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Wind, fire, and ice : the perils of a coast guard icebreaker in Antarctica / Robert M. Bunes.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Guilford, Connecticut : Lyons Press, 2021Description: xi, 283 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781493060344
  • 1493060341
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- In Shackleton's wake -- The year before -- Introduction to military life -- Reality check -- A promise -- Cast off -- Death at sea -- Straits of Magellan -- Punta Arenas -- Drake passage -- The southern ocean -- Elephant Island -- Antarctica -- The mighty glacier -- The weddell sea -- Titanic -- Hump day -- Icebreaker life -- Trapped -- Survival -- The polar night -- Movement -- Confrontation -- Life or death -- Mountainous seas -- The last straw -- Trip report -- Answers -- Epilogue -- Curated videos -- Acknowledgements.
Summary: "Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton's fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction in the crushing ice pack, only to experience a three-hour fire that nearly killed one of the crew, followed by eighty foot waves that came close to capsizing the ship. Wind, Fire, and Ice is a story about a physician who starts out with a set of false assumptions-namely that he is going have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports, but then slowly comes to realize a much different hard reality"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 910.9167 B942 Available 33111010730238
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton's fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction, but the story is told as the author, who was not part of the chain of command, experienced it. More imminent threats later occurred involving a three-hour inferno, as well as eight-story waves that drove the ship to the brink of disaster. Wind, Fire, and Ice is the story about a physician fresh-out-of-internship who naïvely assumes he is going to have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports. Instead, he experiences adventures and adversities beyond his imagination, as well as jarring conflicts with an obsessed captain.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- In Shackleton's wake -- The year before -- Introduction to military life -- Reality check -- A promise -- Cast off -- Death at sea -- Straits of Magellan -- Punta Arenas -- Drake passage -- The southern ocean -- Elephant Island -- Antarctica -- The mighty glacier -- The weddell sea -- Titanic -- Hump day -- Icebreaker life -- Trapped -- Survival -- The polar night -- Movement -- Confrontation -- Life or death -- Mountainous seas -- The last straw -- Trip report -- Answers -- Epilogue -- Curated videos -- Acknowledgements.

"Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton's fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction in the crushing ice pack, only to experience a three-hour fire that nearly killed one of the crew, followed by eighty foot waves that came close to capsizing the ship. Wind, Fire, and Ice is a story about a physician who starts out with a set of false assumptions-namely that he is going have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports, but then slowly comes to realize a much different hard reality"-- Provided by publisher.

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