Built in 1826, the HMS Erebus didn't do much of note until its 1839-43 Antarctic expeditions, where she ventured further south than anyone had ever been. That success made her an obvious choice to go the other direction in 1845, looking for the Northwest Passage. She was never seen again. Many search attempts yielded little until years later, when graves, cairns, tins, and other evidence eventually revealed that the crew had survived until 1848, when they abandoned ship. They were all dead by 1850. The Erebus was found just 36 ft under water in 2014.
This is a great book. Any journeys into the polar regions are filled with both dreadful suspense and epic boredom, and author Palin did a good job knowing when to dwell on, and when to accelerate, the story. The harrowing but successful journeys in the Antarctic then shift to the optimism, then panic, then searches in the Arctic. It is a fascinating look at the age of discovery, science at the time, polar adventures, and the goals of an age.
Rating: A
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