Icebound In The Arctic: The Mystery of Captain Francis Crozier and the Franklin Expedition

Francis Crozier was a major figure in the epic quests of nineteenth-century Polar exploration - navigating the North West Passage, reaching the North Pole and mapping Antartica. His remarkable story embraces six daring voyages to the world's most hostile regions and extraordinary feats of endurance, tragedy, and failed romance. The groundbreaking expeditions with legendary explorers like Parry, Ross and Franklin lifted the veil from the frozen wastes and were crucial to the exploits of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton. Crozier's personal tragedy was an unhappy love affair with Franklin's niece which drove him back to the ice one last time as second-in-command on Franklin's North West Pasage expedition in 1845. All 129 men vanished on the ice. Crozier took command when the ships were crushed and the expedition was on the brink of disaster. For several years Crozier led a couragous battle trying to lead his men to safety. According to legend, Crozier was the last to die- the last man standing. But Crozier never received recognition for his great feats and became another of exploration's Irish unsung heroes.

Table of Contents:
Notes page 9 Introduction: Pointing the Way 11 1 A Bond with History 17 2 To the Arctic 27 3 Seizing the Moment 43 4 A Promise 51 5 Fatal Errors 63 6 Wreck of Fury 70 7 North Pole 79 8 Arctic Rescue 89 9 South 99 10 Flirting with Love 107 11 An Epic Voyage 121 12 Dangerous Waters 133 13 Trembling Hands 145 14 ‘I Am Not Equal to the Hardship’ 157 15 A Sense of Tragedy 172 16 North West Passage 185 17 Ice 197 18 ‘No Cause for Alarm’ 207 19 Breakout 220 20 A Slow Execution 225 21 Unsolved Mystery 235 22 Last Man Standing? 258 23 A Fitting Memorial 263 24 Lost and Found 273 Appendix: Francis Crozier: A Chronology 287 References 289 Bibliography 295 Index 304

About the Author :
Michael Smith is an authority on polar exploration who has appeared on TV and radio and lectured extensively. His books include: An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean; I Am Just Going Outside, a biography of Captain Oates; Polar Crusader about Sir James Wordie; Tom Crean – An Illustrated Life; Great Endeavour – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers; and Shackleton: By Endurance We Conquer. Michael is also the recipient of awards for his work as a journalist with The Guardian and The Observer.

Review :
There's no better portrait of Francis Crozier than the one Smith gives us -- with all his bright and cloudy moments interwoven … The major new chapter is the last, "Lost and Found," which recounts, as promised on the cover, the "sensational discovery of the ships." It's a dramatic and succinct account, and the best so far to have appeared in book form … let us welcome this new edition, and the strong, contrasted portrait of Crozier's career that it brings. It bears clear witness to (as the Crozier memorial in Banbridge puts it) to his "unbending integrity and truthfulness" as well as to his "extreme amiability"-- and, as was Crozier himself, Smith's book is very good company indeed A brilliant new book … a real polar page turner The details of what transpired over three terrible years on the Arctic ice are still unknown, but Michael Smith, in concentrating not on the celebrated Franklin, but on Captain Francis Crozier, throws fascinating new light on the saga…this book is about more than polar exploration; it is a full biography of a remarkable and modest Irishman, of Victorian sentiment and politics, and of superhuman courage. Read it, but be sure to be sitting somewhere warm while doing so Smith does a great job of piecing together the evidence into a compelling narrative… The truth may never be known but hopes were given a boost with the recent discovery of the wrecks of Erebus and Terror. The painstaking process of analysing them has begun but it will be years before definitive conclusions can be drawn. Compelling this book will hopefully and deservedly place him alongside the more-celebrated compatriots of his age