Twenty-five men went north. Only six returned alive. In July 1881, an expedition composed mainly of American soldiers sailed off to establish a scientific base in the remote Arctic region of Lady Franklin Bay. What happened afterward is a remarkable three-year saga of human achievement and human frailty, of heroism. The story has been only partly known, and full of dark riddles (and cannibalism), but more than seven years of research by acclaimed historian Leonard Guttridge have uncovered journals, letters, diaries, and other documentary material that for the first time provide intimate day-by-day details of the swirling events surrounding that ill-fated voyage, from turbulent birth to bizarre and tragic finale.

“It is terrible to float in this manner,” wrote Pavy, “in the snow, fog and dark. This seems to me like a nightmare in one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories.”

Leonard F. Guttridge “Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition”. Published by Putnam’s Sons in 2000. Donated to the library by Tom Hitchins, an architect from Maine, USA ❤️

Photos by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library