Into the great emptiness Peril and survival on the Greenland ice cap

David Roberts, 1943-2021

Book - 2022

"The riveting story of one of the greatest but least-known sagas in the history of exploration from David Roberts, the "dean of adventure writing." By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed Gino), a 23-year-old explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious journey to the east coast of Greenland and its vast and forbidding interior. Their mission: chart and survey the region and establish a permanent meteorological base 8,000 feet high on the ice cap. That plan turned into an epic survival ordeal when August Co...urtauld, manning the station solo through the winter, became entombed by drifting snow. David Roberts, "veteran mountain climber and chronicler of adventures" (Washington Post), draws on firsthand accounts and rich archival materials to tell the story of this daring expedition and of the ingenious young explorer at its helm"--

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Subjects
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, N.Y. : W.W. Norton & Company [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
David Roberts, 1943-2021 (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
356 pages, 8 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages [337]-341) and index.
ISBN
9780393868111
  • Prologue The Man on the Ice Cap
  • 1. "He Never Discussed Anything Seriously"
  • 2. Edgeøya
  • 3. The Land That God Gave Cain
  • 4. Gino at Home
  • 5. Base Camp
  • 6. "That Cat's on the Roof Again"
  • 7. Autumn with the Inuit
  • Interlude The Cosmos of the East Coast Inuit
  • 8. "All, All Alone": Courtauld on the Ice Cap
  • 9. Winter with the Inuit
  • 10. Courtauld in Purgatory
  • 11. Asking for Trouble: Gino's Finale
  • Epilogue To Slip Betimes Away
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes on Sources
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

In March 1931, two men of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition (BAARE) in Greenland ventured out to relieve a fellow team member who had been manning a distant weather station solo for months, his supplies dwindling as extreme weather conditions further deteriorated. As the two men braved the ice sheet to find their colleague, time was at a premium. Henry George "Gino" Watkins helmed BAARE, aiming to explore Greenland's weather conditions. Only in his early twenties, the ambitious Watkins had already led a previous successful expedition in Norway. In Greenland, the fate of three of his crew members hanging in the balance, Watkins set out to locate his men and bring them home. Roberts' (Escalante's Dream, 2019) pulsating real-life thriller recalls the exciting and harrowing details of an expedition into the depths of the unexplored. Readers will be on pins and needles.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Climber Roberts (Alone on the Ice) recounts the story of "forgotten hero" Henry George "Gino" Watkins (1907--1932) and his 1930 Greenland expedition in this gripping narrative. The 23-year-old Englishman and his 13 teammates set sail in July with ambitions to survey Greenland's little-known east coast and interior, collect data on the ice cap, and chart an air route from western Europe to North America. But the expedition didn't go as planned: dangerous terrain, fierce storms, and temperatures below -50 degrees Fahrenheit derailed their efforts and threatened their lives. Roberts paints a vivid and suspenseful picture of the expedition as the team scrambled to rescue teammate August Courtauld, who was trapped alone at the weather station he manned with food stores running perilously low. Despite the mishaps, Roberts argues, Watkins's scheme was still "the most daring and fruitful British expedition to the Far North during the previous half-century," in large part due to Watkins's success at earning his team's unwavering loyalty, even through exceedingly arduous circumstances. Roberts knows how to tell a good story, and he draws on firsthand accounts from team members to depict their excursions in harrowing detail. Perfect for fans of adventure stories, this one hits all the marks. (July)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The late, prolific adventure writer returns with a fresh account of an epic yet little-known Arctic expedition. Polar explorers Robert Falcon Scott, Roald Amundsen, and Ernest Shackleton are household names, but Henry George "Gino" Watkins (1907-1932) rings few bells. In this fascinating biography, Roberts (1943-2021) points out that, unlike his predecessors, Watkins was neither a military man nor a seasoned traveler. Rather, he was a carefree Cambridge student fond of risky antics and mountain climbing but no expert explorer. Inspired by a Cambridge don who had traveled with Scott and Shackleton in the Antarctic, Watkins decided to explore the Arctic. Dropping out, he led a 1927 expedition to a poorly explored island in the Svalbard archipelago, north of Norway, and to Labrador a year later. Despite his youth, he turned out to be a good leader. Building on these successes, he organized and led the British Arctic Air Route Expedition of 1930-1931, aiming to survey the obscure east coast of Greenland and gather climate data to plan a shorter air route to North America. By this time, others had crossed the island, but no one had overwintered in Greenland's unspeakably cold, stormy interior. Roberts devotes most of his book to a gripping account of this expedition, with equally fine asides on Greenland's history and Indigenous inhabitants. Despite the usual mishaps, the men accomplished many of their goals. They established a weather station 140 miles inland, although reaching it proved far more difficult than anticipated, and occupants spent frightening weeks waiting for relief. One man volunteered to spend the entire winter; by spring, his tent was sealed under 20 feet of icy snow, and the relief expedition did not find it until it was nearly too late. Ultimately, everyone returned to wide acclaim. Watkins drowned during a 1932 expedition, but Roberts blames his obscurity on the fact that he left no popular writing, never sought fame, achieved no iconic discoveries, and experienced no disasters. An outstanding account of a great expedition led by "a child prodigy who died before his full genius could flower." Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.