A biography of John Rae (1813-1893). Born in Orkney, Rae qualified as a surgeon working for the Hudson's Bay Company in Ontario, Canada. He developed a reputation for stamina and his use of snowshoes, learning to live off the land while travelling long distances, adopting and learning the ways of indigenous Arctic peoples. Rae went on to explore the Gulf of Boothia and made three voyages along the Arctic coastline from 1848?1851. In 1854, back in the Gulf of Boothia, he obtained credible information from local Inuit peoples about the fate of the Franklin Expedition which had disappeared in 1848. His report to the Admiralty included evidence that cannibalism had been a last resort for some of the survivors. Franklin's widow Lady Jane Franklin was outraged and recruited many important supporters, including Charles Dickens, to condemn Rae for daring to suggest Royal Navy sailors would have resorted to cannibalism. Rae's reputation was ruined and although he had discovered the final link in the North-West passage, he was shunned by the establishment at the time and his achievements never recognised.