Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

A wretched and precarious situation : in search of the last Arctic frontier / David Welky.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2017]Edition: First editionDescription: viii, 502 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780393254419
  • 0393254410
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction: "Mine by the right of discovery" -- The tenderfeet -- The best year -- "I wish I were there now" -- Commander Borup? -- A fine fellow -- The boys -- Goodbye -- A true leader -- Blocked -- Home -- Arctic living -- Reaching out -- The evil spirit -- Slaughter ground -- On the ice -- Pujoq -- Crocker Land -- Panic -- Sundown -- Mail -- The world beyond -- Disintegration -- In a Pickel -- Flight -- Discovery and disappointment -- Waiting -- Reunion and separation -- Off the map -- Last days -- No hero's welcome -- Endings -- Epilogue: Mysteries solved.
Summary: A remarkable true story of adventure, betrayal, and survival set in one of the worlds most inhospitable places.Summary: In 1906, in the ice fields northwest of Greenland Commander Robert E. Peary spotted a line of mysterious peaks looming in the distance. He called this unexplored realm "Crocker Land." Several years later George Borup and Donald MacMillan assembled a team of amateur adventurers to investigate Crocker Land. What followed was a sequence of events that trapped the explorers in a true-life adventure story, as the men endured howling blizzards, unearthly cold, food shortages, isolation, a fatal boating accident, a drunken sea captain, disease, dissension, and a horrific crime.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 910.9113 W446 Available 33111008579902
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 910.9113 W446 Available 33111008521599
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In 1906, from atop a snow-swept hill in the ice fields northwest of Greenland, hundreds of miles from another human being, Commander Robert E. Peary spotted a line of mysterious peaks looming in the distance. He called this unexplored realm "Crocker Land." Scientists and explorers agreed that the world-famous explorer had discovered a new continent rising from the frozen Arctic Ocean.

Several years later, two of Peary's disciples, George Borup and Donald MacMillan, assembled a team of amateur adventurers to investigate Crocker Land. Before them lay a chance at the kind of lasting fame enjoyed by Magellan, Columbus, and Captain Cook. While filling in the last blank space on the globe, they might find new species of plants or animals, or even men; in the era of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, anything seemed possible. Renowned scientific institutions, and even former president Theodore Roosevelt, rushed to endorse the expedition.

What followed was a sequence of events that none of the explorers could have imagined. Trapped in a true-life adventure story, the men endured howling blizzards, unearthly cold, food shortages, isolation, a fatal boating accident, a drunken sea captain, disease, dissension, and a horrific crime. But the team pushed on through every obstacle, driven forward by the mystery of Crocker Land and faint hopes that they someday would make it home.

Populated with a cast of memorable characters, and based on years of research in previously untapped sources, A Wretched and Precarious Situation is a harrowing Arctic narrative unlike any other.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: "Mine by the right of discovery" -- The tenderfeet -- The best year -- "I wish I were there now" -- Commander Borup? -- A fine fellow -- The boys -- Goodbye -- A true leader -- Blocked -- Home -- Arctic living -- Reaching out -- The evil spirit -- Slaughter ground -- On the ice -- Pujoq -- Crocker Land -- Panic -- Sundown -- Mail -- The world beyond -- Disintegration -- In a Pickel -- Flight -- Discovery and disappointment -- Waiting -- Reunion and separation -- Off the map -- Last days -- No hero's welcome -- Endings -- Epilogue: Mysteries solved.

A remarkable true story of adventure, betrayal, and survival set in one of the worlds most inhospitable places.

In 1906, in the ice fields northwest of Greenland Commander Robert E. Peary spotted a line of mysterious peaks looming in the distance. He called this unexplored realm "Crocker Land." Several years later George Borup and Donald MacMillan assembled a team of amateur adventurers to investigate Crocker Land. What followed was a sequence of events that trapped the explorers in a true-life adventure story, as the men endured howling blizzards, unearthly cold, food shortages, isolation, a fatal boating accident, a drunken sea captain, disease, dissension, and a horrific crime.

Powered by Koha