The Ice Master
In June 1913, the H.M.C.S. Karluk sailed north of Alaska, searching for an eighth continent. Vilhjalmer Stefansson, leader of the expedition, believed in its existence and was determined to discover it. The cost of his dream forms the basis for The Ice Master. When the Karluk proved no match for encroaching Arctic ice, Stefansson abandoned ship, leaving Captain Robert Bartlett in charge of a vessel about to sink, and twenty-four people, many of them scientists he wielded no official authority over. But as conditions forced the stranded group to camp on ice floes and on isolated Wrangel Island, they learned to trust Bartlett without condition. In early 1914, he dogsledded to Siberia with one companion, traveling seven hundred miles to inform the world of the Karluk survivors’ plight.
In The Ice Master, Jennifer Niven provides a compelling, balanced account of this at times unbelievable story. Drawing extensively on the journals and letters of those involved, she recreates the Arctic conditions, the physical and emotional states of the Wrangel Island survivors, and the agony Bartlett endured as he struggled to rescue his comrades. Despite voluminous source material, she spools out details suspensefully.
In her prologue, the author explains that she desired to tell the story left largely untold by William McKinlay, the expedition’s magnetician. McKinlay spent most of his life collecting materials on the Karluk voyage and its aftermath, but died before he could publish a full and true account. Sad as this is, there is a happy ending, for Niven has written a book to remember.
