Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, ExplorerIn 1860, fifteen years after Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition disappeared in the Arctic, a Cincinnati businessman named Charles Francis Hall set out to locate and rescue the expedition's survivors. He was an amateur explorer, without any scientific training or experience, but he was driven by a sense of personal destiny and of religious and patriotic mission. Despite the odds against him, he made three forays into the far North, the final--and fatal--one taking him farther north than any westerner had ever gone before. But Hall was suddenly taken ill on that voyage and died under mysterious circumstances. Ninety-seven years later, Chauncey Loomis headed an expedition to Hall's grave in northwestern Greenland. He exhumed Hall's frozen body and performed an autopsy. His findings suggest that the investigators of Hall's death nervously sidestepped the damning evidence. Loomis has written a masterful biography-cum-mystery that brilliantly evokes the lure of the Arctic and the brutal contest between man and nature. With a new Introduction by Andrea Barrett, author of The Voyage of the Narwhal |
Other editions - View all
Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer Chauncey Loomis Limited preview - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard American angeko appeared Arctic Arctic exploration arrived Artooa asked Baffin Island began Bessels's boat Bryan cabin Cape Captain Budington Captain Hall century Charles Francis Hall Chester Cincinnati coast command crew Crozier cruise Depot Island Doctor dogs Ebierbing and Tookoolito Emil Bessels Eskimos Esquimaux floe Francis Leopold McClintock Franklin Expedition Frobisher Bay Frobisher's George Henry George Tyson Greenland Grinnell Bay Hall wrote Hall's death heard Henry Grinnell hoped hunting igloo Igloolik Innuits Isaac Hayes journal kadloonas Kane kimos King William Island knew koblunas Koojesse Lady Franklin land later letter living McClintock meat Meyer miles Morton navigation Navy night North Pole officers Ouela party pedition Pelly Bay Polaris Expedition relics Repulse Bay Rescue sailed seal ship shore sledge Snow soon Sound story Strait Thank God Harbor thought tion told Hall trip Ugarng voyage weeks whaling winter York