Erebus: The Story of a Ship

Product Information

Palin, for me, comfortably passes a test that most celebrities fail – that of being someone you would enjoy an evening in a pub with. A year later, the ships were led by John Franklin on the ill-fated attempt on the North West Passage. Poi i viaggi, impensabili per tempistiche, fatica, rischi pazzeschi in luoghi sconosciuti in stagioni durissime. We learn of the brave man who was so maligned when, having discovered, through the Innuit, the likely fate of the two ships and their crews, he was shunned for suggesting that any Englishman could be so depraved as to resort to cannibalism. His books include accounts of his journeys, novels (Hemingway’s Chair and The Truth) and several volumes of diaries.

I don't know if this is a book I will think back on and ponder, but it is a fascinating window to a time when The Unknown was a prominent character and those who set out to meet her did so at their own peril. The last chapter of Erebus covers the recent resurgence in the Franklin mystery, and ends with Palin’s visit to Antarctica in 2017, to see the final places along the parties’ sojourn across the ice. But his discoveries during the Antarctic voyage marked the beginning of one of the most illustrious careers in scientific history. I don’t recount this to brag, but to reflect on how history is much more meaningful when you can be surrounded by it, involved in it, immersed in it, in any way. A fantastic read for anyone who is interested in this field, and maybe an eye opener for those with a general interest in history who are merely tempted by the famous name of the author.Palin assesses the role of the ship’s various commanders and understands the importance of anchoring his prose in specificity and detail. I like to think that those aboard Erebus drew similar comfort from the whales' company on the long and increasingly hazardous journey south. Michael brings the remarkable Erebus back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic.

Palin does an excellent job provided the facts and using period documents to tell the story of Erebus from birth to death. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. In September 2014, marine archaeologists discovered HMS Erebus, her snapped stern furred with algae, on the Arctic seabed.

Though the two ships are used as the main subject for the book, in reality the core message is about the heroic attempts to reach Antarctica and the magnetic South Pole together with a mapping expedition of the Arctic and an attempt to sail through the North West passage. In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. It therefore seems appropriate to be the name of an Antarctic volcano, that further lived up to its name when, on 28th November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901 flew into its slopes, killing all on board. The first, magnificently successful voyage was a four-year, three-winter discovery of the Antarctic, led by James Clark Ross, notable for sailing through pack ice to discover the Ross ice shelf.

So berichtet uns Palin ausführlich von den Reisen der beiden Schiffe, inklusive ausführlicher Charakterisierungen der jeweiligen Kapitäne und Offiziere.

He even reviews the plans by the master shipwright who outfitted her for her expedition to the Arctic. Michael Palin did such a great job telling the story of the ship Erebus and all those who rode it on its trip to the Antarctic and then on its failed quest to find the north west passage. So many questions which can never be answered, but Michael Palin's book goes a long way to answering some of them, or at least speculating on the likely truths. The maps are good and self-explanatory, the index appears inclusive, the photographs and renditions of the engravings colourful and enhance the story, his comments on colonial expansionism and imperialism are appropriate if mild and my favourite book of last year, The Heart of Darkness provides an appropriate prologue. His moving account of the discovery of abandoned items, taken on board as comforts of home by the officers – silver cutlery with their initials indented, scattered on a frozen shore – affected me the most.