A quiz question · medium
Why was John Rae vilified in Britain after his 1854 report on the Franklin expedition's fate?
Lady Franklin and Charles Dickens led the attack, dismissing Inuit testimony outright. Later expeditions, forensics, and the wrecks found in 2014-16 proved Rae right on every point.
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John Rae, the Explorer Who Found Out What Happened to Franklin and Was Destroyed for Reporting It In 1854 the Hudson's Bay Company surveyor John Rae brought back the first hard evidence of the lost Franklin expedition: Inuit testimony and relics — and reports that the starving crews had resorted to cannibalism. Lady Franklin and Charles Dickens led the assault on his character and his Inuit sources. Every later discovery proved Rae right.
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