Icebound In The Arctic: The Mystery of Captain Francis Crozier and the Franklin Expedition

by Michael Smith

Captain Francis Crozier was a major figure in 19th century Arctic and Antarctic exploration who led the doomed Franklin Expedition's battle to survive against the odds. It is a compelling story which refuses to be laid to rest and recent discovery of his lost ships above the Arctic Circle gives it a new urgency.  

The ships may hold vital clues to how two navy vessels and 129 men disappeared 170 years ago and why Crozier, in command after Franklin's early death, left the only written clue to the biggest disaster in Polar history.

Drawn from historic records and modern revelations, this is the only comprehensive account of Crozier's extraordinary life. It is a tale of a great explorer, a lost love affair and an enduring mystery.  

Crozier's epic story began comfortably in Banbridge, Co Down and involved six gruelling expeditions on three of the 19th century's great endeavours – navigating the North West Passage, reaching the North Pole and mapping Antarctica. But it ended in disaster.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, Adventure, 19th Century

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 12, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael Smith gave up a 30 year career as a leading business and political journalist to write the bestselling biography, An Unsung Hero - Tom Crean. He was formerly Political Correspondent and Industrial Editor of the Guardian, City Editor of the London Evening Standard and Business Editor of the Observer. He has a long-standing interest in Polar expedition. He lives in East Sussex.

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded to 5 stars

After reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing last year and falling in love with it, I decided to find another nonfiction polar adventure on my Libby App. This is the one I chose. It primarily revolves around an under-recognized explorer named Francis Crozier, an Irishman and member of the Royal Navy, who during the 19th century distinguishes himself over 5 polar expeditions. The reader also sees plenty of James Clark Ross, Edward Parry, John Franklin and other well known British explorers. The major goal of the Arctic expeditions (the book also covers one trek to Antarctica) is to map out the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic to the Pacific, but then the latter part of the book covers the heart-wrenching Lost Expedition of John Franklin. A major highlight of the book is reading about the follow up detective work dedicated to finding out what happened to the ships and the crew of this unfortunate voyage. Captivating stuff, which continues into the present day.

Another highlight, of course, is the life of these brave explorers as they look to enter waters and land never visited by man before. The environment is definitely not for sissies. I never cease to wonder why these men put themselves in these horrific situations. Apparently, the drive to garner glory for their countries (and for some, themselves) can be monumental.

I immensely enjoyed the experience of reading this book. I phrase it like that as I spent half my reading time referring to Wikipedia and its maps to closely follow the journey of the explorers and to learn more about the people and the lands featured in the narrative. Absolutely fascinating stuff! I went into the book with little knowledge of the arctic, which I think enhanced my experience. Learning from my reading is a bonus to any enjoyment I get out of a book, so I really got a ton out of this one.

I highly recommend Icebound in the Arctic to everyone. Even if you don’t think you like adventures (that was me before reading Endurance), take a chance. You may open a whole new genre for yourself to enjoy and learn from. If anyone has a favorite a nonfiction adventure read that I should not miss, I’m all ears!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story mostly revolves around the under-recognized explorer, Francis Crozier, an Irishman and member of the Royal Navy, who during the 19th century made over 5 polar expeditions. Crozier’s character was discussed at some length, fairly and without a great deal of partiality though it had been suggested that he didn't take the place he deserved in Arctic exploration history because of his humble beginnings. Franklin, on the other hand, was almost Crozier's exact opposite. Franklin’s various ventures had never ended well, and although genial, friendly and popular he was clearly not the seaman that Crozier was, his Arctic experience was woefully out of date, and he was an overweight 59 years old, which was years older than 59 would be considered today. It seems, as the author writes, that Franklin was given command of the expedition because everyone "felt sorry" for him following his unpleasant time and unfair treatment as Governor of Tasmania, combined with the relentless lobbying of his formidable wife. I think she just wanted him out of her way. Another individual was given the task of choosing the crew and outfitting the ship which turned out to be a very bad choice when he appointed Franklin as second in command. Over the nearly 180 years the "WHAT IF'S" have made more than one round though several generations of seamen. Would things have turned out different if Crozier had had more command and authority, or if a different route had been chosen? We will never know. Papers found later described all the trouble they ran into with the storms and the ice, the damage to one of the supply ships that had to be cut loose. Fritzjames, the man allowed to pick the crew and set the route had no Arctic experience whatsoever and neither did most of the men he chose. Can we say, "disaster going somewhere to happen"? The reader will find no stunning insights because Crozier wasn't a man to leave emotional materials behind, but the author did his homework and gathered enough of his letters and traces that we can get a genuine feel for the man. Although I watched The Terror when it was televised, this book is as far from my reading interest as the Earth is from the sun...but I found that I truly enjoyed the adventure and seeing Francis Crozier get his well-earned rewards even if they were over 100 years late.

[Ita C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read

Having first heard of Francis Crozier through the Michael Palin book Erebus, this was a fascinating read and explanation of the life of the man in command of her sister ship. Well written and researched, it is a poignant look at the life of the man from Banbridge who ended his days somewhere in the Arctic...I loathe to say lost in the Arctic as he seems to be have been the kind of man who would have known exactly where he was! An amazing life story, well encapsulated in this book, well worth reading if you can.

[mtl · Rating 5 out of 5]

(A confession: I love F.R.M. Crozier)

This must be one of the best books on the Franklin Expedition, if I might call it that because technically it's not about the Franklin Expedition really but about the historical context, the prelude of the disaster and a certain unhappy man who was dragged into this fool's errand foolish endeavor by men far less capable than him. You don't get it? I don't get it either. So let me elaborate:

(Trigger warning: this review may contain language that is offending to a nationalist, racist, boisterous buffoon with delusions of grandeur and poor grasp of his own native language who crawled under a rock in the 1940‘s and only crawled back out yesterday. Everyone else should be fine reading it.)

I knew about the Franklin Expedition before "the series" came out and even before I read "the book" (The Terror that is) which is usually the first contact for people. I read Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition first and only then became obsessed. I mean: Obsessed with a capital o. I bought books for the single reason they contained a photo of a spoon I had not seen before. (For a short while I amused myself with imagining I might go study history so I could write my PhD on the expedition to qualify to maybe, if lucky, have the chance to look at that note, yes, that note. But I didn't. I ended up with a huge collection of books and a hole in my heart... eh wallet.) But the more I read the less questions were answered, in fact they multiplied. Every book, documentary or online article chooses to tell a different snippet of the story and ends up confusing you more. Why did they ...? Where were ...? It is a puzzle containing Barrow's Boys: The Original Extreme Adventurers: A Stirring Story of Daring Fortitude and Outright Lunacy, A Book of Discovery, James Fitzjames: the Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition, Erebus: The Story of a Ship - and don't get me started on my fiction section - but you can't make the pieces fit or see what it's supposed to look like until. Until this here now. It lingered for eternity as 'unavailable' on my amazon wish list under the title 'Crozier: Last Man Standing' (I bet he was) until it was recently published again to include the finding of the ships (during our lifetime, imagine!). Oh I am rambling. What was I gonna say? This book is great. This book answers so many questions. Not all, of course. Franklin, who was made a bit bearable in my eyes by Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit, now looks worse again, so does Fitzjames, who I had nothing against until I learned he was put in charge of selecting the men for Crozier's ship the 'Terror' and never bothered to ask him if he wanted to propose some men (or any at all) he wanted on HIS ship that he was going to captain. And Crozier - a sad hero. Imagine being depressed and lonely, also slighted like he was the way Admiralty treated him, then being shipped off to that hellish place with a bunch of boisterous buffoons (!) - all of whom combined haven‘t spent his time in the polar regions - and he who maybe has the least will to live is left to drag their ill-prepared bottoms back to safety... I... wouldn't have been equal to the hardship.

Not quite a book review, I know. More like some ramblings. Because you should read the book. Because it is perfect. It contains heartbreaking sentences.

Climate change is now the big topic it should have been all along since scientists have been warning us about it, since the 70s - or earlier (edit: I recently heard that Alexander von Humboldt warned about this as early as the 1800‘s, wow). But all I am thinking is: that asshole North West Passage is no problem now, is it? I hear Russian ships are going back and forth there like ducklings on a pond. And how are John Torrington, John Hartnell and William Braine doing right now, are they thawing, should they be disinterred like the Ötzi or would this disturb their peace? Do they have their peace if frozen eternally or the opposite, to be able to finally dissolve? I must be a strange case: other people cry over sad movies and books, I cry over non-fiction.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help but feel the author is a bit of a misogynist. He just doesn't seem to take the women in Crozier's life very seriously (and really who cares if Jane Franklin found James Ross handsome, everyone did- have you seen the guy's portrait?). I do think Crozier was a very interesting fellow, and quite melancholy. I do wish we were presented with more primary sources/letters of his throughout his life; I don't know that this book dramatically added to my Franklin Expedition knowledge, but I do feel like I have more context for Crozier's early life. I think a good biographer can really bring someone back to life, but I'm not convinced that this book accomplished that. He certainly is an overlooked (yet oversized) figure in the annals of arctic/antarctic exploration.

[Torin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so many thoughts about this book. It reached further to the present than I expected which sometimes felt out of topic even though it still dealt in the Franklin expedition's investigation.

But all in all this biography is great, kind to the figure of Crozier and at times very extremely tragic.

I'm especially moved by the fact that Crozier has, along the years, almost acquired the status of folk tale hero, I dont know why but I find that poetic.
I will forever be sad he wasn't recognized as the great polar explorer he was in his time but better late than never i guess!

[Nicholas Kruger · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accessible read that gives the spotlight to a long-neglected explorer. It will help to have some familiarity with the British Empire of this time period.

That said. I wanted to like this more given my current hyper fixation and the fun anecdotes from the JCR exploration era, but the heavy handed, speculative "Crozier was pining after Sofia Cracroft" thesis (that the book even concludes with) falls flat.

There also aren't nearly as many citations as there should be in such a biography and I have no idea what the sources are for many of the stories, as delightful as some of them are.

I found the frequent jabs at weight and hairlines unnecessary.

I was also disappointed that the updated chapters in this revised edition didn't focus nearly as much on the discovery of the ships as I was expecting.

So, a mixed bag here. Should you have it in your polar library? Given the dearth of Crozier bios, I would say yes; I only wish I could be more enthusiastic.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest of Michael Smith's biographies of unsung polar heroes; Crozier was second in command to Sir John Franklin in the famous, doomed expedition to find the North West Passage around the northern coast of Canada.

There's an unavoidable scarcity of detail, especially since Crozier's records from that final voyage are still in his desk in HMS Terror, deep beneath Arctic water. But it's an extraordinary story of bravery, competence and hardship in the least hospitable climates in the world. And there's the tantalising prospect that sometime in the not-too-far-distant future it will be possible to recover a lot more information. (And so this book takes a step beyond Michael Palin's Erebus in extending what we know about the expedition, and there may be further steps to come.)

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s really unfortunate that a book that spends so much time bemoaning how Crozier was overlooked in his time manages to do much the same thing in its own pages. At least as much of this book is about his contemporaries as it is a biography of him, unfortunately.

[MisterLiberry Head · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first comprehensive biography of Francis Crozier – called by author Michael Smith an “unsung hero” and “an exceptional explorer poorly treated by history” (p15) – has as its goal to boost the Irishman to his rightful place among the greats of polar exploration. So far as Mister Liberryhead can tell, the author succeeds in making his case – and does so in a highly readable, well-organized manner. Adjectives most often applied to Crozier are by his contemporaries: level-headed, reliable and dependable. Renowned among his peers for outstanding seamanship in the polar ice, his ability to command his crews, and for his self-taught expertise on magnetism. Crozier proved his worth during six punishing polar expeditions. The least known of his ventures in HMS ‘Terror’ was the historic 1841-42 exploration of Antarctica, an achievement of which the great Roald Amundsen wrote: “it is not merely difficult to grasp this, it is simply impossible” (p125). Unfortunately, Crozer’s humility, lack of political connections and what today would be diagnosed as occasional episode of clinical depression, held back his career and greater fame (not to mention a knighthood never bestowed him). Commanded by Sir John Franklin, ‘Erebus’ and ‘Terror’ in 1845 blithely “sailed down the River Thames in a wave of national optimism and enthusiasm” (p273), only to end as the worst disaster in the history of the Royal Navy – by no fault whatsoever of Crozier’s. The author rightly lays out the catastrophe-blind role of Sir John Barrow, ensconced in his cozy London office and full of misinformed views about the accessibility of both the North West Passage and the North Pole. Sent out badly prepared by Barrow’s orders, numerous Royal Navy expeditions broke their ships on impassable Arctic ice or returned in failure during “his extraordinary forty-year reign at the seat of power in the Admiralty” (p162). Poor Crozier and the 129 men of the Franklin Expedition died as a result of the Admiralty’s arrogance, Victorian self-delusion and the fatal hubris of being completely unadaptable. Tragically apt is the comparison the author makes to ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Tennyson (Franklin’s nephew): “Theirs but to do and die.”

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely devoured this book. It was fantastic. I am...a little obsessed with polar exploration history and more specifically, the Franklin expedition, and this was one of the best books I've read about it. Francis Crozier was such an interesting figure, a bit of an underdog and one of those unsung heroes throughout History. He was brilliantly talented at what he did, but was overshadowed by grander figures in polar exploration. This was a great book to put him front and centre and to illustrate his importance, in Antarctic history, earlier Arctic ventures, and of course, the Franklin incident. This was also one of the first books where I've read about their journey and gone 'oh I *get it* now', thanks to the maps included and the venture plotted out on it. I loved it, cover to cover. Arctic history is full of grief, beauty, violence, awe, excitement, and ultimately, tragedy.

[dom · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a very judgy person, this is a really good book (non-fiction or not), one of the best I've read in a long while. This book is an absolute must read for exploration and history enthusiasts.

If I had to make a prediction about what happened to Crozier, in terms of probability, I think he likely died somewhere on the death march to the Fish (Back) River.

[jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

so like did anyone else notice that taylor swift wrote champagne problems about fronk from sophy cracrofts perspective?? no just me? whatever im totally correct im sure she would confirm

[actual review? maybe one day. pretty comprehensive and informative biography, definitely recommended if you’re interested in polar exploration]

[Pat Mirza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Read

This was a real page turner - a fascinating look into Arctic and Antarctic exploration by many of the bravest men that ever lived. Francis Crozier, intrepid Irishman, finally receives the honor and accolades he deserved. May he Rest In Peace.

[Kuddlmus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the epic quest to discover the North West Passage and the personal lives and missions of the expeditionists. Incredible stories, all. On a par with Smith's tribute to another Irish adventurer, Tim Crean, An Unsung Hero

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

debated taking half a star off because certain grammar really frustrated me, but this was a super compelling read with some great information so rounding up. god i want to know what’s inside that desk

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and well written biography of a real hero among the polar explorers who is often forgotten, for some reason. Easy to read and well documented, with extracts from letters and diaries

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review tbc

[lonnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My best friend Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier 🥺

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed The Terror (the show), and I also greatly enjoy nautical disaster history, so this was a fun thing to read while having a nice cappuccino this afternoon.

[HGS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

[quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

really thorough! i think this book did a great job at presenting the wider context of the franklin expedition and crozier's life. when it gets to the actual expedition, obviously the information gets a little shakier and some things are stated more factually than they actually are. there were some small mistakes i noticed (he says that alfred tennyson was franklin's nephew? he was not) but maybe i'm just interpreting him wrong idk. i think all franklin research is inherently speculatory so i won't be too harsh. we have to assume so much about crozier, but i think this book understands his character quite well and places him really firmly within his own circumstance. also mentioned the crozier spoon! love when that turns up lol