Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole

by Fergus Fleming (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.25

  In the mid-19th century the North Pole was a mystery. Some believed that it was an island of basalt in a warm crystal sea. Explorers who tried to penetrate the real icy wastes failed or died. But after Sir John Franklin disappeared with all his men in 1845, serious efforts began to be made to find the true Northernmost point of the globe. Fergus Fleming's book is a vivid, witty history of the disasters that ensued. The new explorers included Elisha Kane, a sickly man and useless commander, who led his team close to death in 1854, and Charles Hall, a printer from Ohio. Hall made the mistake of taking an experienced crew, who refused to commit suicide for him. Their mutiny so enraged Hall that he died of a stroke, and some of his crew escaped south on an ice-floe. They were followed by the Germans, newly united and eager for their place in the ice, the Austro-Hungarians and the British, who in 1876 managed to get further than any other expedition, travelling over terrain later explorers considered impassable. They left the field to the Norwegians, to expeditions organized by the American tabloid press, Swedish baloonists, aristocratic Italians and finally to the obsessive Robert Peary, who on one trip took his pregnant wife with him in order to set a record for the most northerly birth in history. He finally made it in 1909.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2001

  $3.25

  The North Pole was a mystery in the mid-19th century, many explorers who ventured into its wastelands never returned. After another failed expedition in 1845, even more concerted efforts were made to reach the Northernmost point of the globe. Fleming relays these stories. Elisha Kane was a poor leader of his crew, Charles Hall died of a stroke after his men refused to obey his orders. Later, the obsessive Robert Peary even took his pregant wife with him in order to set the record for the most northerly birth in history. Fleming gives an insight into the disasters and triumphs of these explorations.