Interesting Trivia:

• one of Orkney’s greatest unsung heroes
• has a memorial in St Magnus Cathedral, in Kirkwall
• was a surgeon
• was regarded as the foremost authority of Native American methods of Arctic survival and travel of his time
• was the only major explorer of the era not to receive a knighthood

His Story:

John grew up in comfort in affluent surroundings as his father was the factor of Sir William Honeyman's Orkney estate.  He was an outdoor person, and making the most of the rural location, Rae spent most of his boyhood sailing, climbing, trekking, hunting and fishing, activities that were to serve him well on his future exploits.

His father’ appointment as the Orkney agent for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1819 brought a new interest in young Rae’s life.  He traveled with his father to the Hudson’s Bay Company offices and from the ports witnessed the supply ships coming and going.

He studied to become a surgeon in Edinburgh and when he had qualified, signed up for the voyage of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ship “Prince of Wales”.  The journey would take them to James Bay in Canada.

He loved it there and even though the ice held the party captive and they had to overwinter, which meant he had to serve longer than the original planned one season, he was captivated by what he called "the wild sort of life to be found in the Hudson's Bay Company service".  The roughness of the area fascinated him and he decided to stay on at Moose Factory.  The next ten years were spent getting to know the area and, in particular, the Canadian natives. He regarded himself as a student of the native Cree Indians, learning a magnitude of skills from them such as making and maintaining snowshoes, how to hunt caribou and store the meat. The Inuit taught him how to ice the runners of a sled, how to combat snow-blindness and how to construct a shelter, skills that had helped them to survive the harsh conditions of the area for generations.  His friendliness with the peoples of Canada did not fall on good soil with his superiors.  They did not think it was something he should participate in.  That he dressed like them was seen as disgraceful in their eyes.

But Rae respected the peoples’ culture, traditions and skills and through them acquired a great deal of their knowledge. Eventually, Rae became regarded as the foremost authority of Native American methods of Arctic survival and travel. The Inuit named him “Aglooka”, which means "he who takes long strides" as he covered 1200 miles on foot over a two month period in 1844/55.

He was sent north to the west coast of Melville Peninsula from Fury and Hecla Strait southwards, and westwards to Dease, where he was to fill in the "blanks" that existed on the maps of northern Canada’s coastline.  He took charge of the Mackenzie River district at Fort Simpson in the winter of 1849.

When he heard that the Royal Navy expedition, led by Sir John Franklin, had disappeared, he joined the search with Sir John Richardson.  Sir John, who was in charge of the expedition, wanted Rae as his second-in-command. Rae ended up leading two missions in an attempt to locate the missing sailors.

He abandoned the search in 1854 when he found out that the expedition had ended in disaster and there were no survivors.  He had heard the news from the Inuit, who told him that a group of 40 white men had been seen four years previously. Watched by a group of native seal hunters, the white men had been dragging a boat and sledges south along the west coast of King William Island. Going solely on the accounts of the Inuit, Rae concluded the men had perished in the winter of 1850, after ice had crushed their ships. When he later learned that the Inuit had discovered around 30 bodies and a number of graves, he did not actually went to visit the site, saying that the Inuit were reluctant to make the 10 or 12 day trek to the site of the lost expedition. Apparently, the men had died of starvation.

In his report Rae wrote: "Some of the bodies had been buried (probably those of the first victims of famine); some were in a tent or tents; others under the boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter, and several lay scattered about in different directions."

What he then added stirred up a hornet’s nest back in Britain. He added: "From the mutilated state of many of the bodies and the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched Countrymen had been driven to the last dread alternative - cannibalism - as a means of prolonging existence."  As he had not visited the graves and site where the bodies were and only taking the word of the “natives” he came under considerable criticism.  In the eyes of Victorian England, it was not enough to bring back some of the dead men’s possessions which he had acquired from the Inuit. Items such as cutlery, watches and a medal that proved to belong to Franklin expedition were not enough to prove the fate of the expedition.

Because of his “relationships” with the “natives”, Rae's integrity was immediately called into question.  “How dare this man, who dressed and mingled with Canadian natives, suggest that men of the Royal Navy indulged in cannibalism? And more to the point imagine accepting the word of the natives without verifying it!”

Great names of the time, such as the writer Charles Dickens published articles in which he rejected Rae’s conclusions and the manner in which he had reached them. According to Dickens, it was unthinkable that the English Navy "would or could in any extremity of hunger, alleviate that pains of starvation by this horrible means".  He was supported in his attacks by Franklin’s widow, Lady Jane, who sought to glorify the memory of her husband as the man who found the Northwest Passage, so unsurprisingly Rae's discoveries did not go down well.

The ugly truth came to light when Lady Franklin sent out an expedition herself. At Point Victory, on the northwest coast of King William Island they found a message from Lieutenant Crozier, second in command. It confirmed that Sir John Franklin had died on June 11, 1847, the 25th man to perish on the expedition. It was as the Inuit had said, the survivors had started out for Great Fish River. Skeletons of some of the last survivors appeared to confirm that the men had resorted to cannibalism.

In 1856, aged only 43, Dr John Rae retired from the Hudson's Bay Company. But it was not the last time he would work for them.

The Hudson’s Bay Company was working in a partnership with the Western Telegraph Union Company and they were exploring the possibility of a telegraph route through Siberia, the Bering Strait, Alaska and British Columbia. In 1884, Rae was asked to survey a section of the proposed route from Red River to Victoria.

On July 22nd, 1893, aged 80 he died in London.  He was brought back to where he came from by the steamer “St Magnus” and he was buried with great ceremony.  His grave is marked by a humble gravestone.

It is sad that a great man such as John Rae, did not receive the recognition of his time.  Maybe it was because he was ahead of his time and perhaps there is still a chance that his rightful place in history will be restored.