Shackleton's ship found (and yes, a mandolin!)

[Southern Man]

mandolin and banjo music for how many months at sea? Is it possible they scuttled her out of sheer madness from too much plinkety plinekty?

From the article on the banjo previously posted above:

McNeish’s comments reflect the good humour of the expeditioners:

Hussey is at present tormenting [us] with his six known tunes on his banjo.


I'm sure there are many of us beginner/advancing players (and significant others) who can identify with this comment...

[allenhopkins]

We have digressed -- and I take full responsibility -- into some discussion of the British trad song Lady Franklin's Lament, whose melody Dylan sorta processed into Bob Dylan's Dream, some say after his 1965 English tour immortalized (again, sorta) in Pennebaker's film Don't Look Back. This, however, would have involved some time travel, since he recorded the song in 1963, therefore must have heard it elsewhere.

This justanothertune.com reference suggests that Dylan learned Lady Franklin's Lament from Martin Carthy during a 1962 visit to England, and "folk-processed" the melody into Bob Dylan's Dream soon thereafter. You can also read all the original verses of Lady Franklin's Lament, of which the commonly sung version that Carthy and other Brit folk-and-folk-rockers sing is a modest subset.

A great song in the key of F on the English concertina -- and, with the discovery of Shackleton's Endurance, even a bit topical.

[journeybear]

Martin Carthy's version is among the several recordings mentioned in the wikipedia article about the song. FWIW & ICAWW

[Dave Hicks]

We have digressed -- and I take full responsibility -- into some discussion of the British trad song Lady Franklin's Lament, whose melody Dylan sorta processed into Bob Dylan's Dream, some say after his 1965 English tour immortalized (again, sorta) in Pennebaker's film Don't Look Back. This, however, would have involved some time travel, since he recorded the song in 1963, therefore must have heard it elsewhere.

This justanothertune.com reference suggests that Dylan learned Lady Franklin's Lament from Martin Carthy during a 1962 visit to England, and "folk-processed" the melody into Bob Dylan's Dream soon thereafter. You can also read all the original verses of Lady Franklin's Lament, of which the commonly sung version that Carthy and other Brit folk-and-folk-rockers sing is a modest subset.

A great song in the key of F on the English concertina -- and, with the discovery of Shackleton's Endurance, even a bit topical.

Dylan and Richard Fariña are laughin and scratchin in the middle of this photo from the Troubadour in London, 1962. Martin Carthy is 2nd from the left, and Eric von Schmidt at the right to add some needed mandolinage. (We've sort of drifted away from the Endurance.)

D.H.

[journeybear]

It's worth noting that the Endurance drifted far from her original position whilst stuck in the ice before she sank some ten months later. That's the yellow line in the map below.

(Let's see if that brings things back on topic. And if so, for how long ... )

If you've drifted by out of curiosity, or have been following this thread intently, take a few minutes to read even this condensed version of the story. It's quite a yarn.

[Richard500]

Not only a gripping adventure story, but there’s a now-famous cat in it.

I also wound up chasing around doing some reading, and found another photo showing what might have been a weekly Saturday night show, possibly at the second to last camp, with a banjo in the foreground and some questionable dressups. But the photo may be from another source, as it is not referenced, is politically dubious, and too low resolution to see if the banjo tuners counted six, so I haven’t posted it here.

Anyway, the banjo exists, and the mandolin, having been treated to special conditions, like the ship itself, may eventually be photographed, if not played. The cat has a memorial bronze.

[Bren]

And he died of a heart attack on his next voyage to that same area and is buried there.

Franklin's voyage to find the Northwest Passage inspired a great song by Stan Rogers by the way.

By the way, the guy in the front, second from the left. Is he looking at his smart phone?

Clearly he is using the Dominoes app.

[Randi Gormley]

i saw the cat in the same batch of photos i got the guy with the mandolin. her name was Mrs. Chippy and this is the description with the photo: Mrs Chippy was the ship's cat that accompanied explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent in 1914–1917.

Mrs Chippy, a tabby, was taken on board Shackleton's ship Endurance, by carpenter and master shipwright Harry "Chippy" McNeish. The cat acquired its name because, once aboard, it followed McNeish around like an overly attentive wife. By the time it was realised that the cat was male, it was too late and the name stuck.

[Sheila Lagrand]

I'm committing an unearned hijacking here: For those of you with Netflix, a film is on that, according to RadioTimes.com, "... tells the true story of a 1909 expedition taken by Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen, as was recounted in his memoir Two Against the Ice, which was first published in 1955."

Mikkelsen and his crew were attempting to prove that Greenland was a single landmass, and not two islands.

It's a good movie. It's called Against the Ice

[journeybear]

I beg forgiveness in advance if I misspeak and say something about my local temperature here. That would just be so inconsiderate. But all this talk about ice and frozen landmasses reminds me that we are deep in the grip of winter (in this hemisphere), something that I tend to overlook because of where I ... whoa, caught myself in time. Barely.

... her name was Mrs. Chippy ...

Speaking of misspeaking, Mrs. Chippy's ghost would like to have a word with you. Yes, you did get his story right in the next paragraph but the damage remains.

While we're this far off course, I'd like to share a movie given me while I was working at the local Shipwreck Museum about what I believe was the last time a clipper ship sailed around Cape Horn, in the late 20s. It was filmed by someone on board, and showed what a wild corner of the world this area is. I'm not sure if this is it, but the title is the same. As terrifying as this footage often is, this is about as good as the weather gets there.

[Al Trujillo]

The story about the expedition is an incredible one. I think I've read the book three times.

[journeybear]

There was a brief mention of the find on today's CBS Saturday Morning show. Just 2:30, but there was some video. The show should be uploaded soon. And one of the hosts concurs - has read the book and considers it his favorite non-fiction work. Didn't mention the mandolin, though, nor Mrs. Chippy. At least he didn't mention the banjo.

[journeybear]

Still waiting for the clip of just the segment to show up. Here's the link to the whole show. Skip ahead to about 1:12. The live footage is pretty darned cool. I must warn you - in order to watch this three-minute clip, having to sit through perhaps a minute and a half of commercials may test your endurance.

[journeybear]

Yes, I've rediscovered this thread. It was featured on today's edition of "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me," the NPR news quiz. The featured guest, Dan Snow, an historian and podcaster, was on the ship that discovered Endurance. I seem to be unable to upload an mp3 clip of the segment, but if you go to the website and scoot ahead to 18.22 you'll be able to hear it.

[Nick Gellie]

Fascinating thread thanks.

[John Bertotti]

I vaguely remember learning of this in history class in elementary or middle school, in the mid '70s I thought that was just incredible.