The Ice Master

By Jennifer Niven

The Ice Master - Jennifer Niven
  • Release Date: 2001-10-01
  • Genre: History
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 29 Ratings

Description

The Karluk set out in 1913 in search of an undiscovered continent, with the largest scientific staff ever sent into the Arctic. Soon after, winter had begun, they were blown off course by polar storms, the ship became imprisoned in ice, and the expedition was abandoned by its leader. Hundreds of miles from civilization, the castaways had no choice but to find solid ground as they struggled against starvation, snow blindness, disease, exposure--and each other. After almost twelve months battling the elements, twelve survivors were rescued, thanks to the heroic efforts of their captain, Bartlett, the Ice Master, who traveled by foot across the ice and through Siberia to find help.

Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, Jennifer Niven re-creates with astonishing accuracy the ill-fated journey and the crews desperate attempts to find a way home.

Reviews

  • An exciting story turned into a non-fiction masterpiece by superb research and reconstruction

    5
    By VerdantMind
    Really, my review title says it all.... But: this story, once it gets going, is more suspenseful and immersive into a very unique slice of time and rare bit of the world than many of Michael Crichton's better works of fiction. Niven's stupendous research interweaves the journals of both the survivors and dead of this journey into an icy hell so well, that you feel you are a fly on the wall each day - watching the bad decisions and treacherous deceptions unspool into an almost unbelievably spellbinding survival drama. I truly don't know why everyone has not read this book, and am pretty shocked it somehow has not already been turned into a movie featuring George Clooney. Most peculiar!