Re-creating the successes and harrowing failures of the original extreme adventurers, Fergus Fleming captures the incredibly brave, and often downright insane, passion for exploration that led a band of men into situations that would humble even the bravest adventurers today. B&W Illustrations 9.40 X 6.50 X 1.50 inches 489 pages 'Barrow's Boys is a spellbinding account of perilous journeys to uncharted areas under the most challenging conditions.

A bright, solid book, dustjacket in Mylar, unclipped. DJ and boards show very light shelf wear. Along with Michael Palin's Erebus, this is one of the best audiobooks you'll find for the Ross expeditions.Hardcover.

but I guess his uncle was a huge influence and his family would have probably spoken with Scottish accents too, so maybe that's right. A+++ to the presenter for his wonderful voices, even if every Scottish guy sounds nearly the same (which means like John Ross, our main Scot!) - and I'm never sure if the audiobooks have James Clark Ross quite right as he was actually born in London and didn't live much in Scotland. While some of the material will seem really familiar to other books like the Arctic Grail, the author has done his homework, and result is that you may learn a think or two you didn't already know. The way the book weaves it all together makes for great listening. Even if you're already familiar with most of these stories, this book offers some wonderful tidbits not found in other places. Many of the missions are considered the greatest in history, but have never before been collected into one volume that captures the full sweep of Barrow's program. While many of the journeys failed, Barrow and his men ultimately opened Africa to the world, discovered Antarctica, and pried apart the mandibles of the Arctic. They struggled under budgets that forced them to resort to pulling enormous ships across floating ice fields to eating mice, or their own shoes and even to horrifying acts of cannibalism. His explorers often died of sickness or at the hands of unfriendly natives. From the first disastrous trip down the Congo, Barrow maintained his resolve in the face of continuous catastrophes. For the next 30 years, his teams of elite naval officers went on missions to fill the blanks that littered the atlases of the day. Fergus Fleming captures the passion for exploration that led a band of men into situations that would humble today's bravest adventurers.Īfter the Napoleonic wars, John Barrow, Second Secretary to the Admiralty, launched the most ambitious exploration program the world has ever seen. Barrow's Boys is a spellbinding account of perilous journeys to uncharted areas under the most challenging conditions.

Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming