About book Barrow's Boys: The Original Extreme Adventurers: A Stirring Story Of Daring Fortitude And Outright Lunacy (2000)
I read this when it was first published. It still reads well over ten years later. Although the search for the North West Passage, which became the search for Franklin lost looking for the North West Passage, dominates the book, Barrow's obsession with the Niger gives Fleming the opportunity to alternate narratives of ships stuck in Ice with narratives of men stuck or dying in Africa. The men in question ranged from the lunatic (Liang) to the efficiently professional (Parry, the younger Ross) and the Navy's weird habit of sending men into the ice with no experience, or Barrow's of sending sailors across the Sahara, contribute to the disasters and, to be honest, the stories which Fleming handles well. George Francis Lyon, having been the only survivor of a botched attempt to find Timbuctoo and define the direction of the Niger, pestered Barrow for a second shot at both:'He (Barrow) would have liked to send Lyon back to the Sahara. But as the young man was making a nuisance of himself and was obviously in need of a lesson, and because Barrow had a sense of humor, he sent him to the Arctic instead".The contrast between those who stayed at home, safe in their own geographical speculations and those who went, is at times farcical, at others frightening. Barrow's treatment of the Landers brothers, who went and proved the route of the Niger and therefore disproved his pet theory is striking as is his dismissal of Lyon after the latter's disastrous second voyage to the North. Disasters were always someone else's fault....usually the poor commander of a badly equipped or badly planned expedition who was silly enough to try to follow his instructions. It's a long gone world. In Africa and the Arctic so much depended on the ability to understand and learn from the locals. And the traveler's here can almost be split down the line between those who did and those who couldn't or wouldn't. Race was compounded by Class snobbery. It's a wonder they got anywhere.The apparent stiff upper lip of the 19th Century British traveller is nowhere more in evidence than in Denshaw's description of dozing off to be woken by the sound of his "steed' stepping on the skeletons of some of the 8,500 slaves who died annually on the route they were following. Having described this in some detail he concludes: "This event gave me a sensation which it took some time to remove".
This book is AMAZING. If you are into nineteenth-century exploring, you ought to read it. John Barrow wasn't necessarily successful at picking missions for his men, but my god, did he spur a great deal of exploration. Everything he set in motion is carefully detailed throughout, from Arctic expeditions to trying to find the end of the Niger (Mungo Park!) to That One Time People Tried to Colonize Antarctica Before Realizing It Was Kind of Worthless.One thing I loved about this book is the gentle sense of humour that pervades it. It's not boring, dull history (not that history is ever boring or dull), but there are just some moments that made me laugh aloud, which I wasn't necessarily expecting from a book like this. For example, when describing the fate of one explorer in the epilogue, Fleming casually mentions that he was run over by a Post Office cart. That mental image is fabulous.I would have liked a bit more about the Franklin stuff--perhaps I was spoiled by reading The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909 first and having a good 150-ish pages dedicated to Franklin's last expedition and the subsequent search--but if there had been more about Franklin, it would have unbalanced the book. It didn't feel rushed, either, which is fabulous. (Also, Pierre Berton was doing a more thorough history of Arctic exploration, including American expeditions, whereas Fleming just focuses on those related to Barrow.)PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.
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This is a fascinating story of an ambitious program of exploration launched by John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty in 1816. Between 1816 and 1845 ‘Barrow’s Boys’ worked – sometimes with each other and sometimes against each other – to fill in some of the blank spaces around the globe. Some of the questions they set out to answer:What was at the North Pole?Was there a North-West Passage?Where did the Niger go, and what was at the heart of Africa?Did Antarctica exist? To a large extent, John Barrow’s ambitious program was only possible because of the oversupply of officers and ships as the Royal Navy reduced in size following the Napoleonic Wars. The politics of the bureaucracy, the unfettered ambition of some of the key players, the bravery of many, and the stupidity of others makes for intriguing reading. Were these expeditions successful? The answer to that depends on how success is measured and who is applying the measure. It is indeed true that most (if not all) of Barrow’s goals were of dubious value once found. However, the heroic activities of men, however badly directed, should not be dismissed so simply. We know far more about the geography of the world in which we live as a consequence of these expeditions and that knowledge is invaluable. I invite you to read the book and decide for yourself.
—Jennifer (JC-S)
Once more into the breach - another book about Victorian English explorers. What to do with all the idle officers now that peace has been attained? Why not send them out to explore the unknown regions of the world? It is hard in this day and age to realize that just a century and a half ago there was still much mystery out in the great wide world. Most of these men were going into places very few people had ever seen, not knowing what to expect. One commander was sent to look for a Northwest passage across the Arctic. He charted hundreds of miles of coast, made one of the best journeys into the icy waters, and obtained some wonderful scientific data. However, on his return to England, his mission was considered unsuccessful - not so much as he could not find a plausible route, but because he actually returned with a full compliment of men! Not one man lost must have meant he wasn't trying hard enough. I found this book to be thoroughly engrossing.
—Clare
