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Farthest North: America's First Arctic Hero and His Horrible, Wonderful Voyage to the Frozen Top of the World
by
Todd Balf
By the winter of 1854, the men had been trapped for almost two years, their ship frozen in a bank of ice somewhere below the North Pole. Some had lost limbs to scurvy and frostbite; some had succumbed to Arctic hysteria; all of them were starving, reduced to eating the rats that seemed impervious to the vise-like cold. All but a handful of the fifty-odd sled dogs were long...more
Kindle Edition, 65 pages
Published
April 10th 2012
by Byliner, Inc.
(first published April 1st 2012)
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A well-done piece on a bit of 19th century exploration I was unfamiliar with. In an odd coincidence, the hero of the title, Elisha Kane, was the brother of Thomas Kane, a central figure in American Massacre. One complaint about the Kindle edition - Kindle takes you immediately to the start of the text, and as a consequence I didn't know there was a map just after the cover. And a map is exactly what I wanted as I read it. Unfortunately there's no way to zoom in on the map and on my Kindle screen...more
I like to winter and spring snow camp, so the early arctic adventure stories are my staple for non fiction. It was a special treat to learn about the man for whom a peak was named in the San Gorgonio Wilderness, an area that I have visited for over 40 years. The sponsor of the 1853 expedition was Grinnell, and I have skied on the flank of a peak by the same name many times.
Dr. Elisha Kane, leader of the expedition to find Sir John Franklin, was only 33 years old when he sailed from New York har...more
Dr. Elisha Kane, leader of the expedition to find Sir John Franklin, was only 33 years old when he sailed from New York har...more
Only reason for 3 instead of 4 stars is that the book is too short. Kane would seem to be one of the greatest Polar explorers that you never heard of; at least i never heard of him. His story and the story of his expedition would seem to rival many other great stores of the early Polar explorers and you certainly get a hint of that from this book but there are very few details and overall it is more like the "cliff notes" of a novel as opposed to a novel itself. That being said i certainly enjoy...more
A fairly short treatment of the voyage of Elisha Kane, an American polar explorer in the 1850s. The big question at the time was whether there was open ocean at the North Pole. Ostensibly on an expedition to find what happened to Franklin's doomed attempt to sail the Northwest Passage, Kane was interested in settling the question of the open Arctic Ocean. He found only ice and never got more than halfway up Greenland.
While an inexpensive eBook, it is quite short at 81 pages.
While an inexpensive eBook, it is quite short at 81 pages.
Interesting but far too short e-novelette treatment of Elisha Kane's two expeditions in search of the Open Polar Sea in the mid-1800s. Reminescent of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (the story of Ernest Shackleton's South Pole expedition). My main quibble is that I felt like there was much much more that could and should have been told.
An enjoyable account of Elisha Kent Kane's 1853-1854 arctic journey in search of lost British explorer John Franklin. At 65 pages, this is a "short" rather than a full-blown book, and occasionally it left me with more questions than answers. Still it was a fun introduction to the life and mindset of an intriguing explorer determined to survive even in the face of truly brutal circumstances. Highly recommended.
Three stars because the book started out stronger than it finished. I knew who Kane was because of reading about Franklin. This Kindle single gave me more infromation about the man. Other reviews of this are correct, Kane should be more well known, considering that he steered most of his men to safety.
Would have liked the option 3 and 1/2 stars. Very interesting....since I really did not know anything about Elisha Kane or his expeditions, it was too short and abbreviated for me. That said, it does make me want to learn more about Artic explorations and the idea for which many searched...the Open Polar Sea. These were tough, tough men who dared to explore the unknown.
What courage these people had to go to the Arctic and then go back in sailing ships, no less! Either courage or craziness!
Very interesting short story/long article on Elisha Kent Kane.
The author had an incredible story to work with, but he didn't really pull it off.
Excellent book. Kane was the Shackleton of the North though his ordeal predates Shackleton by 70+ years. One minor thing. He said we don't know what happened to Franklin expedition. They found three bodies that died from lead food poisoning.
It's too bad Kane is not as well remembered today as he should be. He was quite famous in his day. Hopefully, this small tome will go to rectifying that.
A fine, short read on a subject I know little about, but find interesting. Now, I want to see that prow figure at the Masonic Lodge next time I'm in NYC!
May 07, 2013
Daniela
marked it as to-read
Mar 21, 2013
Matt
marked it as to-read
Feb 10, 2013
Mark Allen
marked it as to-read
Jan 20, 2013
Matt
marked it as to-read
Dec 08, 2012
Suzanne Potts
marked it as to-read
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