The true story of the harrowing wreck of the dirigible Italia during a polar expedition and the heroic rescue attempts to save her and her crew. In 1925, the renowned Italian aeronautical engineer and explorer Umberto Nobile flew over the North Pole in a dirigible, at the time a considerable feat both of engineering and scientific inquiry. All went well, and in 1928 Nobile attempted to repeat the feat, this time planning on stopping at the pole and landing parties. Unfortunately, Nobile was no longer in favor with the increasingly strident Fascist government and faced many political and physical obstacles. However, he managed to get the expedition airborne and reached the pole safely. On the return leg, the airship foundered in foul weather, stranding the survivors on the icecap. A bizarre tragedy ensued, with searchers from many nations looking for Nobile while the Italian support ship conspicuously failed to participate. A nearly forgotten episode comes to life in this popular history by Cross, a prolific author and former editor at Life. Interesting but probably not vital to public library collections.DEdwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Cross, an adventure writer, recounts the true adventure story of the wreck of the dirigible Italia during an expedition to the North Pole in 1928. Political intrigue in the Mussolini regime serves as backdrop for the 49-day drama of confused international rescue efforts that ended in the ruined reputation of the airship's designer, General Umberto Nobile. An engineer and scientist, Nobile pioneered the development of lightweight airships but was constantly at odds with the Mussolini regime. He undertook the 1928 expedition to best a previous achievement by landing at the Pole and returning to base camp. However, the expedition ended when the dirigible struck an ice pack in the Arctic Ocean. Nobile was rescued, but several of his crew perished. Cross interviewed Nobile and other survivors and offers a detailed account of the harrowing wreck, survival on ice floes, and heroic rescue attempts. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was among the rescuers who never returned. Cross conveys the political tensions, contentious personalities, technical difficulties, and weather challenges that figured in this polar tragedy. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved A gripping tale of a disastrous expedition to the North Pole....A heart-warming chronicle of human courage and endurance. -- Krikus Reviews A nearly forgotten episode of history comes to life. -- Library Journal Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen. The great twentieth-century polar explorers. But others, too, were engaged in scrambles to the poles. One of the most bizarre and unfortunate involved that enormous and impressive spectacle of aviation's early days: the airship. In 1926, against the backdrop of Mussolini's rising power, General Umberto Nobile, one of Italy's premier aeronautical engineers, gained acclaim by crossing the Pole in a dirigible, accompanied by the famous Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. It was an unprecedented achievement for a lighter-than-air craft, and it would have gone down in history as the first flight over the Pole had Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett not accomplished that feat in an airplane only three days before. Encouraged by his success, Nobile decided in 1928 to take a newly designed dirigible to the North Pole, land men who could conduct scientific explorations, and then fly them safely back to base. But on the Italia's return flight, disaster struck. The ship crashed down on the ice pack hundreds of miles from help. The survivors, including the injured Nobile, were stranded on an unstable ice floe, desperately trying to make radio contact with the outside world. Their disappearance inspired one of the most far-reaching rescue missions ever undertaken. Seven nations and hundreds of men in air, sea, and land reconnaissance engaged in a needle-in-a-haystack search over the arctic wastes. Many of the would-be rescuers were injured or killed - the most famous being Roald Amundsen, who lost his life in a plane crash. Drawing on interviews he conducted with Umberto Nobile and other survivors in the 1950s, Wilbur Cross resurrects a stunning tale that has been long overlooked by history. He brings to life the struggles of the survivors throughout nearly two months on the ice, including the fate of three men who set off on a doomed trek to reach help. Disaster at the Pole also reveals the truths of the controversy surrounding Nobile, who was rescued first and was accused of cowardice and desertion by Italy's fascist government. Filled with political intrigue, heroics, and cruel twists of fate, the story of the Italia is one of the most fascinating among polar tragedies. Wilbur Cross is the author of more than forty-five books. A former editor at Life magazine, he pres