Fast in the Ice by R. M. Ballantyne

Caspar_David_Friedrich

Summary: At the age of 16 Ballantyne went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. His rule in writing, being in every case, was to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.

In this book he details the lives of the crew as they must overwinter in the frozen north including their meetings with Eskimos and bears and their struggles with disease. This is a realistic account of what life was like for the explorers of the Arctic. (summary by Esther for Librivox, adapted from wikipedia)

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You can also click play in the box below, or click on the chapter titles in this post.

01 – Introduction

02 – At Sea, The First Storm

03 – In the Ice, Dangers of Arctic Voyaging

04 – Difficulties, Troubles, And Dangers

05 – A Gale, Narrow Escapes, Signs Of Winter, Set Fast

Sea_ice_terrain

06 – Preparations for Wintering, Remarkable Adventures with a Bear

07 – A Great Battle with the Walrus

08 – The Cause of Ice-Bergs, Fox-Chase, A Bear

Photograph of a book illustration of an Inuit village, Oopungnewing, near Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island in the mid-19th century.

09 – A Visit to the Eskimos, Wonderful Doings, A Mystery

10 – The Tale of a Kite, A Great Bear-Fight

11 – Christmas Time, Death, Return of Light and Hope, Disasters and Final Deliverance