There will be a short ceremony today, 30 September, at the graveside of Dr John Rae, in St Magnus Cathedral Kirkyard, on this the anniversary of the Arctic explorer’s birth.

A piper will lead those who wish to take part from the entrance at the War Memorial. Please meet from 11.30am for the walk to Dr John Rae’s graveside for midday.

John Rae grew up at the Hall of Clestrain, Orphir, and there are ambitious plans to restore the building by the John Rae Society.

John Rae trained as a surgeon at Edinburgh University, later spending much of his life in Canada, working for the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company.  

He travelled over 22,000 miles making many of the original maps in northern & north western Canada.

Apart from discovering the North West Passage’s final link between the Atlantic, northwards & westwards to the Pacific, he also established what happened to the loss of the 120 men & two ships of the Franklin Expedition in the area.

John Rae learned this from local Innuit inhabitants. The 120 men all died in the harsh Canadian winter, after their ships were crushed by the ice in the far north of Canada.

You can find out more about John Rae and about the Franklin expedition in past articles published by The Orkney News – use the search engine on our website to discover them.

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