Safe aboard Shipwrecks 2025

Many, many thanks to the good folks of the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia for hosting the 2025 Shipwrecks conference…and for including me on their list of speakers. Once again I was more than proud to share facts and fables about Lady Franklin, the brave, pushy, tireless rabble rouser who donned her domesticity like armour and waded into battle with the Admiralty, as brave as the men on whose behalf she argued. It was wonderful to be part of the energetic day, and I continue to be inspired by the depth and breadth of research being done on maritime history and culture.

I got the chance to connect with two of my favourite people in the community: Bill Noon, retired Captain of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Coast Guard ship that participated in the search for and discovery of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror and my 2015 travelling companion to Australia for a speaking tour about the Franklin Expedition; and David C. Woodman, author of a book that inspired me in my doctoral research and encouraged me to push boundaries where I can, Unravelling the Franklin Mystery: Inuit Testimony.

I not only got to shake their hands and hear their stories–we broke bread and shared a laugh. So many of the histories we work on are tragic in the extreme–the terrible impact of colonialism, environmental degradation, famine, loss. Sometimes the research takes its toll. It’s times like these, when we come together to share what we’ve learned, that we know we’re not sailing alone.