Fast in the ice, or, Adventures in the Polar regions 1880 [Leather Bound]

by R.M. Ballantyne

Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2023 with the help of original edition published long back [1880]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - eng, Pages 156. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.} Complete Fast in the ice, or, Adventures in the Polar regions 1880 Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Travel

156 pages, Leather Bound

First published January 1, 1863

About the author

R. M. Ballantyne was a Scottish writer of juvenile fiction.

Born Robert Michael Ballantyne in Edinburgh, he was part of a famous family of printers and publishers. At the age of 16 he went to Canada and where he served for six years with the Hudson's Bay Company. He returned to Scotland in 1847, and published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or Life in the Wilds of North America. For some time he was employed by Messrs Constable, the publishers, but in 1856 he gave up business for literature, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated.

Reviews

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Arctic adventure by Ballantyne. Here he tells, in precise detail, the story of a crew who get trapped in arctic ice as they attempt to make it to the pole. His account includes bear hunts, walrus encounters, Eskimo meetings, ice football, long winter adventures, and the like...

A great classic adventure.....

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, easy read. Love the subject matter. Anyone who is interested in survival in the Arctic will enjoy this book. I've read a fair amount about the Arctic, and for a novel, "Fast in the Ice" is pretty accurate about the conditions explorers experienced.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars & 3/10 hearts. This was a fun story set in the Arctic. I enjoyed the characters, and I loved how Ballantyne always pointed out God's power and was so unapologetically Christian!! It's a rather short story--less than an hour long--but quite interesting and even rather hooking!

A Favourite Quote: “Apart from its danger, this was an awful sight. Those who witnessed it could only gaze in solemn silence. Even the most careless among them must have been forced to recognise the might and majesty of God in the event, as well as His mercy in having led them to the right side of the berg at such a dangerous moment.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “There was a narrow part of the chasm which I had looked at in daylight, and wondered whether I might venture to leap across it. I had made up my mind that it was too wide and dangerous to be attempted. But it is wonderful how quickly a man changes his mind on such a point when a polar bear is roaring at his heels.”

[Bruce Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast in the Ice; or, Adventures in the Polar Regions, by R. M. Ballyntine (audio book). This short work of fiction is the tale of arctic explorers who winter over in the ice pack, and while attempting to extract themselves the following summer during ice breakup have their shipped crushed by the unpredictable icepack (“nipped” in the parlance). It’s a tale of adventure, hunting for polar bear and walrus, interactions with natives, survival, isolation, and sailing. While entertaining, I’d recommend any of the other dozens of real life Arctic adventures as a substitute.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprised by how good this old story was!

[Thom Swennes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t my first taste of the Scottish writer, B.M. Ballantyne, but in my opinion it is the best. With many of his other literary works I found his approach pompous, patronizing, arrogant and condescending. This is, no doubt, because his target audience was the young, naïve and highly impressionable (of which I am none). This story is of an ill conceived and poorly supplied polar expedition that had failure written all over it from its conception. The narrative is fast-paced, interesting and informative. I had no idea that ice took on so many forms or that a walrus could be so violent and terrifying. If I were to mention one criticism, it would be that at no time did any of the shipwrecked and stranded crew appear to face any real mortal danger (which seems a little unlikely in such a hostile environment. Putting this one criticism aside, I can honestly state that I fell into a brown study and was completely unaware and oblivious to the world around me. I take this as the mark of a good book. I recommend this book to everyone looking for information, action and adventure.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

slurped for my nutty NUUT

One day, many years ago, a brig cast off from her moorings, and sailed
from a British port for the Polar Seas. That brig never came back.

Ballantyne's description of what he was writing about, and what was being excluded in his story comes at the start of chapter 2:

Britain has done more than other nations in the cause of discovery within the Arctic circle. The last and greatest of her Arctic heroes perished there--the famous Sir John Franklin.

Were I writing a history of those regions I would have much to say of
other countries as well as of our own. But such is not my object in
this book. I mean simply to follow in the wake of one of Britain's
adventurous discoverers, and thus give the reader an idea of the
fortunes of those gallant men who risk life and limb for the sake of
obtaining knowledge of distant lands.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a deep appreciation for early explorers who went where others dare not go. This small shipload of men was iced-in for the long, dark arctic winter, with very little to sustain them. While there were many awful struggles detailed with matter-of-fact humor, it seems the most difficult dangers to overcome were the depression and tedium of near total darkness and intense cold 24/7 for many months, along with the scurvy that plagued them when fresh food and game was unobtainable. The story includes wonderful glimpses into the lives of primitive Eskimos, who lived almost totally in survival mode, but were nonetheless a very happy people. I listened to this book as a free download from LibriVox.org

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another adventure book for early seafaring days except there is little sailing in this book. It is more about the year they spend in the artic with the ship frozen in the ice. They even make contact with a village of natives which brings out a lot of interesting views of natives.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books on tape makes travel better...did you ever wonder if walrus fight back?...amazing stories of survival in the arctic.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much "remembered" dialogue in this tale for my tastes. But it probably was the style at the time.