About This Book

Levy takes readers back to the height of polar exploration and an expedition that became a legendary disaster. In 1881, the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, led by U.S. Army lieutenant Adolphus Greely, was sent to the coast of northwest Greenland to collect data as part of the First International Polar Year. Due to bad weather, relief ships were unable to arrive as scheduled, and by 1884 the expedition's ship was destroyed, more than half the men were dead, and Greely and the other survivors were hanging on by a thread. Their miraculous rescue garnered international attention. Levy immersed himself in Greely's diary and those of other surviving members of the crew along with media coverage, published reports, and, it seems, every single scrap of paper about the tragedy he could find. The result is an armchair explorer's dream all the drama, all the fear, all the steadfastness that fans of the genre could want. Unexpectedly, Levy manages also to carve out important space in the narrative for Greely's wife, Henrietta, who was key to the rescue. An invaluable addition to polar history.