美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Ghosts' In The Arctic: How The Long-Lost Franklin Expedition Was Found

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have a kind of ghost story next. It's the backstory of a discovery. Three years ago on this program, we placed a phone call to the journalist Paul Watson. He was on an icebreaker, a ship in the Arctic with the aid of a helicopter its crew is conducting a search.

PAUL WATSON: The helicopter pilot was walking the shoreline with a shotgun slung¹ over his shoulder because his job is to watch for polar bears. And he spotted² something leaning against a rock.

INSKEEP: It was a metal piece of a sailing ship. It led the searchers to find the nearby sunken remains³ of a ship from the Franklin expedition. Two British crews seeking the Northwest Passage through the ice over the top of the world had vanished in the 1840s never to be seen again.

Paul Watson was a witness to one of the discoveries in a century-and-a-half search for signs of Sir John Franklin and his men trapped in the Arctic ice. Watson has now written a book called "Ice Ghosts" so we called him back.

WATSON: Great to talk to you again. The last time, I believe, it was over a crackly satellite phone. The - I was on the bridge of an icebreaker, and the captain was glaring at me because we talked for a long time.

INSKEEP: Oh, was there like a minute-by-minute phone charge?

WATSON: I think the government squeezes them, like, what's with this long satellite phone call? I don't know what it is.

INSKEEP: Watson talked anyway in that call three years ago. There was so much to say about the lost ship underwater all that time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WATSON: It's chilling to look at it. The ship is almost completely intact. The only thing that's missing is her three mast which presumably had been sheared⁴ off by moving ice over the years.

INSKEEP: What was it like to be present then for the end of a more-than-century-old search for something in the Arctic?

WATSON: I'll be honest. I went on that expedition. I was the only journalist, and I wasn't expecting anything to happen. And when they did make a discovery, you know, it really seeps⁵ into your blood. I wasn't terribly interested in the Franklin expedition before that, but it became an obsession⁶. You know, when you read the book "Ice Ghosts" you'll meet several people who have spent their whole lives trying to figure this mystery out. And I became one of those people obsessed⁷ with the mystery at that moment of discovery.

INSKEEP: I'm thinking the first person who was obsessed for very personal reasons with figuring out the mystery was Sir John Franklin's wife. Who was she?

WATSON: An extraordinary woman, Lady Jane Franklin. As a girl, she was the shy one in the family. And yet as a woman, she was extraordinarily⁸ assertive⁹ and literally¹⁰ forced the Admiralty which was the body that oversaw¹¹ the great Royal Navy in the Victorian-era - literally forced them to go looking for her husband and his lost men when they kept saying it's too early. It's OK. They have enough food, and you needn't worry, ma'am.

She had an inkling that something had gone wrong, and she persisted even to the point of writing a very personal letter to the then-president of the United States Zachary Taylor. And it's extraordinary the way she both plays on politics and on matters of the heart to try to persuade the president of the United States to help her go looking for her husband.

INSKEEP: Did she get the U.S. government as well as the British government involved then?

WATSON: She did. Now, the card that she played effectively with the U.S. government was the Russians, which is interesting because we're back sort of to that discussion even today in the Arctic. In other words, if you can help me find my husband and his men, you may find the Northwest Passage and that wouldn't be such a bad thing because if you don't do it, the Russians or the British might beat you to it.

An expedition was eventually sent, but the commander was explicitly¹² told by the Navy don't waste too much time looking for Franklin. We're more interested in finding the Northwest Passage.

INSKEEP: But remember what Paul Watson said. Out there on the water amid the great Canadian islands and floating ice an obsession can take over. Nineteenth-century searchers looked in spite of themselves. Years after the two British ships disappeared, searchers found a pile of stones on an island with a message inside. It said the crew had left their ships trapped in ice. Sir John Franklin's men had walked across the ice to land hoping somehow to make it home.

Was any trace ever found of that 100 or so men who went trudging¹³ across the ice and across islands?

WATSON: Skeletons have been found, numerous artifacts have been found, not Sir John Franklin himself. And there are people who believe among them, Inuit, that Sir John may in fact be buried up there still. The obsession with Southerners has been in finding those ships because there are artifacts to be found, perhaps even notes sealed in a way that they could still be legible. So archaeologists, historians have been focused on finding those wrecks¹⁴.

INSKEEP: The obsession with Southerners meaning people south of the Arctic, most of us?

WATSON: That's right. I mean, when you're in the Arctic, people refer to Southerners as, you know, they're the outsiders. And something that I think is important for modern readers of this story is that the Arctic has something to tell us - us, being Southerners. And I'm getting, perhaps, a bit spiritual here, but the Inuit especially believe that there are spirits of their ancestors. There are spirits that live in the sea that walk the land, and if you disrespect them, you will suffer greatly for it.

INSKEEP: So when you were on that ship, that icebreaker, on the mission that ended in discovering one of the sunken vessels¹⁵. Did the Arctic speak to you?

WATSON: You know, the - people can think you're crazy for saying it - but it did speak to me. You know, the first book I wrote was a book called "Where War Lives." It's a war memoir¹⁶, and in it I describe a moment where I believe the spirit of a dead American soldier on the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 spoke¹⁷ to me. So I'm open to the possibility.

I've had an experience which I can't shake which makes me think that there's something we don't understand. When you stand alone as I have out on the ice and you're alone with the world, it's a very real power that comes over you.

INSKEEP: Paul Watson is the author of "Ice Ghosts: The Epic¹⁸ Hunt For The Lost Franklin Expedition." Thanks very much.

WATSON: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NORTHWEST PASSAGE")

STAN ROGERS: (Singing) Oh, for just one time, I would take the Northwest Passage to find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea tracing one warm...

1 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

2 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 sheared   

v.剪羊毛( shear的过去式和过去分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• A jet plane sheared the blue sky. 一架喷气式飞机划破蓝空。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The pedal had sheared off at the pivot. 踏板在枢轴处断裂了。 来自辞典例句

5 seeps   

n.（液体）渗( seep的名词复数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出v.（液体）渗( seep的第三人称单数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water seeps through sand. 水渗入沙中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Water seeps out of the wall. 水从墙里沁出。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

7 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

8 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

9 assertive   

adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的

参考例句：

• She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
• China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年，中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

12 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 trudging   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• There was a stream of refugees trudging up the valley towards the border. 一队难民步履艰难地爬上山谷向着边境走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two mules well laden with packs were trudging along. 两头骡子驮着沉重的背包，吃力地往前走。 来自辞典例句

14 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

15 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

17 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

18 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。