Sandler, Martin W. The Impossible Rescue: an Amazing Arctic Adventure. Candlewick Press, New York: 2012. 164 pages.
Tr. $22.99 ISBN 9780763650803
Annotation
The
Impossible Rescue is an exciting and dramatic real life adventure
in which three men struggle against the elements in the attempt to rescue
hundreds of sailors stranded in the Arctic.
Review
In 1897 a fleet of whaling ships became trapped in
the Arctic by sea ice. Only one ship, the
Alexander commanded by Captain
Tilton, who steamed back to San Francisco to alert the nation to the whalers
trapped in the Arctic. Some of the ships
were destroyed when they were crushed by the ice and the crewmen were forced to
take refuge on other ships or on land at Point Barrow. The accommodations at Point Barrow were basic
at best and there was not enough food to feed all of the sailors through the
long Arctic winter. As soon as President
McKinley heard about the stranded sailors he ordered the Bear of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to sail as far north as
possible and then launch an overland rescue effort. The rescue would mean traversing over a
thousand miles of Arctic tundra and herding reindeer to Point Barrow to feed
the sailors, but first the rescue team would have to convince the reindeer
herders to give up their herds. Three
men were assigned to the rescue team, David Jarvis, Dr. Samuel Call and
Ellsworth Bertholf. The three men had a
near impossible task ahead of them: a 1,700 mile journey by dog sled, while
herding hundreds of reindeer in a race against time for the starving
whalers.
Awards/Honors
Richie’s Picks
Front
and Back Matter
TOC, Introduction, Epilogue, What Happened to Them,
Timeline, Source Notes, Bibliography, Photography Credits, Index,
Acknowledgments
Author’s
Website
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