The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage Of The Karluk
Jennifer Niven
Read February 2009
Copy borrowed from Ramsey County Public Library, White Bear Lake branch
Essay written Saturnday, March 28th, 2009
I think my friend with all the good suggestions last summer on the non-fiction-only experiment pointed me to this one. It just took me a while to get around to it. Besides, I read Endurance just last summer; there need to be a buffer period between reading two books about polar expeditions.
Remarkable how one voyage can end in triumph (Endurance) and the other in catastrophe (Karluk). Because of leadership alone? I can't argue against that. Preparedness, experience, judgment. All point back to the leader. Bartlett did a superhuman job for saving as many of his people as he could, and I plan to see the memorial to him in his hometown if I ever get to Newfoundland again. Stefansson sounds like he had a lot of blood on his hands after this. Unfortunately, he survived, and lived a long life. Must be nice not to have a conscience.
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