To the Arctic by canoe, 1819-1821: The journal and paintings of Robert Hood, midshipman with Franklin

by C. Stuart Houston (Editor), Robert Hood

A journal recording the experiences of a young adventurer during the first overland Arctic expedition, led by Sir John Franklin. This expedition was the first to travel the northern coast of North America's Arctic - in two birch-bark canoes they surveyed 675 miles of Arctic coastline. When supplies ran out, the return trek across the Barrens became one of the most tragic incidents in the history of Arctic exploration. Robert Hood was one of ten who perished on this trip. Weakened by starvation, he was shot through the head by a member of the party turned cannibal. A sensitive and educated man, with an eye for detail, Hood was an astute observer of the political and social ways of the North. The journal reveals his awareness of the adverse effects on Native peoples and their environment of the coming of the Europeans. Hood's paintings capture the beauty as well as the harshness of the North.

217 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

Reviews

[Ronald Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pandemic Book No.3. This partial account of Sir John Franklin’s first overland expedition to the Arctic was a good one to read as I work from home as part of the journey went through what is now northeastern Alberta and includes a number of place names and descriptions, so that counts as Research!

It is a partial account because the author, Midshipman Robert Hood, of course perished during the expedition. However, Hood’s account of the expedition from London, England to Fort Enterprize is very readable, observant and insightful. This edited edition of Hood’s journal also includes the paintings and drawings he did along the way, some of the earliest artistic renderings if places, people and animal life in Canada. I think that it would have been useful to have had this artwork interspersed throughout the text, rather than in an appendix at the back, but I am glad that they are there. A wonderful read and an important and oft-overlooked account of the exploration of Canada.

[Morgiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the journal of Robert Hood, one of the midshipmen who participated in Sir John Franklin's 1819-1922 expedition to the Coppermine River in Arctic Canada, transcribed and annotated by C. Stuart Houston. Houston also edited the journals of Franklin's other two officers from that expedition, John Richardson and George Back. Unfortunately, Hood did not survive the expedition; he was murdered by another member of the party. Hood's journal covers only their first year, and was written during their second winter based on his notes and memories. It is told in narrative form, rather than a daily account of their travels like Back's journal. There are lengthy sections about wildlife, the Indian tribes they encountered, and their scientific observations. Also included are prints of Hood's paintings, most in color, and biographical information about the expedition's other officers and men.