Icebound In The Arctic

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There's no better portrait of Francis Crozier than the one Smith gives us -- with all his bright and cloudy moments interwoven … The major new chapter is the last, "Lost and Found," which recounts, as promised on the cover, the "sensational discovery of the ships." It's a dramatic and succinct account, and the best so far to have appeared in book form … let us welcome this new edition, and the strong, contrasted portrait of Crozier's career that it brings. It bears clear witness to (as the Crozier memorial in Banbridge puts it) to his "unbending integrity and truthfulness" as well as to his "extreme amiability"-- and, as was Crozier himself, Smith's book is very good company indeed

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A brilliant new book … a real polar page turner

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The details of what transpired over three terrible years on the Arctic ice are still unknown, but Michael Smith, in concentrating not on the celebrated Franklin, but on Captain Francis Crozier, throws fascinating new light on the saga…this book is about more than polar exploration; it is a full biography of a remarkable and modest Irishman, of Victorian sentiment and politics, and of superhuman courage. Read it, but be sure to be sitting somewhere warm while doing so

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Smith does a great job of piecing together the evidence into a compelling narrative… The truth may never be known but hopes were given a boost with the recent discovery of the wrecks of Erebus and Terror. The painstaking process of analysing them has begun but it will be years before definitive conclusions can be drawn.

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Compelling

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this book will hopefully and deservedly place him alongside the more-celebrated compatriots of his age

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