The Polaris expedition to the North Pole, the first such journey led by Americans, mixed groundbreaking achievements with harrowing disasters. Veteran sailor of the North Seas George Tyson joined the expedition when it set out in 1871, and kept a detailed record of the remarkable events that occurred on board the ship. Tyson's journal relates the mysterious death of the expedition's leader, Captain Charles Francis Hall, and the ship's entrapment in arctic ice. The bulk of Tyson's book concerns the months he spent with nineteen fellow crew-members stuck on a broad chunk of ice that broke away from the Polaris and drifted out into the sea. Tyson tells of his life with Eskimos and his daily struggle to survive in subzero temperatures, each day wondering if he would make it back to America. Publishers are suddenly gaga for survivor and exploration adventure stories, and this combines both. Tyson was among the crew of the Polaris, which carried the first American expedition to the Arctic in 1871. The bark's captain took ill and died, and the ship eventually became icebound. While 19 crew members were out on the ice, a sudden gale wrenched the ship free, stranding them. The men spent the next six months floating more than 1500 miles on a broad sheet of ice before being rescued. Tyson released his firsthand account of the incredible incident in 1874. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Republication of this almost forgotten book is long overdue. (Chauncey C. Loomis, author of Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer ) [Tyson's] is a remarkable and compelling account of the series of adventures and misadventures collectively known as the Polaris expedition. (Edward E. Leslie, author of Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and other Survivors) George E. Tyson (1829-1906) spent 196 days adrift at sea. His memoir was originally published in 1874. He served as captain of a schooner in a subsequent arctic expedition in 1877. Edward E. Leslie, author of Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors , lives in Ohio.