on NOVA tonight

[wendyzski]

is the 'Prisoners of the Ice" episode, where they go back to try and find out what happened to the lost Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage.

It's horrifying but fascinating - the things those men went through, and in many ways how unnecessary it all was. But I love stuff like this - going back to revisit what we thought happened with modern forensic techniques and re-opening the book on a story like this. It's that same part of my brain that watches "Secrets of the Dead" and other similar programs.

I love history because I never outgrew "But WHYYYYY???? And THEN what happened?"

Comments

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

Never want to get over it...

You can be as smart as you want, but without intellectual curiosity you are just another drone.

[museclio]

I wish I had TV for once. The Franklin expidition is so intereting to me for whatever reason.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this counts as "spoilers", but one of the things I found fascinating was that when they took tissue samples and compared notes, they found that many of the men showed symptoms of severe lead poisoning. The isotopes of lead linked this to the lead solder used to seal the tinned food they brought with them.

They had all the comforts that their most modern science could provide, and they died because of it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/arctic/

[museclio]

Yeah - they've known that for a while. They think that some of the really weird behavior like dragging a desk with them was because of the lead.

Can you tell I've done a wee bit of research?

[microwench.livejournal.com]

I'm an anatomy geek because I never outgrew "Whyyyyyyyyy??"

[lisagems.livejournal.com]

ooooo. Makes me wish I had cable.

[post-toastie.livejournal.com]

It's on PBS. I'm curious, where are you that PBS isn't on over the air?

[lisagems.livejournal.com]

heheheh. I'm so used to reading those networks that I don't get, that I didn't even see that as a show name. *facepalm*

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

PBS. WTTW. Channel 11

[xirpha.livejournal.com]

Explores as a bunch were very arrogant and many cases acted very stupid. A few years back I read a forensic historical study of failed expeditions. They had an account of a late nineteen century Swedish balloon expedition to the North Pole. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._A._Andr%C3%A9e%27s_Arctic_balloon_expedition_of_1897) This expeditions was high of stupidly, the crew had unrealistic expectation on the ability to sail a balloon over the North Pole and the three man crew lack arctic survival skills and suitable equipment to recover from the eventual crash landing. I was amassed that they almost made it back alive.