The story of the bold voyage of HMS Investigator and the modern-day
discovery of its wreck by Parks Canada’s underwater archaeologists.
When Sir John Franklin disappeared in the Arctic in the 1840s, the
British Admiralty launched the largest rescue mission in its history.
Among the search vessels was HMS Investigator, which left England in
1850 under the command of Captain Robert McClure. While the ambitious
McClure never found Franklin, he and his crew did discover the fabled
Northwest Passage. Like Franklin’s ships, though, Investigator
disappeared in the most remote, bleak and unknown place on Earth. For
three winters, its 66 souls were trapped in the unforgiving ice of
Mercy Bay. They suffered cold, darkness, starvation, scurvy, boredom,
depression and madness. When they were rescued in 1853, Investigator
was abandoned. For more than a century and a half, the ship’s fate
remained a mystery. Had it been crushed by the ice or swept out to
sea? In 2010, Parks Canada sent a team of archaeologists to Mercy Bay
to find out. It was a formidable challenge, demanding expertise and
patience. There, off the shores of Aulavik National Park, they found
Investigator. Lost Beneath the Ice is a tale of endurance, daring,
deceit, courage, and irony. It is a story about a tempestuous crew,
their mercurial captain, cynical surgeon and kind-hearted missionary.
In the end, McClure found fame but lost his ship, some of his crew and
much of his honour. Written with elegance and authority, illustrated
with archival imagery and startling underwater photographs of
Investigator and its artifacts, this is a sensational story of
discovery and intrigue in Canada’s Arctic. Andrew Cohen is a
best-selling author and award-winning journalist. Among his books are
While Canada Slept, a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary
Award, The Unfinished Canadian, and Extraordinary Canadians: Lester B.
Pearson. He writes a nationally syndicated column for The Ottawa
Citizen and comments regularly on CTV. A professor of journalism and
international affairs at Carleton University, he is founding president
of the Historica-Dominion Institute. He has twice received Queen’s
Jubilee Medals.
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The Story of HMS Investigator
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781459719514
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Vendor
Dundurn
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Antall sider
152
Forfatter