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Fast in the Ice

R. M. Ballantyne

57 ratings
Fast in the Ice | R. M. Ballantyne

Fast in the Ice

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At the age of 16 Ballantyne went to Canada and was six years in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company. His rule in writing, being in every case, was to write as far as possible from personal knowledge of the scenes he described.

In this book he details the lives of the crew as they must overwinter in the frozen north including their meetings with Eskimos and bears and their struggles with disease. This is a realistic account of what life was like for the explorers of the Arctic.
as strong, outside and in, as wood and iron and skill could make her. It need scarcely be said that all the other arrangements about her were made with the greatest care and without regard to expense, for although the owners of the brig did not wish to waste their money, they set too high a value on human life to risk it for the sake of saving a few pounds. She was provisioned for a cruise of two years and a half. But this was in case of accidents, for Captain Harvey did not intend to be absent much longer than one year.

But, to return to our story:

Jim Croft’s fear that they would be set fast was realised sooner than he expected. The floes began to close in, from no cause that could be seen, for the wind was quite still, and in a short time the loose ice pressed against the Hope on all sides. It seemed to young Gregory as if the story that the seaman had just related was about to be enacted over again; and, being a stranger to ice, he could not help feeling a little uneasy for some time. But there was in reality little or no danger, for the pressure was light, and the brig had got into a small bay in the edge of an ice-field, which lay in the midst of the smaller masses.

Seeing that there was little prospect of the pack opening up just then, the captain ordered the ice-anchors to be got out and fixed.

The appearance of the sea from the brig’s deck was now extremely wintry, but very bright and cheerful. Not a spot of blue water was to be seen in any direction. The whole ocean appeared as if it had been frozen over.

It was now past noon, and the sun’s rays were warm, although the quantity of ice around rendered the air cold. As the men were returning from fixing the anchors, the captain looked over the side, and said:

“It’s not likely that we shall move out of this for some hours. What say you, lads, to a game of football?”

The proposal was received with a loud cheer. T

Bruce 02/03/2020
Fast in the Ice; or, Adventures in the Polar Regions, by R. M. Ballyntine (audio book). This short work of fiction is the tale of arctic explorers who winter over in the ice pack, and while attempting to extract themselves the following summer during ice breakup have their shipped crushed by the unp
Julia 06/16/2015
This book gave me a deep appreciation for early explorers who went where others dare not go. This small shipload of men was iced-in for the long, dark arctic winter, with very little to sustain them. While there were many awful struggles detailed with matter-of-fact humor, it seems the most difficul
David 02/11/2011
Too much "remembered" dialogue in this tale for my tastes. But it probably was the style at the time.
Frank 10/30/2008
This is another adventure book for early seafaring days except there is little sailing in this book. It is more about the year they spend in the artic with the ship frozen in the ice. They even make contact with a village of natives which brings out a lot of interesting views of natives.

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