#the peglar papers

[acheronist]

to the ghost of henry peglar, congrats on writing your poem down 177 years ago!!!

to the actual academic scholars who have studied the pages before me....

so I took the royal museum greenwich's scan of the poem page (which is available online hereeee) and screwed around with its light levels in photoshop until henry's script was darkened enough to see more clearly. then I digitally traced over the darkened letters as best as I could, while also trying to discern his handwriting, and type up how I was reading it & this process took me about a week to get done between like... living my regular day to day life lmao.......

so when it WAS done, the final isabel acheronist peglar papers ["the open C"] transcript seemed a bit different than how I remembered the readily available russell potter transcript going ? (the poem is on the last two pages of that pdf for those of you who don't spend a billion hours a week looking at it btw)

it felt like I was getting more/different information out of it, compared to the potter transcript, which was kind of stressing me out honestly. so THEN I compared mine with barry cornwall's original poem and found more words that matched up? particularly in the second and third stanzas?

so!!!!! almost two hundred years later here's what I've landed on:

April 21 1847 the C the C the open ) ( it grew so fresh the Ever free the Ever free the Ever free without it without it covered it will Run to Earth above Re gions Round I love the C I love the C when I whare & I wish to be with and and silence whare Never go if a sailor should a Come and Make the meek What matter what matter Come Ride Or Sleep there was shores white and of red morn at the noisy hours knew I was ever near I was Born the [...] in felt Unto the Maid the wale the young dolphin ...... yet thes back of gold the Call of gods When I was on Old England Shore I like the young C more and more oftentimes time flew to a sweltering place like a bird thats seeks it mother Case and ware she was bird oft to me for have I loved a young and Hopen C

so then after going thru All Of That, I wanted to have a version of the original poem with parts that Henry did remember clearly highlighted for comparison purposes:

I know it's a popular theory that Henry was writing a dirty parody of the original poem? which if true, is funny as hell. me when i have to write cheeky victorian porn before i die.

But (serious voice) something about that hadn't ever seemed exactly right to me... IN MY HEART it seems more realistic that around 1847 he (and also by extension, the whole surviving expedition crew) were starting to experience confusion / brain fog symptoms from being ummmm quite physically unwell. the lead poisoning/scurvy combo would have severe effects on the brain's ability to function properly, and I started to wonder if Henry was trying to test his memory somehow? So he picked a widely known and popular Victorian era poem about being a sailor to see how much he could recall??? and he then got a little whimsical with it, and wrote in his own words to fill in the portions he couldn't fully recall, because it's his own diary and likely didn't expect anyone else to ever read it, much less have it turn into ONE of TWO surviving sources about the expedition?????

like... idk... this is probably the work of someone in the exact moment as they were starting to realize how bad things were, and then was trying to cope by using poetry. and That hurts my feelings enough as it is, but going through it was also just a very weird and haunting experience....... like, I can recognize all these tiny details in this dead guy's script and handwriting now. and to read his own account of his life in his own words, what stood out to him and what he recalled, what he wanted people in the future to know about him? insane. it literally felt like i was getting haunted by him for no reason. on top of knowing that Someone (#teamarmitage) loved this guy enough to keep his memory protected and safe, even though They Were So Totally Fucked And Going To Die There, unknowing if they'd ever be found again........

SIGHING + SIGHING + SIGHING + SIGHING + CRYING A BIT HONESTLY

anyways thanks for reading this all. I don't think that this is revolutionary franklin expedition news by any means, and idk if there's a better different transcript somewhere that i've not found that already covers all this? but it's consumed a lot of my life lately lol and i wanted to share. because its the anniversary of henry writing it, and it felt...... important....? 💌....????

#📜 #henry peglar #this is my crazy person post i wanted to make two weeks ago #i really did do my best to follow his hand btw but let's all read this expecting a few mistakes #franklin expedition #peglar papers

[the-holy-ghosted]

i am normal and can be asked about the relic of the lost franklin expedition's known as the peglar papers. i am fine and can be asked about it no i will not cry (starts fucking BAWLING)

#the heron speaketh #henry peglar #the terror #im haivgng. a moment #*looks at my url* wow no shit sherlock #ive been thinking a lot about that video i watched and ive been looking at the papers themselves #theyre up online on the royal museums greenwich website i have been sitting here #looking. at them all #god damn it is impossiblet o read but im getting very emotional aboutt he whole thing i might go on a tangent in a reblog

[saints-who-never-existed]

I'm desperate now, absolutely desperate to find more information specifically on the conservation of the Peglar Papers but thus far, there seems to be next to nothing out there...

Who the fuck conserved them and how? I demand to know!

#It's infuriating! #I can tell some things visually and from historic context #The type of paper and ink most likely used for example #Although even that isn't 100% certain #I've found several sources so far mentioning a facsimilist named Netherclift who not only created the first copies of the Victory Point Not #But also handled the Peglar Papers and used a so-far mysterious reagent to try to darken the ink for better transcription #I need to know who conserved them and how! #I've thought of naught else for days! #The Terror #Franklin Expedition #History #Historic Context #Historic Artefact #Peglar Papers #Research

[abstractmelons]

episode 9 of the terror is one of the best pieces of television ever produced, i truly feel physically unwell for the entire duration. i cry and i cry and its horrible and so lonely and yet so full of love.

#im hungry and i want to live #fuck my life #yer man who plays hickey does such a good fucking job #ive never hated anyone more #i fucking despise him #the c the c the open c #the lad who plays tozier is so fucking good as well #the soul bit #weeping #anyway i think about the real life situation and the peglar papers and i cry #i am so sad #i am sad and making myself sadder #slayyyyyy!!!!! #dont think whout current events lest u cry more #my nonsense #the terror #rewatching baby #god and fucking jopson.

[perenial]

guy whose only exposure to catastrophe is the space shuttle challenger disaster: getting a lot of space shuttle challenger disaster vibes from this doomed expedition

#gene.txt #polar history #stein makes a v convincing argument for gibson being the peglar papers skeleton but im still hashtag team tommy

[catilinas]

guy who only updates his phone every thousand years glad to discover that doing so has had no effect on the photo that the phone thinks was taken in the year 5494081

#it’s a page from the peglar papers too………… #beeps

[ellicler]

the typical way homophobia warps back around to become dripping with homoeroticism

simmons started with the premise 'how do i make my gay ex-couple celibate and pure as an angel's wing' and worked his way to 'i should make one of them not really gay just a kinsey 1 for this one guy only' (rediscovering a typical fandom strategy) and then he got to an eternal classic 'what if i was your student and fell in love with you for the very first time and you taught me everything both about life and about love' and then he shrugged and said 'good job and then they broke up amicably and never thought about it again'

#simmons is an insane little man! never thought twice before putting words to paper!! #the terror #peglar x bridgens #honestly gay & homophobic is the best thing for a story to be #like food without salt!! is gay fiction without the writer's homophobia!!

[luminiera-merge]

grrr unsure of what material to cover for my terror camp mini

#peglar papers + victory point note + rae's collected testimonies are a given #wonder if i should include irving and malcolm's letters #actually fitzjames has some fun stories so backstory on him probs #maybe the beechey island boys #i feel like a teacher putting together her curriculum for the term

[eiralivered]

can booktok review the peglar papers next

#the terror #the franklin expedition #henry peglar

[charlesdesvoeux]

Check out this truly beautiful video essay on the historical Franklin Expedition, both the book and TV show The Terror, the Peglar papers and queerness:

(thank you to @saints-who-never-existed for previously linking it here, which is how I found out about it!)

#historical #franklin expedition #the terror #video essay #john bridgens #henry peglar #harry peglar #bridglar #Youtube

[acheronist]

so as far as i can tell, he got hit with a moment of Existential Panic And Misery and then wrote down his account of his entire sailing career to add in next to his issued ID papers in the wallet. so if the wallet survived then we would know who he was. thanks bestie the clues did help.

#tho he did conveniently leave out the year (1833) where he got disrated and lashed for being drunk and mutinous (according to wikipedia) #and the wikipedia source is a e g jones cited so i trust it #but still. gay people lying on their resumes across time and space amen #anyways sorry about the damaged spots tho.. i'm doing my best. i'm certain a few words in here are wrong lol #his script is so faded and loopy.... #it gets really tough to trace/read properly in spots even with the photoshop editing etc #henry peglar #📜 #peglar papers

[the-holy-ghosted]

The mutuals are posting about the peglar papers on main lets all sit in a circle and cry about it

#the heron speaketh #the terror #henry peglar #peglar papers #i look at the images of those eroded pages and i start weeping WHERE is my post

[saints-who-never-existed]

Hello! Hope all is well!

Did you ever find out more about the preservation process of the Peglar Papers? I've been looking into it recently, as well, but all I've found is elusive at best. Aside from one inconclusive Netherclift also linked with the Victory Point Note, most names that pop out during the search focus more on the skelleton and the pocket-book's interpretation :/

Best regards, wish you the best in this bit of research!

Hey there, mate! Hope all is well with you too, whoever you are! :D

As things stand, I haven't been able to find out any further information about the conservation of the Peglar Papers, no.

That's in large part because life has gotten somewhat in the way for me and I haven't had sufficient time to devote to any proper research these past few weeks.

But even before that point, I seemed to have reached the same impasse that you did - finding some information about this mysterious Netherclift figure and the Victory Point Note, but little beyond that. As you say, all information out there really does seem to focus on the discovery of the skeleton and on attempted decodings of the Paper themselves, rather than on their conservation.

I think perhaps I might try to enquire more directly for information from the National Maritime Museum in the near future, though I truly don't know what information that might actually yield.

I have a suspicion, from examining all the digitised images of the Papers, that the conservation work undertaken on them is really quite historic, and what that may mean is that said work was not well documented (as is often the case with conservation treatments of the past).

But then again, I could be entirely wrong, and no one will be more delighted if that's the case than I will!

Do keep me posted, anonymous friend, if you do have any breakthroughs in the near future. :)

#Asks #Friendos! #The Terror #The Franklin Expedition #History #Historic Context #Historic Artefact #Peglar Papers #Henry Peglar

[borvooven]

Just read the Peglar papers. Oh man. Oh lord dear god. I need to lie down

The way the whole thing has terrible spelling and you can barely understand anything he wrote until it turns into a perfectly understandable, mostly correctly spelled poem about the sea at the very end and then that's just the last thing he wrote before dying. I can't

#not normal #franklin expedition #harry peglar #the terror

[solittles]

sobs because peglar papers. they exist. they were the notes of a guy who loved to play around with words and letters and art. he wrote and wrote and died, and we have so little to remember him by.

the c the c

come home to us, henry peglar

#elliot screams

[caleblandrybones]

god I'm answering a mutual's questions about the terror and the expedition and the peglar papers abd its been 45 minutes of me pacing around my block like a mad man. furiously texting

#i could be home!!! im right here