Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Although opening with the mistaken assertion that the quest for the Northwest Passage was to employ idle sailors, this is a lively survey of Arctic. Berton sees Arctic exploration following two paths. First, the quest for a clear water route across North America - the famous Northwest Passage. The Passage quest was sought as a means of avoiding the rigours of Cape Horn or the competition on the Indian Ocean. The second quest was to fulfill the romance to stand at the North Pole. According to Berton, neither of these aims was achieved, despite claims to the contrary.

For most of the 19th Century, Arctic explorations were dominated by the British. Royal Navy ships, fully manned but inadequately provisioned, skirted or bludgeoned the ice in search of open water. As in North America and Australia, the British assumed an "inner sea" that might link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Berton scorns John Barrow's adherence to the "Open Polar Sea" idea, but it dictated the plans of many British explorers. As Berton shows, the erratic nature of Arctic ice packs lent credence to the concept. Some years vast expanses of open water would appear, only to be sealed off the following year. These varying conditions plagued Passage and Pole pursuers alike.

Berton skims over the 1818 Ross expedition opening the RN's Passage quest to introduce us to William E. Parry. Parry [for whom Ontario tourist centre Parry Sound is named], made three attempts to find the open water leading to the Pacific. Although his efforts reflect a courageous and dedicated officer, the real impact of Parry's voyages resulted from the loss of one of his ships. Ice pressure forced the Fury onto a beach where her stores couldn't be transferred to the other ship. In this location, well known to the Royal Navy, the Fury became a lodestone for lost adventurers seeking supplies.

The ineptness of Royal Navy planners permeates Berton's account. For successive decades the RN continued to send men North to live on salted meat, making them lug huge sleds across the ice, ignoring the recommendations to use dog teams and provide hunters for fresh meat. This stubborn policy condemned countless sailors to miserable deaths in extreme conditions. Men died not from the freezing temperatures, but from the debilitating effects of scurvy. Lemon juice [not the "limey" elixir that led to the appellation applied to British sailors] was an inadequate antiscorbutic - it would freeze on the open sleds and wasn't as effective as fresh meat. Still, the RN persisted in using it.

The key to many Arctic explorations was the inexplicable loss of 129 men and the two ships of the 1845 John Franklin expedition. Franklin's career was beset by ineptness, having been cashiered as Governor of Van Dieman's Land and nearly died during an earlier land expedition. These transgressions were forgiven by the British public and ignored by the Admiralty planners, who were goaded on by Franklin's wife, Jane, for decades. Expeditions by land and sea were mounted, some privately financed by Lady Jane. The explorers learned much about the Arctic, but little truly determined what prompted Franklin's crew to flee the ships.

Berton calls the successive ventures the "Arctic virus," asserting that it most recognized the Northwest Passage as a chimera. That claim is unlikely, since the quest continued into the 20th Century with the Norwegian Raoul Amundsen's successful venture. However impractical the route, due to the vagaries of the ice pack, it remained an aim. Berton moves from the Passage to the more romantic objective of planting a flag at the Pole. The early attempts, including the ill-fated balloon Eagle's venture are vividly described. As every schoolchild "knows" the storm of contention came to centre on two men. Robert Edward Peary and Dr. Frederick Cook were thrown together in a concurrent race to achieve the goal. Berton's analysis of both expeditions makes a worthy finale to this book. Although today, Peary is generally accepted as the man who "stood on the roof of the world," Berton weighs the evidence and finds the award wanting. Americans who haven't read Dennis Rawlins assessment of Peary's account will no doubt be shocked to learn Peary had to have faked his daily travel rates. At best, he stopped 150 kilometres from the goal.

Berton's book is invigorating reading. His highly detailed account is drawn from numerous original journals and later histories. The combination gives him a solid foundation for his narrative, brought to life by his animated prose. The accompanying maps and illustrations enhance each story as it unfolds under his deft touch. A thorough reading list for each chapter provides the bibliography, and the indexing is thorough. Given the expenditure of life, funds and material squandered on these ventures, Berton's effort to portray the complete picture deserves attention and respect. With heroism, persistence, romance all pigments in Berton's portrayal, this book can appeal to nearly everyone.

I have read this book THREE times. It is a well written page turner, beautifully describing the era, and mentality, of the Arctic explorations of the 1800's. Complacency, greed, heroism, and tragedy are the main characters in this excellent book. I recommend this book to everyone I meet!

Like the sweeping wide-open spaces of the arctic this book covers a lot of territory. Foremost is a survey of Arctic exploration: when the maps were blank and theories of warm northen oceans and pathways to China ran wild in post-Napoleon pax-Britania, to the final controversy of American Peary reaching the north pole. It is an examanation of explorers and the lessons to be learned applicable to every person who travels. Live off the local environment. Travel light. Adapt to locals customs. It is a triumph of human spirit over adversity equally balanced by human failings. Burton brings historical accuracy to the legends we see the good side and bad side of every explorer.

You may find this book used on the Internet look in any of the used book search engines.

This is one of the few books detailing the entire quest for the Northwest passage and North Pole, a quest which spanned almost a century. Beginning in 1818 after the end of the Napoleonic wars the oversized British Navy was sent on trips to ferret out the Northwest passage. The original man responsible for this was Mr. Barrow at the Admiralty. This portion of the books mirrors and serves as the backbone for Fergus Flemings `Barrows Boys' which is a similar excellent account.

This fantastic volume goes onto describe Amundsons navigation of the passage and the mapping of the northwest territories as well as bear Lake and Slave Lake. The final chapters sum up the quest for the North Pole and the expeditions from all sides that set out to conquer the top of the world. Nansans voyage from northern Norway is detailed very well.

This is an excellent account and if you can find this book it is a very good read, full of adventure, suspense and containing many good maps of each voyage.

Definitely worth your while to pick up this book. I was gripped from beginning to end, literally. Only the fact that I also had the rest of my life to get on with could wrench me from this book. This is a wonderful account of the various characters that entered the Arctic searching for the Northwest Passage, the North Pole and scientific discoveries. Most possessed some ignorance and arrogance which made their stay in the Arctic rather more adventurous than necessary. I won't say any more, just read this book and discover the wonders within.

The cast of characters and their disastrous attempts at the Northwest Passage are spellbinding. Berton brings his historical acuity to bear on this subject that seems to have been forgotten in the annals of North American History. If you can get a copy of this book, read it and keep it.

Out of print for a number of years, "The Arctic Grail" is indeed the Holy Grail of Arctic history books. It is, without question, the finest compilation on the topic, and one that belongs in every collection of books on polar exploration. No wonder that just about every book on the North Pole and the Northwest Passage published in the past two decades lists "Grail" as source material. It also makes for riveting reading. Highly recommended.