HMS Erebus

HMS ‘Erebus’ Passing Through the Chain of Bergs,1842 by Richard Brydges Beechey || Oil on canvas, 78.8 x 111.76 cm || Collection: National Maritime Museum

I have talked about this episode separately when I went to see the exhibition in the British Museum (haven't blogged the photos yet…) but when I saw this painting, it was truly earth shattering.

Here’s the story of HMS Erebus. What an extraordinary story of exploration and discovery and and the truly tragic end of the brave ship and its men.

Salutations.

FT.com / World - Russia plants its flag on North Pole seabed

quite interesting move actually. Reminds me of how the antartica treaty came about. The main itnerested countries came around and hammered out a treaty to share the ice continent equally. Mind you, the convention on the regulation of antartica's mineral resource activity has never come into force even thought it has been signed. Perhaps this is an opportunity for the United Nations to get involved and hammer out a good treaty to look after both the poles. Otherwise this has all the signs of a festering sore which will erupt the next time a country decides to go drill into some icy wastes for oil and gas.