Ghost hunt in the Arctic
QUESTION What is the story of Weasey, the ghost of an Irish girl who supposedly pointed out the final resting place of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition to find the Northwest Passage? Captain Sir John Franklin, a Royal navy officer and experienced explorer, had served on three previous arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer. His fourth and last, undertaken in 1845 when he was 59, was meant to traverse the last un-navigated section of the northwest passage.
the expedition consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS terror, each of which had seen antarctic service. they became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William island in the Canadian arctic, and the entire expedition, 129 men, including Franklin, was lost. their fate wasn’t discovered until 1857.
Until then the case of the lost ships became a public obsession. Speculation as to what had happened was rife. it was an era of sensitives, clairvoyants and mesmerists, and vivid accounts of the expedition were given in theatres and at private seances. in 1850, having received no word from Franklin, the admiralty sent out a search party.
One particular story seems to have gained some credence. Louisa Coppin (known to her family as ‘Weasey’), the four-year-old daughter of Captain William Coppin, a Board of trade surveyor in Londonderry, died of gastric fever in 1849.
the family took her l oss hard and continued to set a place for her at the dinner table. Some months after her death, her older sister anne, along with other siblings, began to report seeing a strange blue light which would draw and write on the wall.
One night, one of the children, aged seven, told her aunt the words ‘Mr Mackay is dead’ had appeared on the wall. Mr Mackay, a banker in the town well-known to the children, was found dead in the morning.
the mystery of Franklin’s f ate was agitating the country at the time and it occurred to the children next to question the light as to the location of the lost arctic expedition.
the response was astonishing: an arctic scene, in the form of a chart, was created in front of their eyes, along with the words ‘Erebus and terror, Sir John Franklin, Lancaster Sound, prince Regent inlet, point Victory, Victoria Channel’. the children reported this to their father who was eventually persuaded of their sincerity. a second vision, with Captain Coppin present, produced the same results, as did — if later accounts can be credited — a third seance in the presence of a William Kennedy, whom Lady Franklin asked to investigate the credibility of the story. He supposedly came away convinced the story was true and it persuaded him to embark on the first relief expedition.
inclement weather prevented Kennedy from carrying out the instructions on his expedition and they weren’t followed until the Fox sailed in 1857, under Captain Francis Leopold McClintock.
the Weasey revelations weren’t published in full until 1889, when a Rev Skewes published a book elaborating on them.
this brought strong objections from none other than McClintock, who wrote to the pall Mall Gazette declaring ‘the whole story of the Londonderry vision is so ridiculous that i hesitate to mention it’. He denied he had ever been instructed by Lady Franklin to follow its directions. nevertheless, it has continued to haunt the Franklin story, inspiring a novel (Liam Browne’s the Emigrant’s Farewell) as well as a scene in John Walker’s 2008 film, passage.
Pete Welham, Swanage, Dorset. QUESTION On the A40 in Wales there is a village called Bwlch. Are there any other British place names without a vowel? tHERE are many examples of Welsh names without English vowels, but it should be noted that the Welsh alphabet has, in addition to the five vowels in English, the vowels ‘w’ and ‘y’, making a total of seven. the consonants ‘k’, ‘q’ and ‘v’ don’t exist in the Welsh alphabet.
n. Thomas, Cheadle, Cheshire. iF YOU do not consider ‘y’ a vowel, there are many examples, mainly Welsh, but also a number of English and one Scottish they include Blyth (northumberland and notts), Bryn (Carms, Ches, S. Wales and Shrops), Bryngwyn (Cardigan, Mons, pembs and powys), Bwlch (powys), Bwlchgwyn (n. Wales), Clyth (n. Scot), Cwm (S. Wales and n. Wales), Cwmystwyth (Cardigan), Cwrt (Cardigan), Cynwd (n. Wales), Dryslwyn (Carms), Glyntwymyn (Cardigan), Llwyn (Mid Wales), Llwyndyrys (Caernavon), Llynclys (n. Wales), Lydd (E. Sussex), Lymm ( Ches), Lyng ( norfolk and Somerset), Lyth (n. Scot), pwll (S. Wales), Rhyd (Ceredigon, Gwynedd and powys), tywyn (n. Wales), Wyck (Hants), Ynysbwl (S. Wales), Ysbyty Cynfyn (Cardigan), Ysbyty Ystwyth (Cardigan).
Cliff Crinks, Clay Cross, Derbys. QUESTION Which is the largest coin in the world in general global circulation? tHat would be the Costa Rican 500 colones, roughly equivalent to the U.S. dollar in value and 33mm in diameter. it is not much bigger than the old 50p. the next largest is the australian 50 cent piece at 32mm.
it could be argued that the Eisenhower (‘ike’) dollar, issued by the U.S. mint from 1971 to 1978, is the largest in circulation. it was 38.1mm in diameter.
two versions were made: a 40 per cent silver version that weighed 25g and a copper-nickel version weighing 22.68g. these are still legal tender, but there are not many in general use. the silver version is worth about £3 in silver alone.
another interesting coin is the Maria theresa silver thaler. in 1740 Maria teresa (1717-1780) became the only female head of the Habsburg dynasty. She was Holy Roman Empress, queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and archduchess of austria.
in the mid-18th century, the austrian empire’s powerful political position and geographical location resulted in high levels of trade with Mediterranean and near-Eastern countries, and the coin became particularly popular in the Middle East and north-Eastern africa. it was used for trade with such countries as india and China, where silver was a l ong established measure of value.
these coins were 83 per cent silver, 39.55mm in diameter and weighed 28g.
When empress Maria theresa died in 1780, the coin remained in production purely for trade purposes.
in the first half of the 19th century, it was produced i n the austrian mints of Kremnitz, Karlsburg, prague, Milan and Venice, but production was subsequently restricted to Vienna.
Eric Rolley, Derby.
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