Across the Top of the World

Across the Top of the World PDF Author: James P. Delgado
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Limited
ISBN: 9781553651598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Across the Top of the World is a tale that rivals the story of Antarctic exploration for heroism, drama and tragedy. In the great age of Exploration, the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage lured bold adventurers to the icy Arctic. They risked and sometimes lost their lives in search of a sea route across the top of the world, connecting Europe with Asia and its riches. This spellbinding saga of Arctic exploration is brought to life by quotations from grim first-hand accounts and by dramatic images, ICC colour and 100 black and white. These paintings, engravings and photos of the intrepid men and their ships, as well as of relics and archaeological sites, provide a poignant and compelling link with the past. Landscapes and seascapes of the harsh yet beautiful Arctic illustrate the challenges that faced explorers. The Inuit, the native people of the Arctic, lived in isolation until Europeans began to arrive in the sixteenth century, and relations were not always cordial. For centuries, nations sent out expedition after expedition to search for the Northwest Passage, each one suffering extreme hardship. The most tragic was the mysterious loss of Sir John Franklin, his 128 men and two ships in the 1840s. Attempts to sail the dangerous, icy maze of the passage ended in defeat until Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen succeeded in 1903-1906. Then, in the 1940s, to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, St. Koch, became the second vessel to conquer the passage. This set the stage for the modern phase of Arctic exploration utilizing icebreakers and American nuclear-powered submarines. James Delgado writes with the passion and authority of an underwater archaeologist and historian who has taken part in Arctic expeditions.

Across the Top of the World

Across the Top of the World PDF Author: James P. Delgado
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Limited
ISBN: 9781553651598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Get Book Here

Book Description
Across the Top of the World is a tale that rivals the story of Antarctic exploration for heroism, drama and tragedy. In the great age of Exploration, the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage lured bold adventurers to the icy Arctic. They risked and sometimes lost their lives in search of a sea route across the top of the world, connecting Europe with Asia and its riches. This spellbinding saga of Arctic exploration is brought to life by quotations from grim first-hand accounts and by dramatic images, ICC colour and 100 black and white. These paintings, engravings and photos of the intrepid men and their ships, as well as of relics and archaeological sites, provide a poignant and compelling link with the past. Landscapes and seascapes of the harsh yet beautiful Arctic illustrate the challenges that faced explorers. The Inuit, the native people of the Arctic, lived in isolation until Europeans began to arrive in the sixteenth century, and relations were not always cordial. For centuries, nations sent out expedition after expedition to search for the Northwest Passage, each one suffering extreme hardship. The most tragic was the mysterious loss of Sir John Franklin, his 128 men and two ships in the 1840s. Attempts to sail the dangerous, icy maze of the passage ended in defeat until Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen succeeded in 1903-1906. Then, in the 1940s, to assert Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, St. Koch, became the second vessel to conquer the passage. This set the stage for the modern phase of Arctic exploration utilizing icebreakers and American nuclear-powered submarines. James Delgado writes with the passion and authority of an underwater archaeologist and historian who has taken part in Arctic expeditions.

Arctic Labyrinth

Arctic Labyrinth PDF Author: Glyn Williams
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520269950
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
The elusive dream of locating the Northwest Passage--an ocean route over the top of North America that promised a shortcut to the fabulous wealth of Asia--obsessed explorers for centuries. Until recently these channels were hopelessly choked by impassible ice. Voyagers faced unimaginable horrors--entire ships crushed, mass starvation, disabling frostbite, even cannibalism--in pursuit of a futile goal. Glyn Williams charts the entire sweep of this extraordinary history, from the tiny, woefully equipped vessels of the first Tudor expeditions to the twentieth-century ventures that finally opened the Passage.

Rowing the Northwest Passage

Rowing the Northwest Passage PDF Author: Kevin Vallely
Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd
ISBN: 1771641355
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
"Vallely transports the reader to places few will ever go: the very edges of the earth and of human endurance." —Evan Solomon In this gripping first-hand account, four seasoned adventurers navigate a sophisticated, high-tech rowboat across the Northwest Passage. One of the "last firsts" remaining in the adventure world, this journey is only possible because of the dramatic impacts of global warming in the high Arctic, which provide an ironic opportunity to draw attention to the growing urgency of climate change. Along the way, the team repeatedly face life-threatening danger from storms unparalleled in their ferocity and unpredictability and bears witness to unprecedented changes in the Arctic habitat and inhabitants, while weathering gale-force vitriol from climate change deniers who have taken to social media to attack them and undermine their efforts.

Voyages of Delusion

Voyages of Delusion PDF Author: Glyndwr Williams
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300098662
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
Describes the expeditions embarked upon by sailors and speculators to navigate the Northwest Passage during the Age of Reason in the eighteenth century.

Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage PDF Author: Stan Rogers
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
ISBN: 1554984033
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration Award-winning artist Matt James takes the iconic song "Northwest Passage" by legendary Canadian songwriter and singer Stan Rogers and tells the dramatic story of the search for the elusive route through the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific, which for hundreds of years and once again today, nations, explorers and commercial interests have dreamt of conquering, often with tragic consequences. For hundreds of years explorers attempted to find the Northwest Passage - a route through Canada's northern waters to the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Others attempted to find a land route. Many hundreds of men perished in the attempt, until finally, in 1906, Roald Amundsen completed the voyage by ship. Today global warming has brought interest in the passage back to a fever pitch as nations contend with each other over its control and future uses. The historic search inspired Canadian folk musician Stan Rogers to write "Northwest Passage", a song that has become a widely known favorite since its 1981 release. It describes Stan's own journey overland as he contemplates the arduous journeys of some of the explorers, including Kelsey, Mackenzie, Thompson and especially Franklin. The song is moving and haunting, a paean to the adventurous spirit of the explorers and to the beauty of the vast land and icy seas. The lyrics are accompanied by the striking paintings of multiple award-winning artist Matt James. Matt brings a unique vision to the song and the history behind it, providing commentary on the Franklin expedition and its failure to heed the wisdom of Inuit living in the North. The book also contains the music for the song (as well as a final verse that was never recorded), maps, a timeline of Arctic exploration, mini-biographies and portraits of the principal explorers, and suggestions for further reading. Following on the success of Canadian Railroad Trilogy, this is another beautiful book in which a memorable song illuminates a fascinating history that has taken on new resonance today.

The Arctic Grail

The Arctic Grail PDF Author: Pierre Berton
Publisher: New York, NY : Lyons Press
ISBN: 9781585741168
Category : Arctic regions
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Author of many books relating to places and historical periods, Berton describes the dozens of expeditions mounted and hundreds of men lost trying to find the fabled Passage and Pole before Robert Peary reached the Pole in 1909. He draws on primary documents including hand-written journals, ship logs, and private diaries. c. Book News Inc.

Arctic Exploration in the Nineteenth Century

Arctic Exploration in the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Frédéric Regard
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317321529
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Focusing on nineteenth-century attempts to locate the northwest passage, the essays in this volume present this quest as a central element of British culture.

The Search for the North West Passage

The Search for the North West Passage PDF Author: Ann Savours
Publisher: New York : St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 9780312223724
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Savours examines the British encounters with the Esquimaux (Eskimo) and their assistance in charting the Arctic archipelago, the way yearly ice floes affected each expedition, and the boats, diet, and clothing of the early explorers. 85 illustrations.

The Man who Ate His Boots

The Man who Ate His Boots PDF Author: Anthony Brandt
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0224082310
Category : Arctic regions
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
Brandt tells the fascinating whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration through its development into a British national obsession to the final sordid, terrible descent into scurvy, starvation, and cannibalism.

Graves of Ice

Graves of Ice PDF Author: John Wilson
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
ISBN: 1443107948
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
A dramatic Arctic adventure set during Sir John Franklin's doomed search for the Northwest Passage George Chambers is a fourteen-year-old aboard HMS Erebus, one of two ships under the command of Sir John Franklin on his quest to discover the Northwest Passage. But when the Erebus and Terror are trapped in crushing ice, 129 men of the crew die from cold, scurvy, and starvation. Only two remain alive when George begins to recount his story: himself and Commander James Fitzjames. As his strength dwindles and starvation weakens him, George recalls the events that led him to Canada's desolate North, and the expedition's failure -- including gravediggers, a close call with a polar bear, standing up against sailors threatening mutiny, and his own impending death. George does not know whether the story he tells will be all that survives of Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition.