Labyrinth of Ice is the story of the 1881 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. Twenty-five explorers, led by first lieutenant Adolphus Greely, spent years in the most remote parts of northeast Canada and northwest Greenland.
The expedition’s goals were twofold: science and fame. The scientific purpose of the trip was to study the geography, climate, and magnetic fields of the arctic. Things we take for granted now were unknown at the time of the expedition. For example, that Greenland is an island and not a peninsula. To achieve fame, Greely hoped to reach “Furthest North” – the northmost point recorded by an explorer – or the North Pole itself.
Over the first two years, the crew’s greatest struggles were boredom and cabin fever. After reaching northeast Canada, they set up a base, Fort Conger, from which they collected scientific observations. They ventured about with dog sleds to characterize the geography of the surrounding area. Hunters killed bears, seals, and wolves to augment the limited rations that were brought aboard their ship, the Proteus. At such a northern location, the explorers faced the challenge of months of darkness. To bolster morale during those winter months, Greely had everyone exercise, socialize, and study daily. He gave lectures on history and geography to ward off depression among the crew. Christmas and New Year’s were planned celebrations occasioned by baseball games and live performances by the members of the crew.
The story changed dramatically after the first two years of relief ships repeatedly failed to reach Fort Conger. With dwindling supplies, the 25-man crew of Fort Conger abandoned their base and, with only a small steamboat, attempted to travel south enough for retrieval the subsequent year. This left them with eight months to survive an entire arctic winter, outside their fort, with only enough supplies for two months. Scurvy, frostbite, and alcoholism ate away at the crew one by one as they succumbed to the inhospitable environment.
Remarkably, Buddy Levy keeps Labyrinth of Ice centered on the human element of the expedition. Using the crew’s journals as first-hand sources, Levy manages to tell the story without reducing the adventure to one of rote dates and facts. He also puts the expedition in context, making clear the importance of the expedition’s scientific evidence, given that large parts of Greenland’s ice are now melting at an alarming rate. He points out that Greely’s crew’s data is used by climatologists today as a baseline for what the climate used to be.
Unfortunately, I found this historical non-fiction dry. When the first year’s relief ship failed its journey North, and when Levy shifted from survival to politics in America, I found myself losing interest. In his adherence to telling the events in an undramatized and truthful manner, Levy lost me in bits where things became monotonous. That said, this book gave me a new interest in exploration that I lacked before. I've recommended it to others.