Saints Who Never Existed: Relics of Franklin's Lost Arctic Expedition

[@skullsaintdead]

My goodness, this is incredible. However, 10:16 I think we're imposing our modernity to suggest DNA degradation means that women or trans men were sailors in expeditions of the 19th Century. Several men were already offloaded in Greenland because they were deemed unsuitable (often from sickness or ill temper). Surely any women or trans men would of been identified in those months between Britain and Greenland (re: possible monthly bleeding, 50% less upper body strength, not peeing in the 'usual' fashion, probably seeing each other naked, frankly... rape). I'm definitely not of the persuasion these interesting, valid people didn't exist back then, just that there's far more compelling evidence that Y-DNA degrades rather well in these conditions. Perhaps we should remind ourselves 'history is written by the historian'... I'm by no means a geneticist, but from just 15 mins of research, it seems all the factors for DNA degradation were there, in extreme: age, UV radiation, thawing/refreezing multiple times, salt, temperature changes. Mitochondrial DNA is more robust and so you can get men who appear genetically female because their DNA has degraded (again, based off my limited research). "The advantage of using mitochondrial DNA [i.e. without the Y or the male chromosome] is that it is present in multiple copies within the cell, and therefore is easier to recover from remains that are not well preserved." (International Committee for the Red Cross, 2008, 2nd Edition; 'Missing People, DNA Analysis and Identification of Human Remans').

[@billware6721]

One could also argue that much of recorded history has been suppressed to fit the popular narrative of the time. Many contemporary stories of life at sea in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries relate thinly veiled homosexual references. The phrase “It ain’t queer if it’s away from the pier” is even found in The Thin Red Line a story based in the Pacific theater during WWll. We now have available to us a number of biographical accounts of women who fought as men in the American Civil War. Considering the common occurrence of violence against women throughout history it seems likely that more than a few women would choose to emulate maleness rather than be subject to harassment. Only a guess but, given that people are people I imagine that this happened among peoples of other nations as well. As for the fellows I am reminded of a song my Dad ( Navy Vet ) taught me: “Tidly winks old man, catch a woman if you can. If you can’t catch a woman,catch a clean old man”. Just sayin’.

[@freedpeeb]

That was wonderful!

[@watchmedo635]

Fascinating, thank you for sharing your research with us. I always am intrigued by new perspectives.

[@InbarMarmel]

this is really great! waiting for whatever you put out next.

[@qtti_uuu]

This video was absolutely amazing, I hope you'll make more!

[@jenniferdeutz4460]

Really great video! Nice to see the actual history/papers. Looking forward to your next one.

[@brucequeensteen]

Fantastic video

[@judithwhitehouse2149]

As a straight female, I found the Bridgens/Peglar depiction in 'The Terror' on TV very moving - whoever and whatever we are " what will survive of us is love" (Larkin)

[@harrietharlow9929]

That is beautiful and so moving--and poignant.

[@tomservo5347]

The book and series did a fine job showing the comradery and real friendships formed under duress-and also the dark side of humanity when all forms of society are shed in the name of survival. A sort of yin and yang juxtaposition. The most moving part for me was when Blanky told Crozier he was finished and shows him his gangrenous leg stump-the emotional pain shown by Crozier is palpable yet Blanky makes Crozier laugh in the face of it.

[@HollyLou223]

What an absolutely wonderful analysis of the metafictional potential of the Peglar Papers! Thoroughly interesting and also moving!

[@kuafer3687]

That's a LOT of assumptions from the scholars lmao

[@victoriapulcifer6218]

If you take any archeology class, a lot of our ideas of history and prehistory come from assumptions based on what would be socially acceptable in the modern time. For instance, Marija Gimbutas' "goddess theory" analyzing Neolithic and iron age history was mocked and dismissed in favor of hunter/gatherer dynamics by largely male archeologists, although both theories had a similar amount of "evidence".

[@catbfs]

Amazing work…i love this so much!

[@girlmonster00]

What an incredible essay!

[@kepage2915]

This was awesome, made me a little emotional even, keep it up!

[@robinshankland3499]

There is something so touching about this tragedy.... something different something almost tangible to me.

[@thepeglarpapers4138]

Great video!

[@MeanGene1983]

Men who leave home for adventure and high probability. Must have a sense of romanticism and depth of heart. Is it so strange that two heterosexual men may find themselves loving each other? Without it ever being sexual or "queer"?

[@AvaTheFaeva]

That was beautiful.

[@jameshalton8303]

Excellent video!

[@nunaninja]

Wow, really interesting information on the possibly genderqueer identity of peglar. I have a picture in my head of a bunch of Victorian drag queens performing for each other on ship. Hehe. I’m inuk from Nunavut and have been going on a KZbin rabbit-hole about Franklin. It was thanks to Inuit that the ships were found. The location of said ships was kept in common knowledge through oral history.

[@SakuraAsranArt]

It's infuriating that the Inuit accounts of their encounters with the Franklin expedition were ignored and dismissed by the British for so long.

[@kekespike]

한글 번역이 안됩니다~ㅜㅜ

[@FlamingNotGaming]

Incredible

[@saralotti7174]

If he had been left after death or weak beforehand…perhaps someone else tied the knot?

[@harrietharlow9929]

This gets more and more tragic with each documentary. I was brought here after watching "The Terror". This is an interesting interpretation and there must have been gay men in the Navy of that time as there are now. I find it very poignant.

[@ryanmccolloch4734]

Gay fanfic about this disaster is not something I ever expected to learn about. I'm sure at least one of them was gay statistally, so who knows