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Title: Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition by Scott Cookman ISBN: 0-471-37790-2 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 21 January, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.52 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Spielberg should make it a movie!
Comment: Years ago I had read a National Geographic article about the discovery of the frozen bodies of three seamen from an ill fated expedition to explore the Arctic for the fabled Northwest Passage. The modern discoverers of the remains were scientists who performed an onsite autopsy to determine the cause of death, as the scope of the disaster had left many unanswered questions since it's occurrence in the mid-19th Century. The amount of knowledge that was gained after more than a century post mortem was impressive, and left a lasting memory of the unfortunate expedition: The Franklin Polar Expedition. When I saw the summary for the book The Ice Blink, I was immediately captured by the Franklin subject, and got the book.
The volume reads like a novel, written as it is by a well researched journalist rather than an historian. I read it in a single day, almost in a single sitting, so riveting is its human detail. The author covers the topic lengthily, including other equally unfortunate attempts to search for the passage to the Pacific by way of the northern most reaches of North America. He details the careers of the various officers as well as that of the Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, Sir John Barrow, who was as much a part of the events as any of the actual participants. He outlines the background of many of the enlisted men, and points out the financial incentives that encouraged them to go on the discovery voyage. He also points out that few who had been on one before, were actually willing to go for any amount of money!
Cookman's biography of the titular leader of the expedition, Sir John Franklin is illuminating, but that of the captain of the Terror is by far the most interesting. Francis Croiser was passed over as leader of the expedition on the basis of his social and ethnic status (Irish middle class) but was the most experienced of the officers with the rigors of polar exploration. It was ultimately on his shoulders that command fell after the early death of Franklin, and under the worst of all possible conditions. From physical remains found at the site of the abandoned ships and strewn across the landscape following the doomed men's path, it would appear that the flight from the pack ice in which both ships had been imprisoned for almost 18 months had been well and carefully planned by Croiser, and except for the desperation and hopelessness of their situation might well have brought a few home. He certainly seems to have given them the only real hope they had of survival.
The author paints a vivid picture of the retreat of the men, using the 19th Century reports of efforts to find survivors, those of modern investigators of known sites (like that mentioned above) and of reports by other explorers and natives who accidentally discovered remains. Putting the story together with what is known of other polar expeditions, what is known of the 19th Century naval organization, and the society of the time, and the information about the Arctic that 20th Century polar expeditions have given us, Cookman provides the reader with a thoroughly convincing tale of the early conditions of exploration.
What makes the story most intriguing, though, is the probable cause of the disaster itself, which turns out to have been staggering greed, incredible double dealing and total indifference to the fate and well being of others. There is definitely a message to the modern world in the tale of the "lowest bidder!" Steven Spielberg should make a movie of the entire affair! Read it, and see if you don't agree!
Rating: 3
Summary: More than Slightly Speculative
Comment: One reviewer has called the book "slightly speculative." That is too charitable. Cookman generally does not contradict known facts about the Franklin expedition, but he invents much more detail than he has evidence to support. The book is unsuitable for academic purposes, but it provides a compelling, though at times poorly written, story. I do not wish to be too harsh on the book. To its credit, many of Cookman's speculations are reasonable and provide information that serious historians withhold in their books on the expedition. It is best to read one of the many other books on the topic in order to know what parts of Ice Blink to trust, and which to take with a grain of salt.
Rating: 5
Summary: FANTASTIC
Comment: I was flipping the channels on early Sunday morning when for some reason I stopped on Book TV on C-Span 2 and caught Scott Cookman talking about the search for the Northwest Passege. It was the Apollo mission of its time. I have read a number books over Sir John Franklin Polar Expedition and this one by far is the best. Polar Exploration the 1800's was pretty dicey, even today it is. If you have any interest Polar Expedions and true mystery this is your book and it all rally happend.
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Title: Fatal Passage: The Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot by Kenneth McGoogan, Ken McGoogan ISBN: 0786709936 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub. Date: 10 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Frozen in Time: Unlocking the Secrets of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie, John Geiger ISBN: 0452265371 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: December, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909 by Pierre Berton ISBN: 1585741167 Publisher: The Lyons Press Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole by Leonard F. Guttridge, Loenard F. Guttridge ISBN: 0425181782 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition by Leonard F. Guttridge ISBN: 0425176541 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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