Erebus: The Story of a Ship

Palin, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784758574 ISBN 13: 9781784758578

Publisher: Arrow, 2019

NOW AVAILABLE: Michael Palin's North Korea Journal

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

In the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time.

On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic.

Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years.

Then, in 2014, she was found.

This is her story.
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BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

‘Beyond terrific . . . I didn’t want it to end.’ Bill Bryson

‘Illuminated by flashes of gentle wit . . . It’s a fascinating story that [Palin] brings full-bloodedly to life.’ Guardian

‘This is an incredible book . . . The Erebus story is the Arctic epic we’ve all been waiting for.’ Nicholas Crane

‘Thoroughly absorbs the reader. . . Carefully researched and well-crafted, it brings the story of a ship vividly to life.’ Sunday Times

‘A great story . . . Told in a very relaxed and sometimes – as you might expect – very funny Palin style.’ David Baddiel, Daily Mail

‘Magisterial . . . Brings energy, wit and humanity to a story that has never ceased to tantalise people since the 1840s.’ The Times

Review:

"Beyond terrific. I didn’t want it to end." (Bill Bryson)

"Thoroughly absorbs the reader. . . Carefully researched and well-crafted, it brings the story of a ship vividly to life." (Sunday Times)

"[Palin’s] narrative is driven by a deep sympathy for explorers and adventurers, while also being illuminated by flashes of gentle wit . . . It’s a fascinating story that he brings full-bloodedly to life, stripping away the barnacles of the past to reveal the hidden history of a ship." (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst Guardian)

"Everybody’s talking about it . . . A brilliant book." (Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2)

"With this irresistible and often harrowing account, Michael Palin makes a convincing case that one heroic little ship embodied the golden ago of polar exploration better than any other: HMS Erebus." (John Geiger, co-author of Frozen in Time)

From the Back Cover:

HMS Erebus was one of the great exploring ships, a veteran of groundbreaking expeditions to the ends of the Earth.

In 1848, it disappeared in the Arctic, its fate a mystery. In 2014, it was found.

This is its story.
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'Beyond terrific. I didn't want it to end.' - Bill Bryson
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Michael Palin - Monty Python star and television globetrotter - brings the remarkable Erebus back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic.

The ship was filled with fascinating people: the dashing and popular James Clark Ross, who charted much of the 'Great Southern Barrier'; the troubled John Franklin, whose chequered career culminated in the Erebus's final, disastrous expedition; and the eager Joseph Dalton Hooker, a brilliant naturalist - when he wasn't shooting the local wildlife dead.

Vividly recounting the experiences of the men who first set foot on Antarctica's Victoria Land, and those who, just a few years later, froze to death one by one in the Arctic ice, beyond the reach of desperate rescue missions, Erebus is a wonderfully evocative account of a truly extraordinary adventure, brought to life by a master explorer and storyteller.