After Royal Navy captain Sir John Franklin disappeared in the Arctic in 1846 while seeking the Northwest Passage, the search for his two ships, "Erebus" and "Terror," and survivors of his expedition became one of the most exhaustive quests of the 19th century. Despite tantalizing clues, the ships were never found, and the fate of Franklin's expedition passed into legend as one of the North's great and enduring mysteries. Anthony Dalton explores the eventful and fascinating life of this complex and intelligent man, beginning with his early sea voyages and arduous overland explorations in the Arctic. After years in Malta and Tasmania, Franklin realized his dream of returning to the Far North; it would be his last expedition. Drawing from evidence found by 19th-century Arctic explorers following in Franklin's footsteps and investigations by 20th-century historians and archaeologists, Dalton retraces the route of the lost ships and recounts the sad tale of Franklin, his officers and men in their final agonizing months.

In 1842 John C. Fremont led a party of twenty-five men on a five-month journey from Saint Louis to the Wind River Range in the Rocky Mountains; his goal: to chart the best route to Oregon. In 1843 Fremont was commissioned for another expedition, to explore the Great Salt Lake, Washington, eastern California, Carson Pass, and the San Joaquin Valley, places that did not yet belong to the United States.

His journals from these expeditions, edited in collaboration with his wife, Jessie Benton Fremont, and published by Congress, thrilled the nation and firmly established Fremont's persona as the Great Pathfinder. Part descriptive survey, part rousing adventure story, Fremont's account was far more than a traveler's guide. His tales of courage and wit, descriptions of beautiful landscapes, and observations about Native Americans strengthened Americans' sense of a national identity and belief in Manifest Destiny. Still a fascinating page-turner today, Fremont's report documents the opening of the West even as it offers a firsthand look at the making of the American myth.

Anne F. Hyde provides an introduction to this signature American story that contextualizes the report, outlines Fremont's rise and fall, and shows how, for better or worse, this explorer exemplifies the nineteenth-century American spirit.

'The bible for polar planning' Conrad Dickinson, polar explorer 'The perfect resource', Bear Grylls Written by seasoned adventurer Tim Moss, and with input from over 50 SIR RANULPH FIENNES different explorers, this book takes you through the details of each challenge or journey. If you're rowing an ocean where do you sleep at night? How do you go to the loo at sea? If you're cycling round the world precisely what difficulties will you face and how will you overcome them? From armchair adventurer to those simply looking for practical advice, this book is aimed at anyone who's ever dreamed of doing something BIG! This book will tell you how to: - Row an ocean - Get to the North Pole - Cross a desert - Sail the seven seas - Cycle around the world - Get to the South Pole - Climb an unclimbed mountain Contents: Introduction; General Notes on Expeditions; Common Equipment; Raising the Funds for an Expedition; Final Notes; 1. How to Cross a Desert; 2. How to Get to the North Pole; 3. How to Row an Ocean; 4. How to Cycle Around the World; 5. How to Sail the Seven Seas; 6. How to Get to the South Pole; 7. How to Climb an Unclimbed Mountain; Did I Miss Something?, One Tiny Step; Acknowledgements; Glossary.

David J. Peck's Or Perish in the Attempt ingeniously combines the remarkable adventures of Lewis and Clark with an examination of the health problems their expedition faced. Formidable problems indeed, but the author patiently, expertly-and humorously-guides us through the medical travails of the famous journey, juxtaposing treatment then against remedy now. The result is a fascinating book that sheds new light not only on Lewis and Clark and the men and one remarkable woman (and her infant) who accompanied them along an eight-thousand-mile wilderness path but also on the practice of medicine in their time and place.

Listen to a short interview with Tom Griffiths Host: Chris Gondek - Producer: Heron & Crane

From Scott and Shackleton to sled dogs and penguins, stories of Antarctica seize our imagination. In December 2002, environmental historian Tom Griffiths set sail with the Australian Antarctic Division to deliver the new team of winterers. In this beautifully written book, Griffiths reflects on the history of human experiences in Antarctica, taking the reader on a journey of discovery, exploration, and adventure in an unforgettable land.

He weaves together meditations on shipboard life during his three-week voyage with fascinating forays into the history and nature of Antarctica. He brings alive the great age of sail in the initiation of travelers to the great winds of the "roaring forties." No continent is more ruled by wind, and Griffiths explains why Antarctica is a barometer of global climatic health. He charts the race to the South Pole, from its inception as part of the drive to map Earth's magnetism, to the reasons for Robert Scott's tragic death. He also offers vivid descriptions of life in Antarctica, such as the experience of a polar night, the importance of food for morale, and coping with solitude.

A charming narrative and an informative history, "Slicing the Silence" is an intimate portrait of the last true wilderness.

Twenty-eight men stood on a desolate Antarctic ice floe one thousand miles from the nearest human contact. In a few months the ice would melt. To survive they would have to be safely on land before that happened-if they did not starve first. The odds were stacked against them. Facing all the horrors that the Antarctic could bring to bear, including numbing cold and the worst weather on the globe, they could freeze, starve, or drown. The single advantage they did have, however, proved decisive. They were led by Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922). This saga is their tale and that of the man who led them. T. H. Baughman is a professor of history at the University of Central Oklahoma and the author of several books, including Before the Heroes Came: Antarctica in the 1890s and Pilgrims on the Ice: Robert Falcon Scott's First Antarctic Expedition, both available in Bison Books editions.

Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle is a gripping adventure story, and a turning point in the making of the modern world. Brought together here in chronological order, the letters he wrote and received during his trip provide a first-hand account of a voyage of discovery that was as much personal as intellectual. We follow Darwin's adventures as he prepares for his travels, lands on his first tropical island, watches an earthquake level a city, and learns how to catch ostriches from a running horse. We witness slavery, political revolution, and epidemic disease, and share the otherworldly experience of landing on the Galapagos Islands and collecting specimens. His letters are counterpoised by replies from family and friends that record a comfortable, intimate world back in England. Original watercolours by the ship's artist Conrad Martens vividly bring to life Darwin's descriptions of his travels.

In early April 1536, Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada led a military expedition from the coastal city of Santa Marta deep into the interior of what is today modern Colombia. With roughly eight hundred Spaniards and numerous native carriers and black slaves, the Jimenez expedition was larger than the combined forces under Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizarro. Over the course of the one-year campaign, nearly three-quarters of Jimenez's men perished, most from illness and hunger. Yet, for the 179 survivors, the expedition proved to be one of the most profitable campaigns of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, the history of the Spanish conquest of Colombia remains virtually unknown.

Through a series of firsthand primary accounts, translated into English for the first time, Invading Colombia reconstructs the compelling tale of the Jimenez expedition, the early stages of the Spanish conquest of Muisca territory, and the foundation of the city of Santa Fe de Bogota. We follow the expedition from the Canary Islands to Santa Marta, up the Magdalena River, and finally into Colombia's eastern highlands. These highly engaging accounts not only challenge many current assumptions about the nature of Spanish conquests in the New World, but they also reveal a richly entertaining, yet tragic, tale that rivals the great conquest narratives of Mexico and Peru.

Cook was the greatest explorer of his age and his voyages of discovery are the stuff of legend. During two long journeys, he circumnavigated the globe twice, charted the east coast of Australia, the whole of New Zealand and many islands in the Pacific. "The Fatal Voyage" is the story of Cook's final journey when he led his most dangerous and fabled expedition to search for the elusive Pacific entrance to the North West Passage. He set sail from England in July 1776 and along the way discovered the Hawaiian archipelago before mapping and charting the formidable north west coast of America, from Vancouver Island to the frozen northern coastline of Alaska. He sailed through the Bering Straits and although his ships reached the entrance to the North West Passage they were defeated by a sheer wall of ice blocking their way. Cook returned to Hawaii to rest, but a series of misjudgments between his men and the islanders sparked a violent clash in which Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay. Peter Aughton has here used letters, log records and the diaries of those involved in the voyage to tell an enthralling account of James Cook's last days at sea and reveal the extraordinary legacy he left behind.

In the 18th century, Europe's scientific community was torn between two opposing theories: Descartes' argument that the Earth was spherical, and Newton's contention that it was flattened at the poles. Recognizing that the answer was the key to securely navigating the earth's oceans, France and Spain organized a joint expedition to colonial Peru. Their goal was to measure a degree of latitude at the Equator by comparing this measurement to one taken back in Europe, they would be able to determine the planet's shape and put an end to the debate. But what seemed a straightforward scientific exercise was almost immediately marred by a series of unforeseen catastrophes: treacherous terrain, deeply suspicious locals, and the voyagers' own hubris. A thrilling tale of adventure, political history, and scientific discovery, Larrie D. Ferreiro's Measure of the Earth recounts the greatest scientific exhibition of the Enlightenment through the eyes of the men who completed it,pioneers who overcame tremendous adversity to traverse the towering Andes Mountains and discern the Earth's true shape.

Told with the immediacy of a diary, which is where the book began, Patrick takes us on a journey to the highest mountain in the world, where one of the greatest tragedies in climbing history was about to unfold. Filled with photographs and sketches from his notebooks we become part of the Radio 702 team sent to cover the South African Everest Expedition of 1996. It would turn out to be the deadliest climbing seasons in the peak’s history.

Twenty years later the controversy around what truly happened on the mountain continues to rage. Conroy kept a meticulous diary and recorded many hours of radio communications between the climbers. Now, two decades later, his memoirs reveal a remarkable and untold story of what happened on the mountain that fateful year. Everest Untold includes hidden insights and never before revealed transcripts that shed new light on the 1996 disaster, including the mysterious disappearance of one of the South African team members in the death zone.

Conroy’s hidden story reopens the debate on the risks of high-altitude mountaineering and what it meant to a young democratic South Africa unaware of the dangers that lay ahead.

Eduard Fischer takes us on an exploration of myth, art, science, and the sacred space of high mountains. This is an account of adventure and deep reflection accompanied by a selection of the author's stunning colour photographs. After first visiting the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh in 1985, he returned again and again, seeking to catch a glimpse of the phantom of the Himalayas - the elusive snow leopard. During these visits he became enthralled with the unique culture of this ancient mountain kingdom, one of the oldest enclaves of Buddhism. The phantom cat itself becomes, at turns, Eduard's quarry, nemesis, obsession, and finally, in a surprising twist of destiny, his teacher.

In April 2011, four soldiers - each a veteran of recent conflicts, who suffered devastating injuries in the line of duty - set out on an extraordinary challenge: a two-hundred mile trek, unsupported, to the North Pole. Joined by patron Prince Harry, the charity founders, a polar guide and a film crew, the team achieved their goal despite facing hurdles an able-bodied athlete would baulk at, and having seen their resilience tested to the limit. They returned with a story that proves strength of mind can be every bit as powerful as strength of body, and as an inspiration to us all.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR RANULPH FIENNES The Last Expedition is Captain Scott's gripping account of his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12. It was meant to be a voyage of scientific discovery and a heroic exploration of the last unconquered wilderness. Scott's expedition, carried in the Terra Nova, pitted him and his team not only against the elements but also against the Norwegian explorer, Amundsen. Ultimately, Scott was beaten by both. The journals are full of incident and drama, courage and endurance, hope and bitter disappointment. These journals were found, along with Scott's body, several months after his death and just 11 miles from base camp and safety.

"Zambesi" tells the story of David Livingstone's Zambesi Expedition. It exposes the rivalry among some of Victorian Britain's leading establishment figures and institutions - including the Foreign Office, the Royal Society, Royal Geographical Society, British Museum, Kew Gardens and the Admiralty - as abolitionists, scientists, and entrepreneurs sought to promote and protect their differing interests. Making use of letters, documents and materials neglected by previous writers and researchers, the author reveals how tensions arose from the very beginning between those in pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and the proponents of the civilizing missions who saw scientific knowledge as the utilitarian means to a social end. The result is an exciting story involving one of England's most feted Victorian heroes that offers important new insights in the practice and politics of expeditionary science in Victorian England. This is the definitive account of the expedition to date.

Everest was, to George Mallory, 'the wildest dream'. This gentleman adventurer was obsessed with taming the unconquered peak. But in 1924 he and climbing partner Sandy Irvine disappeared forever into the clouds encircling the peak. Might they have reached the summit before their tragedy? It is mountaineering's greatest mystery. Seventy-five years later, Conrad Anker made an extraordinary discovery. He spotted 'a patch of white' on Everest's North Face. It was Mallory's frozen body. Artefacts found on Mallory's body implied that he might have made it to the top. But that route had never since been climbed without modern equipment. Was it possible? To find out Anker returned to Everest, with death-defying young 'rock star' of climbing Leo Houlding as his partner. Kitted out in period clothing, they set off to replicate the unaided climb. Mallory's fate was a chilling reminder of the mountain's might. But they knew that to solve Everest's greatest mystery they must push their very limits.

Turning his back on the British legal profession and the requirement to account for every six minutes of his time, Geoff Steward and his lucky five-inch articulated Doctor Who figure go off-grid and on the road across America. From New York to Alaska, he tries to fend for himself without his trusty PA and life support, the unflappable Charmaine, for whom contentment lies in Jesus Christ and custard creams. With his blend of waspish wit and mischievous charm, Steward seeks out normal Americans, such as Joe le Taxi, the former NYPD officer who was one of the first on the scene at the Twin Towers and now runs an extortionate executive taxi service; Pam and Bob, a paranoid psychiatrist and a failed actor who once saw the back of Meryl Streep's head; Taylor the Alaskan bushwhacker who was raised by wolves and revels in their scat; Jeb the Yosemite inn-sitter who lives his life at the pace of a Ford Model T; Kacey Musgraves, the controversial country music star staying at the farm in Tennessee; and Sheriff Duke of Calhoun County, South Carolina, who reintroduces Steward to the long (and armed) arm of the law.For anyone at a crossroads, contemplating a temporary or permanent career break, this affectionate travel romp is essential reading. Journeying coast-to-coast across the US with Steward might just remind you that, despite the post-Trump hysteria, there are many normal and decent Americans out there.