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In July, the 250-ton Karluk departed Alaska. By August, the ship was doomed, trapped and drifting in a solid pack of ice. Stefannson abandoned ship (continuing his explorations for five full years before returning), and the Karluk drifted for months before it was crushed by the ice and sank. Twenty-five people escaped onto the ice, isolated for a year before rescue arrived. By then, 11 people had perished--some in trying to reach land, others by suicide, malnutrition, or disease.
McKinlay's first-hand account of the Karluk debacle is Shackleton's Endurance story in reverse: what happens when an untrained, ill-matched crew meets disaster and barely rises to the challenge. Leaderless and despondent, the stranded resorted to treachery, lying, cheating, and pure folly. Karluk is a story both unbelievable and familiar, and it is convincingly told: how ambition and poor planning lead to spectacular disasters from which only sheer will or luck can offer salvation. --Svenja Soldovieri
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
“I stood there cursing and yellling at the snarling mob, and then I realized that the Skipper was rolling on the ice, helpless with laughter. ‘Oh boy’, he said, ‘I thought I knew all the swear words, but you have sure taught me some new ones.’ I had to laugh, too, because never before in my life had I used a swear word, not even a mild ‘damn’. Schoolmaster McKinaly was certainly getting his education!” (pg. 82)