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Title: Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole by Leonard F. Guttridge, Loenard F. Guttridge ISBN: 0-425-18178-2 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Author overstates case of "conspiracy" in story of lost ship
Comment: This was the third nautical disaster book I read in the last couple of years, after Caroline Alexander's "The Endurance" and Nathaniel Philbrick's "Heart of the Sea". I might have liked this better if I'd read it first, but it doesn't compare to Alexander and Philbrick's better-written, more gripping books. (I now realize I only got the book because I confused it with Jennifer Niven's "Ice Master".)
The Jeannette sailed in 1879 hoping to reach the North Pole via the Bering Strait. The voyage was based on a disastrous theory then in vogue that a warm current from the Pacific flowed through the Bering and created a temperate, ice-free zone around the Pole. The Jeannette was quickly trapped in the ice, where it remained for two winters until the ice crushed the boat. The crew tried to make the Siberian shore in three lifeboats, which became separated (after dragging the boats a long distance across pack ice). One boat foundered in a gale, and all but two members of another boat died of starvation and exposure.
Guttridge wildly overplays his claims of a "conspiracy" to keep the true story submerged. Over the course a couple of years in the ice, people got on each other's nerves and some petty arguments intensified. This is hardly shocking. Did Capt. DeLong underutilize the half-blinded but hale Officer Danenhower during the ice crossing? Was DeLong too harsh toward the meteorologist Collins? Did engineer Melville wait too long in the village of Zemovialach before going to Bulun to start the search for DeLong's party? Perhaps, but the book never provides any reason to think that the death toll would have been any less otherwise. Guttridge's conspiracy seems mostly an attempt by the Navy to respect the dead by not publicizing the squabbles between crew members. The plodding pacing isn't helped by devoting chapters to DeLong's courtship with his wife and the provisioning of the ship.
(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)
Rating: 4
Summary: Plodding narrative diminishes the amazing story
Comment: Pedestrian prose abounds in this tale of an astonishing adventure that has messages for everyone. How vanity and position will cover the truth. How armchair theoreticians do not imagine their speculative webs will claim human lives. How foolish rivalries within the military will cost lives. How the dead are easily blamed whenever convenient. How reputations can be preserved or enhanced by judicious truth telling and equally judicious truth avoiding. How politics affects everything that happens in Washington, and pious politicians can mouth words that they know are a lie, all the while claiming to be "for the children" or some such [slop.]
No, this isn't today's news, but the unknown story of a very early, very poorly planned, polar expedition. No need for a summary, it is already here. But this book tells a tale of amazing endurance and staggering bravery that shames those of us sitting in warm houses with tennis elbow or a sore throat. What man can accomplish is truly astounding.
I wish the author had included a few maps of the locations; these are not easy places to locate in an atlas. And the spare writing wrings some of the joy from it; I had to remind myself of just what an amazing tale this was. I don't want shrieking, but the laconic style diminishes a tale of heroism rarely seen. A worthy read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Another Fine Arctic Adventure Tinged with Politica Intrigue
Comment: Icebound (The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole) is not quite as exciting as the same author's, Leonard F. Guttridge, book The Ghosts of Cape Sabine. But this should still satisfy those seeking another chance to spend some time in an arctic adventure (even on this chilly winter days) and will only dissappoint those who seek a hint of cannibalism with their tale. This book has all the other usual elements of these stores, though, including betrayal, heroism, scientic stupidity, and, most of all, sheer perseverance in the face of insurmountable obstacles. This book also has a little political subterfuge to add to the mix. Another exciting re-addition to the polar canon.
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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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Title: Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven ISBN: 0786884460 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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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: In the Land of White Death by David Roberts, Jon Krakauer, Alison Anderson, Valerian Albanov, Valerian Albanov ISBN: 067978361X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 04 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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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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