Arctic Exploration: the fatal quest for the Northwest Passage

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 10.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Vanessa Heggie and comedian Stu Goldsmith to learn all about the perilous history of Arctic exploration.

From the 15th to 20th Centuries, Europeans searched for the Northwest Passage, a supposed seaway between the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean. Indigenous groups had been traversing the passage for centuries, using small skin boats and dog sleds, but from 1497, European expeditions were launched to find and claim it. Most of these ended in failure, with explorers either returning home empty-handed or not returning at all. Some even got completely lost, arriving in Hawaii or North Carolina rather than Canada!

In 1845, the most famous Arctic expedition, led by Sir John Franklin, was launched. Within a few months, his two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, with their crew of 129 souls, had vanished. It was not until 1906 that a Norwegian team, led by Roald Amundsen, finally navigated the passage. This episode explores the often fatal quest for the Northwest Passage, charting the various expeditions that tried and failed to find and traverse it, uncovering the men who lost their lives looking for it, and asking why Europeans were so keen to explore such a hostile region of the world. And we unravel the mystery of just what happened to John Franklin and his men out there on the ice.

If you’re a fan of intrepid explorers, mysterious historical disappearances and the history of scientific advancement, you’ll love our episode on Arctic Exploration.

If you want more from Dr Vanessa Heggie, check out our episode on Victorian Bodybuilding. And for more Stu Goldsmith, listen to our episodes on the History of Fandom and Ancient Medicine.

You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Matt Ryan Written by: Matt Ryan, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: James Cook

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it.
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0:42.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:49.6	Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio For comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:52.8	My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster.
0:58.6	And today we are packing our tins of preserved beef, donning our thermal undies, and sailing off in search of the Northwest Passage. And joining me on the good ship, you're dead to me, are two very special
1:03.1	shipmates. In History Corner, she's Associate Professor in the History of Science and Medicine
1:08.0	at the University of Birmingham's Department of Applied Health Science. What a title.
1:11.6	You may have read her long-running science column in the Guardian newspaper
1:14.3	or her recent book, Higher and Calder,
1:16.8	on the History of Extreme Exploration.
1:18.8	And you will definitely remember her from our episode
1:20.6	on Victorian Bodybuilding.
1:22.2	It's Dr Vanessa Heggy.
1:23.4	Welcome back, Vanessa.
1:24.2	It's great to be back.
	...

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