Status Updates From Captain Francis Crozier: La...

“The bitter irony was seeing Crozier’s decimated party reduced to begging for scraps of food from people that polite British society regarded as inferiors and savages.”

“Captain Crozier was of an amiable and cheerful disposition, and his unbending integrity and truthfulness won the affection and respect of those he commanded, as well as the admiration and firm friendship of all those officers under whom he served.”

“Crozier reacted quickly. He spotted a dark shape between the two icebergs bearing down on his ship and gambled that it was an opening between the floating mountains of ice.”
“The ship ran so close that heavy sea spray hit the bergs and splashed back over the decks and froze. Officers and crew held their breath as Terror passed through the slender opening as though threading a needle.”

“With little option, but to continue south, it was decided to ram the ice with the bows of the blunt nosed ships. Erebus went first, followed by Crozier in Terror. Sometimes, the ships managed to break through, but often they came to a sudden halt as the ice refused to give away. On the ice, startled, penguins scuttled alongside in wonderment.”

“He was adamant that only straightforward, proficient seamen would be suitable candidates for a long, challenging voyage where men would be expected to place their lives in the hands of their comrades and forced to endure months of close confinement with each other. ‘We do not want a philosopher on board’ Crozier once stated.

“Parry suspected the worst when, to his astonishment, he found Crozier crouched beside a rock, sheltering from the winds and quietly jotting down his tidal observations. Completely oblivious to the tempest raging around him.”