Abandoned
Abandoned

Author: A. L. Todd

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2017-01-12

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 1787208222

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Alden L. Todd’s Abandoned has been called “A model account of perhaps the most ill-fated and certainly the most grimly fascinating episode in the annals of Arctic exploration....” Working extensively with primary sources—official correspondence, diaries, letters, notes by the expedition’s participants and those left at home and in the nation’s capital—Alden Todd presents an evenhanded, elegantly written account of the greatest tragedy in the history of American arctic exploration: the Greely expedition of 1881-1884. Launched as part of the United States’ participation in the first International Polar Year, the expedition sent twenty-five volunteers to what is now Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic, off the northwest coast of Greenland, commanded by Adolphus Washington Greely, a thirty-seven-year-old lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps. The ship sent to resupply them in the summer of 1882 was forced to turn back before reaching the station, and the men were left to endure short rations and unbroken isolation at their icy base. When the second relief ship, sent in 1883, was crushed in the ice, Greely led his men south, following a prearranged plan. The crew spent a third and increasingly more wretched winter camped at Cape Sabine. Supplies ran out, the hunting failed, and men began to die of starvation. Abandoned is a gripping account of men battling for survival as they are pitted against the elements and each other. It is also the most complete and authentic account of the controversial Greely Expedition ever published, an exemplar of the best in chronicles of polar exploration.

Labyrinth of Ice
Labyrinth of Ice

Author: Buddy Levy

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2019-12-03

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1250182204

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

National Outdoor Book Awards Winner Winner of the BANFF Adventure Travel Award “A thrilling and harrowing story. If it’s a cliche to say I couldn’t put this book down, well, too bad: I couldn’t put this book down.” —Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins “Polar exploration is utter madness. It is the insistence of life where life shouldn’t exist. And so, Labyrinth of Ice shows you exactly what happens when the unstoppable meets the unmovable. Buddy Levy outdoes himself here. The details and story are magnificent.” —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration. In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global maps. Their goal: Farthest North. What would follow was one of the most extraordinary and terrible voyages ever made. Greely and his men confronted every possible challenge—vicious wolves, sub-zero temperatures, and months of total darkness—as they set about exploring one of the most remote, unrelenting environments on the planet. In May 1882, they broke the 300-year-old record, and returned to camp to eagerly await the resupply ship scheduled to return at the end of the year. Only nothing came. 250 miles south, a wall of ice prevented any rescue from reaching them. Provisions thinned and a second winter descended. Back home, Greely’s wife worked tirelessly against government resistance to rally a rescue mission. Months passed, and Greely made a drastic choice: he and his men loaded the remaining provisions and tools onto their five small boats, and pushed off into the treacherous waters. After just two weeks, dangerous floes surrounded them. Now new dangers awaited: insanity, threats of mutiny, and cannibalism. As food dwindled and the men weakened, Greely's expedition clung desperately to life. Labyrinth of Ice tells the true story of the heroic lives and deaths of these voyagers hell-bent on fame and fortune—at any cost—and how their journey changed the world.

Ghosts of Cape Sabine
Ghosts of Cape Sabine

Author: Leonard F. Guttridge

Publisher: Backinprint.com

Published: 2006-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780595409693

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Arctic's most notorious expedition . . . a true story of mutiny, madness, suicide, and cannibalism. In July 1881, 25 men set sail to establish a scientific base in the Arctic region. Three years later only six returned. Through private letters and diaries of the doomed men, Guttridge--author of "Icebound"--gives a day-by-day chronicle that is brilliantly told, unbelievable true, and absolutely unforgettable.

Three Years of Arctic Service
Three Years of Arctic Service

Author: Adolphus Washington Greely

Publisher:

Published: 1886

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Narrative of United States First International Polar Year expedition to Fort Conger, Ellesmere Island. Includes appendices on meteorology, zoology, botany, ethnology.

Trial by Ice
Trial by Ice

Author: Richard Parry

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2009-01-21

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0307492125

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“An extraordinary real-life adventure of men battling the elements and themselves, told with ice-cold precision.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In the dark years following the Civil War, America’s foremost Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall, became a figure of national pride when he embarked on a harrowing, landmark expedition. With financial backing from Congress and the personal support of President Grant, Captain Hall and his crew boarded the Polaris, a steam schooner carefully refitted for its rigorous journey, and began their quest to be the first men to reach the North Pole. Neither the ship nor its captain would ever return. What transpired was a tragic death and whispers of murder, as well as a horrifying ordeal through the heart of an Arctic winter, when men fought starvation, madness, and each other upon the ever-shifting ice. Trial by Ice is an incredible adventure that pits men against the natural elements and their own fragile human nature. In this powerful true story of death and survival, courage and intrigue aboard a doomed ship, Richard Parry chronicles one of the most astonishing, little known tragedies at sea in American history. “ABSORBING . . . Suspense builds as Parry describes the events leading up to Hall’s ‘murder,’ then climaxes in horrifying detail.” –Publishers Weekly “RIVETING.” –Library Journal

The Sea in World History [2 volumes]
The Sea in World History [2 volumes]

Author: Stephen K. Stein

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-04-24

Total Pages: 856

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This two-volume set documents the essential role of the sea and maritime activity across history, from travel and food production to commerce and conquest. In all eras, water transport has served as the cheapest and most efficient means of moving cargo and people over any significant distance. Only relatively recently have railroads and aircraft provided an alternative. Most of the world's bulk goods continue to travel primarily by ship over water. Even today, 95 percent of the cargo that enters and leaves the United States does so by ship. Similarly, people around the world rely on the sea for food, and in recent years, the sea has become an important source of oil and other resources, with the longterm effects of our continuing efforts to extract resources from the sea further highlighting environmental concerns that range from pollution to the exhaustion of fish stocks. This chronologically organized two-volume reference addresses the history of the sea, beginning with ancient civilizations (4000 to 1000 BCE) and ending with the modern era (1945 to the present day). Each of the eight chapters is further broken down into sections that focus on specific nations or regions, offering detailed descriptions of that area of the world and shorter entries on specific topics, individuals, and events. The book spans maritime history, covering major seafaring peoples and nations; famous explorers, travelers, and commanders; events, battles, and wars; key technologies, including famous ships; important processes and ongoing events, such as piracy and the slave trade; and more. Readers will benefit from dozens of primary source documents—ranging from ancient Egyptian tales of seafaring to texts by renowned travelers like Marco Polo, Zheng He, and Ibn Battuta—that provide firsthand accounts from the age of discovery as well as accounts of battle from World War I and II and more modern accounts of the sea.