Peglar Has served On board of his M S Clio 1825 Joined H M Ship Magnificent at Spit Head Sail For Jamaker Under Command Lev( )tenent Mundel tern Over to H M Hulk Serreapes Commander Ellott Tran( ) H M Ship Rattelsnake Captain J. Leath Searved Under him two years Joined H M tender Pearsis Captain C….t late Chief Press Master tower Hill London joined H M Ship Prince Regent discharged for ( )g apprentice Sail under Command of Tommy larking to China left Gor Tallis and his lady and douthers at ( )aint Helena Struck with lighting on the Passadge …ut tow Men Struck Dead a Seargent and Private Retern to England 182( ) entered for H M Ship Ramelis tern over at Chatham Reentered for The Tallavarer Cap Coalby Supper Seaed by Cap Brown Rit for my discharge and got … China in the Marquis Camden lost our Chief Mate Shot going in to Bombay Mr …en Retern to England 1833 …… H M Ship Gannett C M Maxfeild ( )ntered for H M Spih Temmarare 1838 ( )n over to H M Ship ocean Cp Sir John Hill Shearness Paid of 38 Joined H M S Wander…. C M Denman alas Seamour now in the Terror.3

Another document was a sea song, dated April 21 1847, which was a modified version of an older poem of which Cyriax and Jones only quote the first and then last few lines, unfortunately:

The C The C the open C it grew so fresh the Ever free.

….
When I wos On Old England Shore I like the/young C more and more and ofte times flewe/to a Sheetering Plase like a bird thar Seek it/mother’s Case and a H She wos and Oft to me/for I love I love a young and Hopen C.4

On the above document is written the words “Sentemental or Comic” and the following Address, “In care of Mr. Heaithfield, a Squier, no 10 Pelmell West London”. Also Written is the following which Cyriax and Jones suggests might be some sort of will, “Mr Father all to Miss down fall no 6 Old free street and a Clear Couarse”.5

Remnants of tent foundation erected by members of the Franklin Expedition

Another document is the following address, “Mr. John Cowper, No 47 John St., Commercial Road, London. Paid.”6

Another document simply bears the words “ Sentemental Song”.7

Another document is largely indecipherable; it has a date “September … 1840” or “1846”. According to Cyriax and Jones it appears to be a story about a dog. There is a heading on this document saying “Lines writ on the north” and a drawing of a eye with the words “lid Bay” below it.8

Relics found by McClintock of the Franklin Expedition

Another document which seems to be about sea animals as part of it is as follows:

Late on one summers night/ … the month of june/ … sent a way/… a spoon/ Imaid my bark a thort the tide/ and my crew they went to sleep/ while…keep a lookout/ for fish alli n the deep/ Has my little bark was drifting down/ I wos shot a … and ggit one of O”Connell/ Tertill came swimming sloley by/ my crew got up and grapple him/ and lug him in my boat/ off one pull quite marely/ to that gallnt bark a float/ sir the wait … that little marter/ bird w…67 pounds/ the … made a splened/ hot dinner off … prime little fellow wot …/ a tertill.9

A little below that is written “Lines upon Trinadad laying in Asham Bay”.10

On another piece of paper is written “Lines writ … party wot happened at Trinadad”, and the word “September”, with some other words that could not be made out.11

Another document seems to be a sort of a poem. Cyriax and Jones give only the opening line stating that much is unintelligible. The line is:

O death whare is thy sting, the grave at Comfort Cove for who has any doubt how … the dyer sad and whare traffalger, etc.12

Considering what happened to the crews of the Erebus and Terror just a little to appropriate.

On the other side of this paper, written in a circle, are the following lines. “He I … ave wonder … mony a night gl … a bouat the harmonic”. Within that circle is written “ … rode … tell the w … you peglar bord onn hay the terror camp clear”.13

A further document seems to a description of gathering in Cumana Venezuela. Cyriax and Jones do not give a transcription of the text but it does include the following passage:

Has we have got some very hard ground to heave … we shall want some grog to wet houer … issel … all my art Tom for I do think … time … I cloze should lay and … the 21st night a gread.14

Cyriax and Jones wonder if the 21st mentioned is the 21st of April 1848 the day before the Terror and Erebus where abandoned by the surviving crew members.

On the back of the paper is the following address “IME…P Evarglleb Raauqs, Ocilmip, West”.15

Another paper as the following address, “O. J. Rezzoe, a Squier, R.N. … Sandile Harber … Belvue Couart … eth”16

Finally another piece of paper with another address, “To Mr. Heather, sen … Citty…ation, Abberdeen, Lond…”

There was also a parchment certificate of the seaman service of Harry Peglar. Cyriax and Jones do not provide a transcription and the writing appears to be largely illegible anyway.17

Infuriatingly the documents tell us next to nothing about what happened to the Franklin Expedition and from their fragmentary condition it appears that a good deal was lost of them during the attempted escape. It appears that the papers we have are documents by Peglar and one or more other men. Thus what we seem to have is a collection of what amounts to fragments written for the most part, for unknown reasons, backwards.

Still they are glimpse into the minds of those doomed men and it would seem that in fairness to their memory perhaps a full transcription of what can be gleaned from the papers, using modern methods of analyzing old documents to see if we can find more writing in the papers, should be published. So we can have a glimpse, however, fleeting of those lost lives.

Skull of one of Franklin’s men

1. Visions of the North, Here the posting about the Peglar papers Here

2. Cyriax, R. J., & Jones, A. G. E., The Papers in the Possession of Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop, H.M.S. Terror, 1845, The Mariner’s Mirror, v. 40, pp. 186-195, 1954.

3. IBID. p. 189.

4. IBID. p. 190.

5. IBID. p. 191.

6. IBID. p. 191.

7. IBID. p. 192.

8. IBID.

9. IBID.

10. IBID.

11. IBID.

12. IBID.

13. IBID. p. 192-193.

14. IBID. p. 193.

15. IBID. p. 193.

16. IBID. p. 193.

17. IBID. p. 188.

Pierre Cloutier

Glimpse into a Disaster
The Franklin Expedition, 1845-1848, was without a doubt the greatest Arctic exploration disaster in which every last member of the expedition perished.1 A great deal has been written and will continue to be written about the expedition and why it ended in disaster. There has also been not surprisingly been a great deal of, what can only be described, has fantasy.2

Franklin’s Voyage

The key document, and in fact the only document found, concerning the fate of the expedition, (aside from graves on Beechey island with headboards3), was a document found buried in a cairn at Victory Point on the north west side of Kings William island.

Victory Point Document

The above document has the following two notes written about a year apart. Here are two versions. The first excludes the marginalia and goes has follows. It should be noted that the first note by Lieutenant Gore exist in a duplicate copy that was found not far from Victory point at Back bay, it does not have Captain Crozier's additions about the fate of the expedition.4

The first note bears the date of May 28, 1847 and says:

28 of May, 1847 (H. M. ships Erebus and Terror wintered in the ice in lat. 70 05’ N. long. 98 23’ W.) Having wintered in 1846-7 at Beechey Island, in lat. 74 43’ 28” N., long. 91 39’ 15” W., after having ascended Wellington Channel to lat. 77, and returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. All well. Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on Monday 24th May, 1847.

Gm. Gore, Lieut.

Chas. F. Des Voeux, Mate.5

The second note is dated the 25th of April 1848.

April 25, 1848. H. M. ships Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having been beset since 12th September, 1846. The officers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, landed herein lat. 69 37’ 42” N., long. 98 41’ W. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.

F. R. M. Crozier cccccccccccJames Fitzjames
Captain & Senior Officer. cccCaptain H. M. S. Erebus

and start (on) to-morrow, 26th, for Back s Fish River.6

The second version is as follows for the May 28, 1847 note:

Lieutenant Graham Gore and Mr. Charles F. des Voeux, mate, left the ships on Monday, the 24th of May, 1847, with six men. H.M. ships Erebus and Terror wintered in the ice in latitude 70 5' N, longitude 98 23' W. Having wintered in 1846-47 at Beechey island in latitude 74 43' 28" N., longitude 91 31' 15" W. After having ascended Wellington channel to latitude 77, returned by the west side of Cornwallis island, (Sir) John Franklin commanding the expedition. All well.7

For the April 25, 1848 note the version is as follows:

(1)848. H.M. ships Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April, 5 leagues .N. W. of this (hav)-ing been beset since 12th Sept., 1846. The officers & crews consisting of 105 souls under the command ---tain F R M. Crozier landed here in lat. 69 37' 42", long. 98 41' paper was found by Lt. Irving under the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831, 4 miles to the northward, where it had been deposited by the late Commander Gore in June, 1847. Sir James Ross' pillar has not, however, been found, add the paper has been transferred to this position which is that in which Sir J. Ross' pillar was erected. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847, and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 officers & 15 men.

F. R. M. CroziercccccccccccJames Fitzjames
Captain & Senior Officer cccCaptain H. M. S. Erebus

and start on to-morrow 26th, for Back's Fish river8.

What can we say from this single and singularly laconic document? Well we can say a few things concerning the fate of the expedition.

1, The expedition circled Cornwallis island in 1845 (see map) and then wintered at Beechey island. Where from the graves we know three men died, that winter of 1845-1846.

2. In 1846 the expedition sailed south probably through Peel sound and was beset by the ice on 12th September 1846.

3. On the 24th of May 1847 a 8 man expedition led by Lieutenant Gore left the ships and buried an Admiralty paper and on which, dated the 28th of May 1847 was written certain details about the expedition.

4. Shortly after on June 11, 1847 John Franklin died.

6. On April 22, 1848 the ships were abandoned.

7. On April 25, 1848 the New Commander Crozier left a note indicating when Franklin had died and that there were 105 men left. Nine officers, including Lieutenant Gore, and 15 enlisted men had died so far. From the note we learn that the remnants of the expedition will try to go up the Back river apparently to reach the Hudson Bay posts around Great Slave Lake.

8. If we exclude the 3 men who died at Beechey island it appears that 21 men had died in the two winters beset off the coast of King William island.

Scene of the Tragedy; King William Island

Aside from the above everything else is sheer conjecture. I will however point out to those who argue that the phrasing in the message does not necessarily mean that the ships were completely abandoned and everything was bet on an all or nothing race up the Back river that the text clearly says the ships were deserted and that all 105 of the survivors had landed. The text seems to be pretty clear that everyone was out of the ships and a make it or break it effort was going to be made for safety. Of course you could by semantic parsing and double talk say the text does not mean what it most likely means but without really good evidence I do not see any reason to doubt that the ships were completely abandoned and the last 105 men made a break for it.

The death total is significant in indicating how desperate things were. The note of May 28th 1847 does not indicate the death total so we can probably conclude that the number of deaths over the winter of 1846 / 47 were no worst than the number at Beechey island or perhaps no deaths at all. It seems likely the note would have mentioned anything unusual in that regard if it had happened. However it seems that the winter of 1847-48 had seen more than 10% of the crews dying. Perhaps as many as 21 men out of 126. This is a very high percent and would indicate that the health of the crew was bluntly quite poor. This would reinforce the idea that leaving the ships was an attempt to escape and that the crew was in truly desperate straits. All of this would seem to preclude the crews surviving very long unless they could get good food etc., very quickly. The time of year they left would not be conducive to finding food, as both Caribou and birds would not arrive until much later. Again a sign of desperation.9

A truly unlikely idea is that mistakes has to two dates in the document, (i.e., the statement about having wintered 1846-47 at Beechey island in the first note and the crossing out of May and replacing it with June, apparently done in April 1848, as the date in the note was first left in the carin in 1847) are errors that indicates lead poisoning can be dismissed as unlikely. I merely note that the first seems to be a “typo” of some kind, the second could be the same thing or may refer to another event regarding the note, it is of interest that the May added by Crozier in another part of the document which refers to Gore's time off the ship in 1847 is correct so the crossing out is mysterious but as indicated all the other dates including the dates given in the 1848 note, when they would have been even more lead poisoned, seem to be entirely correct. It is likely that stressed desperate men would make mistakes of this kind without lead poisoning or they could simp-ly be the result of "typos" drawing far ranging inferences from these errors seems dubious.10

I further note that given the dates given in the second note for abandoning the ships and the date the note was written it appears that it took three days for the crews to drag themselves to King William island, which would certainly not indicate a thoroughly fit crew. Given the deaths recorded already it is likely the crew was in overall bad shape and the exertions of dragging heavy sleds and boats, to say nothing of an assortment of useless crap, being ill equipped for the weather and poorly nourished make it very likely that all of Franklin’s men perished in a few months. It’s possible that a few survived longer but that only remains a possibility.11

M’Clintock discovers the remains of members of Franklin’s Crews

Much as been written about what happened to the Franklin expedition and why. It seems to be the case that if some of Franklin’s men had been able to live and forage in the polar environment they would have had a better chance of survival. Although it must be emphasized that the sheer size of the Franklin expedition, 129 men, would have made it very difficult for them to survive in such a resource poor part of the Arctic as King William island.12

In the end this very short laconic document provides a revealing glimpse into over 100 men sliding into a hell on earth and then death. Perhaps we should learn from it to cherish life and each other more.

Copy of the Victory Point document that appeared in Harper's in 1859.

1. M’Clintock, Francis, In the Arctic Seas, Porter and Coates, Philadelphia, 1859, p. 317. A copy can be found at Internet Archive , Here.

2. for responsible books that describe the Franklin expedition in detail see Berton, Pierre, The Arctic Grail, Anchor, Books, Toronto, 2001 and Beattie, Owen, Geiger, John, Frozen in Time, 3rd Edition, Greystone Books, Toronto, 2004. For irresponsible books see Latta, Jeffery Blair, The Franklin Conspiracy, Hounslow Press, Toronto, 2001, Woodman, David C., Unravelling The Franklin Mystery, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, 1991.*

3. See Beattie. The inscriptions on the headboards read as follows:

Sacred to the memory of John Torrington, who departed this life January 1st, A.D.1846, on board of HM ship Terror, aged 20 years

Sacred to the memory of John Hartnell, AB, of HMS Erebus, died January 4th, 1846, aged twenty-five years. “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your ways.” Haggai, I, 7

Sacred to the memory of William Braine, RM of HMS Erebus, died April 3rd, 1846, aged thirty-two years. “Choose ye this day whom you will serve”, Joshua xxiv, 15

The source for the inscriptions is Battersby, William Hidden Tracks, at Here.

4. Cyriax, Richard J., Sir John Franklin's Last Arctic Expedition, Methuen & Co. LTD., London, 1939, pp. 128-131.

5. M’Clintock, p. 256.

6. IBID. p. 258.

7. Low, A. P., Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands, Government Printing Bureau, Ottawa, 1906, p. 97. A copy can be found at the Internet Archive Here.

8. Low, pp. 97-98.

9. See Berton, pp. 334-341.

10. See Beattie for more. I note here that I do not dispute that Franklin’s crews suffered from Lead poisoning or that this contributed to the disaster; if only by lowering the crew’s resistance to other diseases and deficiencies. What I dispute is the idea that this lead poisoning led to a massive amount of disordered thinking by the crew that contributed to the disaster. In other words their minds were befuddled by lead and they could not think clearly. Well these two notes, if anything, indicate clear thinking and a lack of befuddlement. That of course does not mean they made the right decisions just that it appears that their thinking processes were not seriously impaired by lead.

11. Berton, pp. 331-332, M’Clintock, pp. 262-271. For a analysis of the tragedy that heavily emphasizes how unprepared Franklin's crews were to survive in the Arctic if something went wrong see Stefansson, Vilhjalmer, Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic, Macmillian Company, New York, 1939, pp. 36-129.

12. Berton, pp. 335-341, Stefansson.

* The reason why I include David C. Woodman’s book and by implication his other books about the Franklin expedition is his cavalier attitude towards Inuit testimony. He insists on interpreting all sorts of Inuit testimony about European explorers in the region of King Williams island as memories of the Franklin expedition despite the fact that before and after the expedition there was all sorts of European explorers who visited the area, for example in the years 1854-59. When a lot of this testimony was collected beginning in the late 1860’s and continuing to past 1900 there were lots of European explorers who had visited the area after Franklin to say nothing of before Franklin. It was not the Inuit who described those expeditions as Franklin’s but the Europeans. The Inuit were actually very honest, but like most oral peoples their memory for exact dates of events more than a generation before being recorded is a not exact. Further all the stories that Woodman uses to indicate a late abandonment of the ships possible survival etc., is almost entirely of late derivation and likely attributing such testimony to describing the Franklin expedition rather than earlier or later ones shows wishful thinking on the part of the European collectors of such testimony, not any error on the part of the Inuit. The testimony most germane to the destruction of the Franklin expedition was collected by Rae, M’Clintock and others in the period 1853-1860 and it would appear to indicate that the entire expedition perished soon after abandoning the ships in the spring of 1848.

Pierre Cloutier