The Ice Master : The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
by Jennifer Niven

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Book Reviews of The Ice Master : The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk

Book Review: You gotta read this book!
Summary: 5 Stars

Like Shackelton's doom voyage at the South Pole, this is a story of courage, survival and leadership as a polar expedition gets trap in the ice of the Artic Sea north of Alaska. It is a story of hero's and villains, of courage and cowardice, but most of all it is a story of leadership.

It is the year 1913 and H.M.C.S. Karluk embarks on one of the last voyages of discovery in the Artic Ocean. The ship becomes trapped in the ice and the expedition's leader, Vilhjalmur Stefansson abandons the ship, and it's crew and the members of the expedition. The rest of the story is a tale of survival as the ship's captain Robert Bartlett leads his men against impossible odds to survive the artic winter.

In an age when loyalty wanes, and everyone is looking after their own interest, this is a story of how real leaders lead. The contrast between the two leaders could not be more apparent: Stefhansson who can only think of his own fame and Bartlett who thinks of nothing but his crew. You gotta read this book.

Summary of The Ice Master : The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk

The explorers became split into several dispersed groups living "in the shadow of death." Their simultaneously grim and gruesome experiences are interwoven in this minutely detailed and atmospheric retelling, created by combining and comparing firsthand accounts and other sources. The characters are vividly re-created, from the expedition's self-interested leader, whom McKinlay called "a consummate liar and cheat," to the heroic ship's master, who struggled over 700 miles to organize a rescue. Supplemented by haunting and fascinating photographs, The Ice Master makes for harrowing and compulsive reading. This is a momentous story of the Arctic; of adventure, misadventure, and the heights of human endurance. But it is also a story of human failings and the waste of young lives, as poignant now as it was when it was big news in 1914. --Karen Tiley, Amazon.co.uk

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