There is science, there is bad science, there is propaganda and then there is spitting on graves.
I recently wrote about Robert McClure, the man who finally proved the existence of a North West passage, in fact the most direct passage out of a number of alternatives.
The wreck of Robert McClure's ship HMS Investigator was recently found where it had been abandoned.
Please note these simple-to-understand and easily-verified historic facts:
1 - the ship sailed along the coast from Alaska, entered the Prince of Wales Strait, overwintered near the end and then attempted to circumnavigate Bank's Island. The ship was eventually abandoned in Mercy Bay, Banks Island where her wreck lies to this day.
2 - the point where HMS Investigator was abandoned is just inside the entrance to the main North West Passage.
3 - in 1944 the RCMP St. Roch became the first vessel ever to complete the journey through the main NWP that Robert McClure discovered.
4 - the search for the NWP cost many lives. HMS Investigator was just one of many ships sent to search for the lost Franklin Expedition - a search which revealed that all 128 men had perished.
5 - three crew from HMS Investigator died and were buried on Banks Island, where their graves have been discovered near the wreck site.
6 - the exceptional melting of Arctic sea ice over the course of decades led this year - for the first time ever - to a completely ice free area around the expected location of the wreck. This meant that there was ample opportunity to search extensively in ice-free waters for the wreck.
All of these facts are known to anyone with an interest in the history of Arctic discovery. These entirely uncontroversial facts have been reported fairly accurately by the media.
Here is a verbatim quote from hockeyschtick.blogspot.com
The HMS Investigator was abandoned in 1853, but not before sailing the last leg of the elusive Northwest Passage. The ship had been sent on a rescue mission for 2 other ships mapping the Northwest Passage. Now, thanks to "climate change," archaeologists working for Parks Canada were finally able to plot a small window of time this summer to allow passage to the ship's location:HMS Investigator, far from "sailing the last leg" of the NWP barely even entered it. The journey was continued on foot.
Until the Gjoa in 1903-1906 nobody - I repeat - nobody sailed the complete NWP.
The hockeyschtick nonsense was linked by WUWT in an article. Watts, cherry-picker par excellence, quotes the hockeyschmuck but leaves out the claim about "sailing the last leg", thus depriving his readers of a clue to the fact that someone is spouting unmitigated garbage.
Watts asks, in Climate Craziness of the Week: NW Passage open “first time in history” and all that… Posted on August 6, 2010 by Anthony Watts
If we are seeing “unprecedented” global temperatures and changes in
Arctic sea ice, how did the HMS Investigator get this far north
at the end of the Little Ice Age?
The answer is that while other ships were trying to get that far north from Baffin Bay and failing, HMS Investigator - having sailed mainly east through seasonally open waters off the coasts of Alaska and Canada - was trying to get south from a narrow inshore lead - and failing.
I have the greatest admiration and respect for anyone who will place themselves in grave danger for the benefit of mankind. I especially salute those who have given their lives in the pursuit of Arctic knowledge.
I despise anyone who would metaphorically spit on the graves of such heroes to score political propaganda points.
Discussion:
Given all of the widely known historical facts, why would anybody want to misinform the general public about the state of the Arctic in 1853 under the guise of climate science?
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