There are more famous names than Tom Crean’s from the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration, but there are few stories as compelling as his. The Antarctic is a harsh place of bitter cold and darkness, where only the strong and resourceful can hope to survive. Crean was such a man. Time and again he was one of three--at times the only one--whose courage in the face of insurmountable odds saved the lives of his companions. Had he weakened and failed the lives of all might well have been lost, and their stories remained untold. He left no diary or book; his few letters speak modestly of his exploits, if at all. Tom Crean: Sailor on Ice tells the story of a common man in uncommon circumstances, who met every challenge as it came with steadfast purpose. If he knew fear, he never showed it. Sailor on Ice goes with him from England to the Antarctic plateau, and back. We share his trials as they happen—the thrill of discovery, the danger of the sea-ice, the terror of extreme isolation, the tragedy of the deaths of his closest friends. Tom Crean was not most renowned of the explorers during those early years of Antarctic discovery. For that, the palms go to Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott, with the names of other leaders not far behind. Other men, better educated and connected, would publish the stories of hardship and adventure that astonished the world. Crean’s name is occasionally mentioned in these works, as it should be; his was a distinguished career of service, not as a leader, but as a seaman. His story is not one of trial and privation leading to a tragic end, because without one man’s endurance and unflinching resolve in the face of hopeless adversity, there would be no survivors. The familiar names belong to those who claimed to lead, but those who lead are nothing without those who come a few steps behind, hauling the gear, pitching the camp, walking the long walk, steadfast, enduring. Without them, there would be no leaders. There would be no survivors, and no story to be told.

Sailor on Ice: Tom Crean: with Scott in the Antarctic 1910-1913

History

Hirzel, David

Arctic & Antarctica

Terra Nova Press

A true story, told in the words of one who survived shipwreck on the forbidding shores of Siberia in 1880. Patrick Cahill was one of the explorers sent in the "U.S.S. Rodgers" in 1880 to seek out the fate of the lost "Jeannette." That ship was doomed to be wrecked by the ice, while the "Rodgers" was likewise doomed to never return when she burned to the waterline in St. Lawrence Bay. Cahill's log provides a witty view of the life of the seamen among their unwilling but still generous hosts--a culture shock to both sides of the arrangement.

Rough Weather All Day: An Account of the Jeannette Search Expedition by Patrick Cahill

Go now with Tom Crean to the Antarctic in 1901.  See this strange new world as he sees it, experience the cold, the danger as he did.  "Antarctic Voyager" takes you along with Tom Crean, a seaman on Robert F. Scott's 'Discovery' expedtion 1901-1904.  No one had spent a year in the ice, this far south, no one knew at the time how men would survive in this dark, forbidding, yet beautiful new world ripe for exploration and discovery  "Antarctic Voyager" goes with Crean on the first of his three adventures there.  Each of them was  more dangerous than the last, but this book takes you to the very beginning, to the events and forces that shaped the rest of his life.

Antarctic Voyager: Tom Crean: With Scott's 'Discovery' Expedition 1901-1904

The Arctic journal of Patrick Cahill, Machinist's Mate on board the U.S.S. Rodgers, sent from San Francisco in 1881 to find out the fate of the missing exploration ship Jeannette. After a fruitless search, the Rodgers retired for the winter to St. Lawrence Bay in Siberia, where she burned to the waterline. The stranded seamen were taken in by the native Tchouchkis, who shared what little they had. Cahill's journal recounts it all--the exhilarating moments of discovery, the dreadful fire that cast him away on a desolate shore, the shock of two cultures coming together in an extreme of survival.

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Sports & Outdoors

Winter Sports

There are more famous names than Tom Crean’s from the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration, but there are few stories as compelling as his. The Antarctic is a harsh place of bitter cold and darkness, where only the strong and resourceful can hope to survive. Crean was such a man. Had he weakened and failed somewhere along the way of his adventurous life, the lives of all might well have been lost, and their stories remained untold. He left no diary or book; his few letters speak modestly of his exploits, if at all. Hold Fast tells the story of a common man in uncommon circumstances, who met every challenge as it came with steadfast purpose. If he knew fear, he never showed it. He left England with Shackleton’s “Endurance” expedition in August 1914, expecting to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent and come home to lasting fame. Things didn’t work out according to plan. From the moment his ship “Endurance” was caught in the ice and crushed, throughout the long sojourn of the shipwrecked sailors on the floating ice floe, he took every setback with casual aplomb, as though he did this sort of thing every day. When twenty-eight men were forced to take to sea in three small boats, he took the helm of one of them. To save those men, Crean was one of six who crossed the stormy southern ocean in an open boat, to land on an inhospitable shore. The journey was not over yet. Three men must cross the glaciers guarding the forbidding interior of South Georgia to get help. Tom Crean was one of them. We share his trials as they happen—the thrill of discovery, the danger of the sea-ice, the terror of extreme isolation. Tom Crean was not most renowned of the explorers during those early years of Antarctic discovery. For that, the palms go to Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott, with the names of other leaders not far behind. Other men, better educated and connected, would publish the stories of hardship and adventure that astonished the world. Crean’s name is occasionally mentioned in these works, as it should be; his was a distinguished career of service, not as a leader, but as a seaman. His story is not one of trial and privation leading to a tragic end, because without one man’s endurance and unflinching resolve in the face of hopeless adversity, there would be no survivors. The familiar names belong to those who claimed to lead, but those who lead are nothing without those who come a few steps behind, hauling the gear, pitching the camp, walking the long walk, steadfast, enduring. Without them, there would be no leaders. There would be no survivors, and no story to be told.

Hold Fast: Tom Crean with Shackleton's "Endurance" Expedition 1913-1916

Go now with Tom Crean to the Antarctic in 1901. See this strange new world as he sees it, experience the cold, the danger as he did. "Antarctic Voyager" takes you along with Tom Crean, a seaman on Robert F. Scott's 'Discovery' expedtion 1901-1904. No one had spent a year in the ice, this far south, no one knew at the time how men would survive in this dark, forbidding, yet beautiful new world ripe for exploration and discovery "Antarctic Voyager" goes with Crean on the first of his three adventures there. Each of them was more dangerous than the last, but this book takes you to the very beginning, to the events and forces that shaped the rest of his life.

Antarctic Voyager: Tom Crean: with Scott's 'Discovery' Expedition 1901-1904

Grab a warm blanket. This book puts you right into the action of the life-and-death decisions made by early Antarctic explorers. It is filled with unforgettable stories about the challenges and decisions they faced on the ice. While we might not be pulling sledges across Antarctica in the early 1900s, this book also reveals valuable lessons in leadership, team work, and sheer grit and determination that can help all of us make better decisions in our lives today. In When Your Life Depends on It, you’ll discover: <ul>
<li>
11 of the greatest survival stories in the history of exploration</li>
<li>
How to make decisions fast without feelings of doubt or guilt</li>
<li>How to improve your team and leadership skills, which are valuable in any profession.</li>
<li>When it is right to take a big risk.</li>
<li>How to succeed against all odds
</li>
</ul>
 Co-written by a decision scientist and an Antarctic historian, When Your Life Depends on It is filled with tales of resilience that resonate with people who love travel and adventure as well as those seeking insights into human behavior. It reveals the mind-set of the brave men who risked, and in some cases gave their lives, for science, discovery and exploration. Buy When Your Life Depends on It today to learn about one of the most remarkable periods of history and in the process learn new strategies to improve your own personal and business decision making.

When Your Life Depends on It: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic (Resilience)

Business & Money

Borkan, Brad

Management & Leadership

Boatbuilding is an old-fashioned art, developed slowly over time by the hands that do the shaping of the wood, and the businesses that employ them. Today’s modern techniques and fiberglass materials have rendered an art that is almost—not quite—lost. But throughout the 1800s and before, it was a vital part of every seaport around the world. Dundee, Scotland—the last home of the whaling trade—needed whaleboats for their ships, lifeboats for their shore stations, and a host of other small craft to handle the thriving waterfront trade. The boatbuilding business of the Livie family filled that need. The Dundee Evening Telegraph of June 13, 1930, honored the family name: “ In the history of the port of Dundee there is no more honoured and widely known name than that of Livie. For over 200 years the Livies have been boat-builders and shipwrights, and the works of their hands have penetrated to every part of the Seven Seas.” This much is certain: for over than ninety years, from before 1826 until after 1912, at least four generations of Livies turned out boats in all shapes and sizes, as varied as the needs that they were intended to fill. Their story is told here, in "A Brief History of the Livie Boatworks of Dundee, Scotland." David Hirzel's work on this brief history of the Livie Boatworks of Dundee thus began in 1991, and has taken a few years to complete. And, while the Livies apparently did not supply the Scottish expedition with their boats, they did supply Scott’s Terra Nova expedition with the boats that landed them in the Antarctic on their quest for the South Pole in 1910.

A Brief History of the Livie Boatworks of Dundee

It is a time of revolution, of shifting tides and changing fortunes, of patriots and turncoats. Armies are on the move, cities changing hands, generals in command and relieved of duty. Of spies afoot for either side, listening and insinuating. Revolutions can happen in any era, in any nation. This one is imagined in America. Regular lines of communication have been destroyed; the roads are impassible. In the occupied cities, the citizens in their houses await a change and a chance to seize advantage. Peace, whenever it may come and whatever face it may wear, will favor the ready who have seen it coming. And those whose interventions have hastened its approach. The story is an old one. The causes of justice and greed have become inseparably intertwined, their evenly matched forces sweeping over the countryside from Philadelphia to New York and back, laying waste to peace and prosperity with the promise of a new order. Some are willing to risk everything for the chance to shape that promise, meeting in public rooms and dusky taverns, conjoining behind the closed doors of a bedchamber. Some of their plans will come to pass, and some will not. But once set in motion, they will not be stopped. Like the tides of revolution, the ebb and flow of devastation and fortune, of promise and betrayal continue their irresistible sweep. And in the end we must ask, “who then was the traitor?”

Peggy and Ben: A portrait of a marriage in five acts

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hirzel, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hirzel, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hirzel, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Sailor on Ice: Tom Crean: with Scott in the Antarctic 1910-1913

Rough Weather All Day: An Account of the Jeannette Search Expedition by Patrick Cahill

Antarctic Voyager: Tom Crean: With Scott's 'Discovery' Expedition 1901-1904

Rough Weather All Day: An Account of the Jeannette Search Expedition by Patrick Cahill

Sailor on Ice: Tom Crean: with Scott in the Antarctic 1910-1913

Hold Fast: Tom Crean with Shackleton's "Endurance" Expedition 1913-1916

Antarctic Voyager: Tom Crean: with Scott's 'Discovery' Expedition 1901-1904

When Your Life Depends on It: Extreme Decision Making Lessons from the Antarctic (Resilience)

A Brief History of the Livie Boatworks of Dundee

Peggy and Ben: A portrait of a marriage in five acts