Discovering the North-West Passage : the four-year Arctic odyssey of H.M.S. Investigator and the McClure Expedition /

Heretofore, the expedition to search for the lost Franklin Expedition by way of the Bering Strait, January 1850 to September 1854, has been underappreciated and, as a subject of history, underresearched. Stein's carefully reconstructed appreciation explains how a voyage from the Pacific end of the Northwest Passage came to grief in the loss of the ship, and how, providentially, the ship's company was able to transit the ice eastward and was met by a search party from another vessel of the Royal Navy, thereby completing the passage. This was a notable first in polar travel and exploration. Captain Robert McClure won the Admiralty prize for discovering the passage. Officers and men under McClure were disciplined, though mutiny was threatened. Two winters beset in ice challenged mind and body. The ship sank, the location known. Rich historical documentation has been mined with effect, but the text is heavily laden with it. Contemporary illustrations, mainly engravings, add visual appeal. Expedition records, exploited and used here, include descriptions of physiography, geology, biology, and Inuit customs. An appendix dealing with the Arctic service medal provides new insights into how geographical discovery received the recognition of a grateful nation. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students/faculty. --Barry M. Gough, Wilfrid Laurier University