The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure

185 Pages·2012·7.17 MB·English

by  Martin W. Sandler

INTRODUCTION
S
CHAPTER ONE: TRANDED
A A P
CHAPTER TWO: N UDACIOUS LAN
T L T B
CHAPTER THREE: HE ONG REK EGINS
A E E
CHAPTER FOUR: N XTRAORDINARY NCOUNTER
B , R N D
CHAPTER FIVE: LIZZARDS EINDEER, AND EAR ISASTER
A D R
CHAPTER SIX: ESPERATE EQUEST
A A D
CHAPTER SEVEN: NOTHER GONIZING ECISION
B B O
CHAPTER EIGHT: ERTHOLF ATTLES THE DDS
A H C
CHAPTER NINE: AZARDOUS ROSSING
D N W
CHAPTER TEN: IRE EWS OF THE HALERS
C
CHAPTER ELEVEN: ONTACT
J T C
CHAPTER TWELVE: ARVIS AKES HARGE
V A T
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: OYAGE GAINST IME
E
PILOGUE
W H T
HAT APPENED TO HEM
T
IMELINE
S N
OURCE OTES
B
IBLIOGRAPHY
P C
HOTOGRAPHY REDITS
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This map, based on one drawn about 1887, shows the key places in the Arctic where the story you are about
to read took place, from the tiny village of Tununak, in the southwest corner of Alaska, to Point Barrow, the
farthest point north. The names indicated in the waters off Point Barrow are those of the whaling ships that,
in 1897, became trapped in the ice there.
The book you are about to read tells the story of one of the world’s most
amazing adventures, a saga based on arguably the most daring rescue plan ever
devised. It is a story filled with extraordinary courage, unprecedented personal
sacrifices, human failings, and continual suspense.
The people you are about to meet were as remarkable as the story they
lived. Called upon to accomplish what most believed to be impossible by no less
a person than the president of the United States, they were thrust into the
harshest and most dangerous environment in the world, an immense region of
ice and snow with temperatures that fell to as low as sixty degrees below zero, a
place where a person’s every step might very well be his last. You will also meet
an extraordinary ship and its crew. And throughout the book, you will encounter
the unique and often misunderstood people who had long made this harsh region
their home and will discover the essential role they played as a miracle in the
Arctic unfolded.
In order to do it justice, I have told this story, wherever appropriate, through
the words of those who took part in it. This has been made possible by the
existence of reports, diaries, journals, letters, and detailed reminiscences written
by the principal characters. Researching the illustrations for the book yielded a
most welcome and important surprise. Initially, I was delighted to discover
photographs that had been taken during the actual adventure. I became even
more thrilled when I was later able to determine that many of the pictures were
taken by one of the most important characters in the story.
Adventure, suspense, almost unimaginable heroics — these are just some of
the ingredients of a story made even more remarkable because it really
happened. But above all, the story is a celebration of the human spirit, one that,
in the most dramatic fashion, reveals how brave men and women will risk and
sacrifice all to help those in peril.