FURY BEACH: The Riveting Tale of Captain John Ross and the Shipwreck of Victory in the Arctic
By Ray Edinger
Berkley (2003)

In the Canadian Arctic, at the neck of the Gulf of Boothia, on the East Coast of Somerset Island, lies Fury Beach. Near this lonely spot, in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage in 1829, Captain John Ross and the crew of "Victory" were trapped by pack ice. There they remained for four long years, hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle.

Sir John Barrow, Second Secretary of the Admiralty, had done his venomous best to keep Ross from making this voyage. But Ross had successfully financed his exploration privately. Now, stranded, it seemed as if Barrow’s lack of confidence in him had proven correct. Ross and his crew faced depression, sickness and death. Yet with the aid of 60 Inuit, who provided invaluable guidance in mapping, fishing, hunting, and overall survival, the crew carried out extensive exploration, which finally culminated in the discovery of the north magnetic pole. With no hope for the ship’s release from the ice and with provisions critically short, the crew abandoned her and walked 200 miles where they found relief through the stores of a wrecked ship. With their strength regained, they attempted to row and sail to Lancaster Bay in whaleboats. But bad weather and heavy ice turned them back. One year later, on their second attempt to escape, a whaler rescued them and they returned to England as heroes. Despite Barrow’s venomous criticism, Ross was ultimately vindicated, and made a knight. His polar successes forged an important link in the discovery of the Northwest Passage.

As a long-time collector of first edition 18th-and 19th-century books on Arctic exploration, scientist Ray Edinger is an expert on polar exploration and has written on the subject in the internationally popular magazine, Mercator’s World. He gives frequent public talks on Fury Beach.

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