John Rae

Orcadian John Rae was born on September 30, 1813.  Rae is known as an explorer of Northern Canada.  Rae traveled to Canada to work as a surgeon for the Hudson Bay Company.  While there, he met and befriended local Inuits, a connection which significantly contributed to his success as an explorer.  Rae has a strait, ariver, an isthmus, a mount, a fort, and a village named after him.  More importantly for Walter Scott's work, Rae had two older sisters.

Scott visited Orkney on his trip to the Northern Lights.  On August 16, 1814, he visited Clestrain House, which is where Rae was born.  While there he met Rae's sisters who, as explained on the Orkney Boat House website (http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/obm/index.asp?pageid=2659) became the models for sisters Minna and Brenda in Scott's novel; "The Pirate".