Erebus: The Story of a Ship

Michael Palin, a former Monty Python member, and television globetrotter, brings the HMS Erebus to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to its voyages of discovery in the Antarctic and Arctic. He explores the intertwined careers of James Clark Ross and John Franklin, as well as the experiences of the men who first stepped ashore on Victoria Land in Antarctica and froze to death in the Arctic.

\n Format: CD-Audio
\n \n Publication date: 20 September 2018
\n Publisher: Cornerstone
\n

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Erebus, written and read by the renowned Michael Palin. In September 2014, the wreck of a sailing vessel was discovered at the bottom of the sea in the frozen wastes of the Canadian Arctic. Broken at the stern and covered in a woolly coat of underwater vegetation, its whereabouts had been a mystery for over a century and a half. The ship's name was HMS Erebus.

Now, Michael Palin, a former Monty Python stalwart and beloved television globetrotter, brings this extraordinary ship back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic. He explores the intertwined careers of the men who shared its journeys: the dashing James Clark Ross, who charted much of the "Great Southern Barrier" and oversaw some of the earliest scientific experiments conducted there; and the troubled John Franklin, who, at the age of sixty and after a chequered career, commanded the ship on its final, disastrous expedition.

Palin vividly recounts the experiences of the men who first stepped ashore on Antarctica's Victoria Land, and those who, just a few years later, froze to death one by one in the Arctic wastes as rescue missions desperately tried to reach them. To help tell the story, he has traveled to various locations across the world, including Tasmania, the Falklands, and the Canadian Arctic, to search for local information and to experience at first hand the terrain and conditions that would have confronted the Erebus and her crew.

Illustrated with maps, paintings, and engravings, this is a wonderfully evocative and epic account, written by a master explorer and storyteller.

\n Weight: 226g\n
Dimension: 142 x 141 x 21 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781786141408\n
Edition number: Unabridged ed\n