When the members of Canada’s First Arctic Expedition set out from Victoria aboard HMCS Karluk in the summer of 1913, it was a moment of great optimism. The three-year mission would chart unexplored landmasses of the Western Arctic and secure Canada’s place in the international geographic community. Little did the team of distinguished scholars and scientists realize, however, how their hopes would soon be brought to ruin. Just a few months into the journey, the vessel became lodged in heavy ice, eventually sinking near the coast of Siberia.
With little polar experience among them but ample supplies salvaged from the wreck, the group of castaways slowly made their way to solid ground on desolate Wrangel Island. There they would wait while the ship’s captain and an Inuk guide embarked on a heroic 1,100-kilometre trek along the Siberian coast in search of help. By the end of the fifteen-month saga, eleven members of the original expedition would perish from frostbite and sickness, while the remaining twenty would survive to tell the tale. The Luck of the Karluk is a fascinating story about an important episode in Canada’s history and a revealing study of the strengths and weaknesses of human nature under treacherous conditions.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (page 140) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 919.804
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- r------
- ISBN
- 9781772030228 9781772030204
- LCCN
- G670.1913
- LCCN Item number
- C76 2015eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (143 pages)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)kck00235722 (OCoLC)913977670 (CaOOCEL)449166
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Contents 4
- Prologue 6
- 1: The Grand Adventure 9
- 2: Flagship of the Northern Party 15
- 3: The Team Assembles 22
- 4: Under Way at Last 29
- 5: Ice, Ice Everywhere 38
- 6: Death Throes 44
- 7: Shipwreck Camp Moves Out 57
- 8: Castaways on Wrangel Island 73
- 9: Trek for Help 85
- 10: From Russia to Alaska 96
- 11: The Rescue 107
- 12: The Aftermath 119
- Epilogue 134
- Selected Bibliography 141
- Index 142
- About the Author 145
