Arctic labyrinth : the quest for the Northwest Passage /
The elusive dream of locating the Northwest Passage--an ocean route over the top of North America that promised a shortcut to the fabulous wealth of Asia--obsessed explorers for centuries. Until recently these channels were hopelessly choked by impassible ice. Voyagers faced unimaginable horrors--en...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Berkeley :
University of California Press,
2010.
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| Edition: | 1st University of California Press ed. |
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Table of Contents:
- List of ilustrations
- List of maps
- Preface.
- Prologue: 'There is no land unhabitable nor sea innavigable.'
- Part I. 1. 'All is not golde that glistereth' : the expeditions of Martin Frobisher
- 2. 'The passage is most probable' ; 'there is no passage nor hope of passage' : the views of John Davis and William Baffin
- 3. 'A sea to the westward' : the discovery of Hudson Bay
- 4. 'To seek a needle in a bottle of hay' : the rival voyages of Luke Foxe and Thomas James.
- Part II. The quest renewed: 5. 'Northward to find out the Straits of Anian' : the tragic voyage of James Knight
- 6. 'The maritime philosophers stone' : the vision of Arthur Dobbs
- 7. 'I left the print of my feet in blood' : Samuel Hearne and the speculative geographers
- 8. 'No information could be had from maps' : James Cook's final voyage
- 9. 'Insults in the name of science to modern navigation' : fantasy voyages through the Northwest Passage.
- Part III. An object peculiarly British: 10. 'Our prospects were truly exhilarating' : the gateway of Lancaster Sound
- 11. 'The man who ate his boots' : John Franklin goes overland
- 12. 'This set us all castle-building' : the later voyages of Edward Parry
- 13. 'The very borders of the grave' : the ordeal of the Rosses
- 14. 'To fill up the small blank on the northern charts' : the explorations of Back, Dease and Simpson.
- Part IV. The Franklin expedition: 15. 'So little now remains to be done' : the last voyage of John Franklin
- 16. 'Franklin's winter quarters!' : clues in the ice
- 17. 'The Northwest Passage discovered!' : the Pacific approach of McClure and Collinson
- 18. 'A thorough downright catastrophe' : the search expedition of Edward Belcher
- 19. 'They fell down and died as they walked' : the fate of Franklin's crews.
- Part V. First transits of the Northwest Passage: 20. 'My dream since childhood' : Roald Amundsen and the passage
- 21. 'I felt that I was on hallowed ground' : the voyages of Henry Larsen.
- Epilogue: The Northwest Passage and climate change.
- Sources and further reading (pages 387-413)
- Index.