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Explore: A Canadian Geographic podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Canadian Geographic
Host David McGuffin talks to Canada’s greatest explorers about their adventures and what inspires their spirit of discovery.
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- 2 weeks ago46 min
HMCS Canada: The forgotten ship that built a navy with Joseph Frey
What does a ship that sank a century ago off the Florida Keys have to do with the birth of the Royal Canadian Navy?Quite a lot, as it turns out.Before there was a Royal Canadian Navy, there was the HMCS Canada, a steel-hulled vessel that trained Canada's first naval officers, escorted First World War convoys, survived the Halifax Explosion, and helped lay the foundations of a young nation's naval service. Yet despite its remarkable legacy, most Canadians have never heard of it.In this episode of Explore, host David McGuffin sits down with naval historian, underwater archaeologist and former Royal Canadian Navy officer Joseph Frey to tell the extraordinary story of Canada's forgotten first warship: the HMSC Canada. From its launch in 1904 to its wartime service and eventual sinking off the Florida Keys in 1926, Frey traces the unlikely journey of a vessel that helped shape Canadian history.The conversation also follows a modern RCGS Flagged expedition, led by Frey, to the wreck nearly a century after the ship's loss. Using advanced diving techniques and 3D photogrammetry, Frey and his team documented the wreck, answered long-standing questions about how it sank, and helped restore HMCS Canada's place in Canada's historical memory.Along the way, Frey reflects on his role in the discovery of HMS Erebus, the enduring appeal of underwater exploration, and why forgotten stories like HMCS Canada still matter today.Whether you're listening in a car, a canoe, a sailboat, a dock, or somewhere along Canada's coastline, this is a story of exploration, naval history, and the remarkable rediscovery of a ship that helped build a nation.Joseph Frey is Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, a Fellow of The Explorers Club, a naval historian, an underwater archaeologist, and a retired Royal Canadian Navy officer. He was a member of the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition that discovered HMS Erebus, one of Sir John Franklin's lost ships, and has spent decades researching and documenting Canada's maritime history both above and below the waterline.Recommended episodesMichael Palin — Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic VoyagesJill Heinerth — Bell Island's U-Boat WrecksUnder the Ice — Andrew Bramburger and Andrew BudziakCredits:Closing music is Heart of Oak, the official march of the Royal Canadian Navy played by the RCN's Stadacona Band. Halifax, NS.Explore: A Canadian Geographic Podcast is hosted by David McGuffin.Produced by David McGuffin and ExploreProductions.ca in partnership with Canadian Geographic.Canadian Geographic:Editor-in-chief: Alexandra PopeDigital and travel editor: Madigan CotterillDigital marketing manager: Caroline WorkmanFor more stories of adventure, science, history, and exploration, visit canadiangeographic.ca
- 4 weeks ago31 min
The Guess Who's Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman on Canadian music, travel and the prairies
What do endless prairie highways, a runaway tour bus, a hockey stick used as cruise control, and one of the greatest Canadian rock bands of all time have in common?Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman have the stories.From overpacked motel rooms on the road, to their tour bus almost going off a cliff in B.C., to witnessing polar bear attacks in Churchill, to revealing the real inspiration behind hits like American Woman and Undun, Bachman and Cummings share unforgettable stories from more than six decades of music, friendship, and life on the road.Along the way, they explain why the wide-open spaces of the Canadian prairies continue to inspire them, how growing up in Winnipeg helped nurture one of Canada's greatest songwriting partnerships, and why, after touring the world, they still feel most at home where "you can see forever." Whether you're listening from a canoe, a campsite, or somewhere along a Canadian highway, this is a conversation about music, memory, friendship, and the prairie landscapes that helped shape one of Canada's greatest rock bands.CreditsExplore: A Canadian Geographic Podcast is hosted by David McGuffin.Produced by David McGuffin and ExploreProductions.ca in partnership with Canadian Geographic.Canadian Geographic:Editor-in-chief: Alexandra PopeDigital and travel editor: Madigan CotterillDigital marketing manager: Caroline WorkmanFor more stories of adventure, science, history, and exploration, visit canadiangeographic.ca
- Jun 16, 20261h 15m
Sing Louder, Paddle Harder: Exploring Canada's Arctic rivers with Ted Johnson
In this episode of Explore, host David McGuffin sits down with lawyer, conservationist, former senior aide to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and one of Canada's most accomplished Arctic paddlers, Ted Johnson.For more than two decades, Johnson and a remarkable group of friends, including diplomats, journalists, cabinet ministers, and occasionally Pierre Trudeau himself, set out each summer to canoe some of the most remote rivers in northern Canada. From the Hood and Coppermine rivers to little-known rivers on Banks Island and Ellesmere Island, Johnson shares stories of first descents, close calls, vast caribou migrations, and landscapes few Canadians will ever see. Along the way, he reflects on a changing Arctic, the evolution of wilderness travel, and what it was like to paddle and camp alongside one of Canada's most transformational Prime Ministers. This captivating episode explores a remarkable era of northern exploration and the enduring pull of Canada's wild rivers.Ted Johnson is a lawyer, conservationist, pilot, and former senior advisor to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. An Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of both the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Royal Geographical Society, he has spent decades exploring Canada's North by canoe, helping document and promote some of the country's most remote wilderness rivers.To learn more about the paddling adventures of Johnson and his friends, Sing Louder, Paddle Harder, edited by his colleague Robert Fowler, contains hundreds of images and stories from across the Arctic. CreditsExplore: A Canadian Geographic Podcast is hosted by David McGuffin.Produced by David McGuffin and ExploreProductions.ca in partnership with Canadian Geographic. Editor-in-chief: Alexandra Pope Digital and travel editor: Madigan Cotterill Digital marketing manager: Caroline Workman For more stories of adventure, science, history, and exploration, visit CanadianGeographic.caFollow Explore wherever you get your podcasts and leave a rating or review if you enjoy the show.
- Jun 2, 202648 min
Retracing a historic fur trade route across Quebec with Bruno Forest
For 97 days, this team of six paddled 1,200 kilometres in hand-built canoes from Tadoussac to Waskaganish, Que. while tracing a historic fur trade route
- May 19, 202649 min
Life at the edge of the world with Louise K. Blight
The conservation scientist and seabird researcher shares her insights on studying Adélie penguins in Antarctica and what it’s like to live in one of Earth’s most remote research stations
- May 5, 202643 min
Into the Carpathians: Skiing Ukraine’s highest peaks with Laval St. Germain
The Canadian explorer highlights the impacts of war on wildlife as well as people, what Kyiv is like today, and Ukraine’s shifting landscape
- Apr 21, 202646 min
Beneath the ice: The hidden life of Canada’s frozen lakes with Andrew Budziak and Andy Bramburger
In the frigid underwater ecosystems of Canada’s frozen lakes, these explorers are revealing what lies beneath the ice. Plus, climate impacts, citizen science, and what it’s really like to dive below the surface.
- Apr 7, 202649 min
Searching for life beyond Earth with Sara Seager
The Toronto-born astrophysicist and MIT planetary scientist shares her thoughts on deep space, leading robot missions to Venus and more
About Explore: A Canadian Geographic podcast
Host David McGuffin talks to Canada’s greatest explorers about their adventures and what inspires their spirit of discovery.
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