Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage - Softcover

Williams, Glyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141037156 ISBN 13: 9780141037158

Publisher: Penguin, 2011

Synopsis

For centuries British navigators dreamt of finding the Northwest Passage - the route over the top of North America that would open up the fabulous wealth of Asia to British merchants. We know now that, while several such passages exist, during the period of the search by sailing vessels they were choked by impassable ice. But this knowledge was slowly won, as expedition after expedition, under the most terrible conditions, slowly filled in the sailors' patchy and sometimes fatally misleading charts.

Arctic Labyrinth tells this extraordinary story with great skill and brilliance. From the tiny, woefully equipped ships of the first Tudor expeditions, to the icebreakers and nuclear submarines of the modern era, Glyn Williams describes how every form of ingenuity has been used to break through or try to get round the nightmarish ice barriers set in a maze of sterile islands. The heroism, folly and horror of these voyages seem almost unbelievable, with entire ships crushed, mass starvation, epics of endurance - and all in pursuit of a goal that ultimately proved futile.

Williams's book is both an important work of exploration and naval history, and a remarkable study in human delusion and fortitude.

About this title

Review:

Glyn Williams has skilfully woven a clear narrative out of a tangled tale, with just the right amount of historical context ... [he] has an easy familiarity with his sources. He knows what to put in and, just as important, what to leave out. This is a balanced book, and one of the best primers on the subject (Roland Huntford Literary Review)

From the Back Cover:

'The essential history ... of the reason why men kept coming back to this frozen wasteland ... deploys a lifetime of research and distinguished scholarship ... Superb' BBC History

For centuries navigators dreamed of finding the Northwest Passage - the route over the top of North America that promised a short cut to the fabulous wealth of Asia, for anyone who managed to break through its miles of treacherous ice.

Arctic Labyrinth tells the story of how explorers, merchants, speculators, monarchs, scientists and charlatans all became caught up in this extraordinary quest. From the tiny, woefully-equipped boats of the first Tudor expeditions to the steam-powered vessels of the Victorian age and the icebreakers of the modern era, acclaimed naval historian Glyn Williams recounts a tale of heroism, folly, scurvy, frost-bite, starvation and ships crushed in ice. It is a remarkable study in human delusion and fortitude.

'Glyn Williams has skilfully woven a clear narrative out of a tangled tale ... one of the best primers on this subject' Literary Review

'Represents a lifetime's thinking' Financial Times

'A balanced and elegant account of the bone-chilling quest for what, 200 years ago, was regarded as "the maritime Philosopher's Stone"' Globe and Mail

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0141037156
• ISBN 13: 9780141037158
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Williams Glyn