The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909 [Paperback]

Pierre Berton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

The complete saga of the pursuit for two of the world's greatest geographical prizes--the elusive Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific, and the North Pole.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The literature of Arctic exploration teems with exciting stories of hardship, valor, conflict and mystery. There are three distinct periods of exploration: the quest for the Northwest Passage by the British Navy, the 15-year search for the lost Franklin Expedition and the attempts to reach the North Pole. Berton ( The Mysterious North ) combines these voyages into a single narrative that focuses on the explorers. We see the mindset of the British, unwilling to take advice from whalers and, for 90 years, refusing to avail themselves of the dogsleds and Eskimo clothing best suited to Arctic conditions. We follow the progression from the desire for discovery and scientific knowledge to obsession with national pride and personal ambition. Berton examines in detail the Cook-Peary controversy and concludes that both men were charlatans and neither reached the North Pole; modern scholarship supports this theory. Readers who think the ultimate adventure took place at the South Pole should rediscover the Arctic explorations. Illustrations.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"There's enough riveting reading in The Arctic Grail to last until spring breakup."
—The Globe and Mail

"A magnificent history…this should be the definitive study of Arctic exploration for years to come."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Berton's book is a thoroughly gripping read."
—The Province, Vancouver --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585741167
• ISBN-13: 978-1585741168
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Travel > Polar Regions > Arctic
  • #50 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Polar Regions

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Comprehensive and Interesting Book, January 2, 2001

By 

Arctic Voice Earl (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909 (Paperback)

As a resident of Barrow, Alaska, high in the Arctic, I have found Berton's book both accurate and easy to read. I'm so glad it has been reprinted. My only concern is that my old paperback version is falling apart, maybe because I have read and re-read it so much. Berton pulls together a wide variety of topics and quests, especially the quest for the North Pole and Northwest Passage. And he correctly adds a skepticism about many of these expeditions being funded in the name of science, but focusing on reaching the pole, or completing the passage, and fame instead.

The section on Edward Parry's near-completion of the Passage in 1819 is superb, as are those on the tragic Franklin Expedition, and the very flawed quest for the North Pole on the part of Cook and Peary (which was the most corrupt? A good question.)

The Arctic is a fascinating place. My wife Chris and I have lived in Barrow for over two decades, and we still get a thrill when we see the Arctic Ocean on our drives or walks around town. but the Arctic is often misunderstood. Berton sets the record straight, about the explorers, the Native people who had so much to teach the outsiders, and the fascinating, but fragile, part of our globe. buy this new edition before it gets out of print. Earl Finkler

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vale Pierre Berton, December 23, 2004

By 

Robert Taylor "antman" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909 (Paperback)

This excellent book, first published in 1988, stands as a fitting memorial to the prolific and accomplished writer Pierre Berton, who passed away at age 84 as recently as November 31, 2004. It details the events and personalities of Arctic exploration over nearly a century, beginning in 1818 with the first British naval expedition of John Ross and Edward Parry, and the related disastrous first naval land expedition led by the oddly ineffectual John Franklin. It concludes with the strange twentieth century tales of Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, both of whom claimed to have reached the North Pole, though neither could prove actually to have done so (nor had they). Along the way we meet a host of players, including the indomitable Lady Jane Franklin, Admiralty puppeteer John Barrow, the underestimated arctic masters Edward Penny and John Rae; Robert McClure, M'Clintock, Charles Francis Hall, Sabine, Nares, Greely, Elisha Kent Kane, Nansen, Amundsen, a number of memorable Inuit personalities and a host of others.

The great strength of this account is the repeated demonstration that the outcome of almost every event in the drama depended ultimately on the characters and personalities of the major players, their strengths, weaknesses, flaws and ambitions, and their capacities to learn from the experiences of their predecessors and their Inuit contacts. This gives a Shakespearian, if not biblical, dimension to the history, which is ably exploited by Berton. The book is as much about explorers as exploration.

Berton's well-detailed sources include the numerous accounts of the explorers themselves, their biographers and ghost writers, and much archival material - letters, original field notes, official reports etc, all woven together in a skilful and compelling synopsis. The book can be heartily recommended!

A few matters are missed among the vast number of items covered, for example James Cook in HMS Discovery, shortly before his death in Hawaii, reached Barrow Point, Alaska, from Bering Strait in 1780, setting the target for Franklin and others exploring from the east. One would like to have read the story of the Oval Office "Resolute desk", donated to the American Presidency by Queen Victoria in 1880, and constructed from timber salvaged from HMS Resolute, a ship mentioned frequently by Berton. The icebound Resolute was abandoned at Bathurst Island, Melville Sound by the British in 1854. She released the following summer and was later found adrift in Baffin Bay by a US whaler, sold on to the US government, refitted and returned to the British with a gorgeously attired naval band, much panoply and splendid one-upmanship. Also that Amundsen eventually disappeared in the arctic in 1928 while on an aerial search for the wonderfully zany General Umberto Nobile and his downed dirigible Italia (watch those late-night movie listings for the excellent film Red Tent (Krashnaya palatka), in which Peter Finch plays Nobile and Sean Connery Amundsen). Most of all perhaps, that the first expatriate to fully traverse the north west passage (on McClure's Investigator to Banks Island in the west and Intrepid from Barrow Strait in the east, with much walking and sledging between the two) was Lieut. Samuel Gurney Cresswell, in 1853 (he departed for Britain ahead of the other former Investigator crewmen with the news that McClure and his men had traversed the elusive passage).

Many original works of relevance have appeared in recent years. Notable are the excellent commentaries and reprints of the first Franklin expedition journals and paintings of John Richardson, George Back and Robert Hood edited by C. Stuart Houston (Arctic Ordeal, Arctic Artist and To the Arctic by Canoe), and David C. Woodman's studies on the Inuit memories of Franklin and his lost crews (Unravelling the Franklin Mystery - Inuit Testimony and Strangers Among Us ( all published by McGill Queens UP). Also the hard-to-find and indispensable arctic chronology of Alan Cooke and Clive Holland (The Exploration of Northern Canada - Arctic History Press), a first version of which was used by Berton. Many others are well covered in Amazon.com documentation.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely well-researched, warts-and-all, May 29, 2001

By 

Scott Swindle (Iraq) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the Northwest Passage and The North Pole, 1818-1909 (Paperback)

This is a great, all-encompassing view of Arctic exploration from 1818-1909. It is a book about explorers as much as exploration, and about the people behind the scenes, such as Lady Franklin, the people who funded the expeditions, the politicians. Berton tells their stories warts and all; the heroism and sacrifice, the back stabbing and human failings and weaknesses. All of this makes the explorers, even the heroes, seem more human. I liked the parts about the early British Naval explorers--Franklin, the Rosses, Parry. They refused to learn anything from the 'uncivilized' Eskimoes who were obviously living off the land and sea; they refused to learn from the whalers who had been sailing the Arctic for decades, they refused to learn from the fur traders and voyageurs who had been living in this hostile land. The Navy insisted on going in with large crews with tons of provisions. They could not pick up on even simple things, such as eating blubber could stave off scurvy, which should have been evident as the Eskimoes never suffered from this disease. Some of the anecdotes of the officers trying to make the natives understand their 'civilized' ways are hilarious. This book is filled with both heroism and tragedy, neither of which were in short supply in the quest for the North Pole and the Northwest Passage. Highly recommended.