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6th out of 46 books
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22 voters
Barrow's Boys: The Original Extreme Adventurers: A Stirring Story of Daring Fortitude and Outright Lunacy
Barrow's Boys is a spellbinding account of perilous journeys to uncharted areas under the most challenging conditions. Re-creating the successes and harrowing failures of the original extreme adventurers, Fergus Fleming captures the incredibly brave, and often downright insane, passion for exploration that led a band of men into situations that would humble even the braves...more
Hardcover, 512 pages
Published
April 1st 2000
by Atlantic Monthly Press
(first published 1998)
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This is a fascinating story of an ambitious program of exploration launched by John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty in 1816.
Between 1816 and 1845 ‘Barrow’s Boys’ worked – sometimes with each other and sometimes against each other – to fill in some of the blank spaces around the globe. Some of the questions they set out to answer:
What was at the North Pole?
Was there a North-West Passage?
Where did the Niger go, and what was at the heart of Africa?
Did Antarctica exist?
To a large extent,...more
Between 1816 and 1845 ‘Barrow’s Boys’ worked – sometimes with each other and sometimes against each other – to fill in some of the blank spaces around the globe. Some of the questions they set out to answer:
What was at the North Pole?
Was there a North-West Passage?
Where did the Niger go, and what was at the heart of Africa?
Did Antarctica exist?
To a large extent,...more
This book is the history of the stream of explorers Sir John Barrow sent off round the world in the early to mid 1800's.
I grew up not far from John Barrows birth place and the monument to him on Hoad Hill in Ulverston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoad_Mon...) was (and still is since I live near Ulverston again at the moment) a regular sight and it was fascinating to know why he was such an important character.
This book chronicles Barrows misguided, misinformed and frequently badly planned att...more
I grew up not far from John Barrows birth place and the monument to him on Hoad Hill in Ulverston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoad_Mon...) was (and still is since I live near Ulverston again at the moment) a regular sight and it was fascinating to know why he was such an important character.
This book chronicles Barrows misguided, misinformed and frequently badly planned att...more
Once more into the breach - another book about Victorian English explorers. What to do with all the idle officers now that peace has been attained? Why not send them out to explore the unknown regions of the world? It is hard in this day and age to realize that just a century and a half ago there was still much mystery out in the great wide world. Most of these men were going into places very few people had ever seen, not knowing what to expect. One commander was sent to look for a Northwest pa...more
This is a fascinating and enjoyable account of a number of brave men, sent to the furthermost points of the world to fill in the blank spots on the British Navy's globe. John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty sent a number of expeditions to find the source of the Niger River, to locate and traverse the North-West Passage, to locate Magnetic North, to find out what was actually at the Antarctic.
There are some great adventure stories here, of brave men, blundering fools and gentle heroes....more
A fairly interesting book, just about 1/3 longer than it needed to be. Each chapter consists of "bunch of British sailors talk the wacky John Barrow into another harebrained scheme to find the northwest passage, leading to mayhem and death".
Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat.
If you like reading about exploration this is a great book for you. Fleming details how certain expeditions were approved and then what happened on them. It is history at its best. I really enjoyed this book.
This was one of the 2001 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
The Shackleton books got me into this one...it is a great read...very compelling if you love history and adventure!
A lively overview of early nineteenth century exploration by the British. Well written and covering a lot of ground.
I had no idea polar exploration could be this fascinating--I learned a lot
You just have to read it to believe it: I can't sell you on this one.
Easily one of the most engaging non-fiction books I've read.
Very interesting stories about british exploration in the early to mid 1800s. While the stories are about incredible survival (though not in every case), the book gets rather repetitious and the tales of adventure seem to be extremely similar to each other. I actually didn't finish this one...
Really fun book about crazy English explorers.
This book is an awesome read. There are three exploration stories that run at the same time. This would be a great premise for a reality show, eating lichen off the pot belly stove for over a year on an ice stranded frigate.
Colorful and witty narrative of British efforts to fill in the "blank spots" on the maps of Africa and the Arctic during the first half of the 19th century.
I couldn't believe how mad some Victorian explorers actually were! Absolutely fascinating and gripping if like me you'd never heard of Ross's story.
Thrilling stories from the golden age of exploration. While the writing wasn't all that great, the subject matter more than made up for it.
Apr 28, 2013
Jerome
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2013
Carol
marked it as to-read
Apr 11, 2013
John Gillett
marked it as to-read
Apr 29, 2013
Emily
is currently reading it
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