The Frozen Ship: The Histories and Tales of Polar Exploration

by Sarah Moss

The Frozen Ship examines the most influential, popular, and intriguing accounts of journeys into the eternal ice—from Viking settlers and Renaissance conquerors to Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, and from the tales of Parry, Franklin, Nansen, and Byrd to the forgotten stories of women at the poles.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Travel

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Sarah Moss is the award-winning author of six novels: Cold Earth, Night Waking, selected for the Fiction Uncovered Award in 2011, Bodies of Light, Signs for Lost Children and The Tidal Zone, all shortlisted for the prestigious Wellcome Prize, and her new book Ghost Wall, out in September 2018.

She has also written a memoir of her year living in Iceland, Names for the Sea, which was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize in 2013.

Sarah Moss is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick in England.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Draws some long bows in the manner of literary criticism everywhere, but in general, an interesting and informative survey.

[Karyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As we’ve already established, if it fits into what my friends and I call “sad boat,” I will read it. This definitely is part of the genre, but interestingly Moss doesn’t focus on just one or two polar explorations. Instead she gives us an overview of many of the expeditions that attempted to conquer the poles.

I found this book to be quite interesting, especially considering that Moss examines why the polar regions have captured our fancy for so long, and why those of us left behind are so obsessed with learning more about the men who traveled there and usually died there. Of note, Moss points out that those Europeans that valued the contributions of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic tended to have much better outcomes than those who felt they were merely “savages” or “barbarians” who had no moral compass, according to those same Europeans.

Too often, men went to the poles completely unprepared for the climate and the dangers of these parts of the world. The Andrée expedition, in which three men were to head to the North Pole by balloon, was an abysmal failure after they had to divest themselves of all the ballast and a good portion of their supplies to remain aloft, and then their balloon crashed down anyway. At that point, the men’s clothing was no match for the frigid temperatures. The contrast between Scott, who carefully arranged how he would be found after death, both in his physical body and in the writings he left behind, and Franklin, who disappeared without a trace, but whose men carried the strangest array of silver cutlery and fancy dress, weighing them down unnecessarily, is quite fascinating.

The last section, where Moss describes how polar exploration influenced the literature of the day, was less interesting to me. I felt she reached quite a bit in some of her points, and it read more like a paper to be submitted for a class than a portion of a published book. I tended to skim that part.

One would really need to be interested in polar exploration to enjoy this book, but it’s a worthy addition to the genre.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grabbed this book at the library on my way out and am so happy I did. Her research of Greenland, Iceland and the explorers through the ages that tried to reach the North Pole are rich with excerpts from historical pieces. I really enjoyed.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something about human nature that strives for adventure and also immortality. In the Artic and Antartic, many adventurers found both. Sir John Franklin's expedition to the Artic ended up killing his entire party of 135. One of his men's bodies was found 140 years later, and John Torrington's body was extremely well preserved. Robert Falcon Scott did not survive his trek to the South Pole but his journals did. Some of the extreme expeditions ended up resorting in cannibalism, including Franklin's. Adventurers found it patriotic to try and conquer the poles first for their countries. Artic adventure even had quite an impact on literature, and they inspired parts of the stories of The Chronicles of Narnia, Frankenstein, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh. It is interesting that freezing has quite a remarkable ability to capture the human imagination.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a general overview of polar exploration. It's more about the first-hand accounts written by explorers as well as the cultural and literary impact of these trips to the Arctic and Antarctic. Some knowledge of Scott and Franklin may be helpful.

3.5

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about half of this book. Interesting, but the author is a bit irritating, and I stopped before I read about the cannibalism group. eww.