Empire of Ice and Stone

After a celebratory four-year polar expedition for the American Museum of Natural History that brought him fame, explorer and ethnologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson proposed an even bolder Arctic mission. A charismatic, flamboyant impresario, he recruited a team of renowned scientists—including two who accompanied Ernest Shackleton aboard the Nimrod to the South Pole—and secured financing from Canada to journey into the high Arctic to investigate the region’s resource potential.

Considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator, Captain Bob Bartlett was a veteran of three North Pole excursions with Robert Peary from 1898 to 1909, making him more than qualified for Stefansson’s Canadian Arctic Expedition. Commissioned to captain the Karluk, a more than thirty-year-old steam brigantine that served as a fishing tender and whaler, Bartlett found a vessel less than seaworthy and ordered a complete refit, putting him at odds with his impatient employer.

Once underway in June 1913, it became clear that even with extensive repairs the Karluk was ill-equipped for Stefansson’s enterprise, as were its crew and scientist passengers. After six weeks of travel, the ship became icebound. Accompanied by five men, Stefansson crossed the floes to hunt caribou and never returned. Responsible for the twenty-five souls left in his charge, Bartlett endured the sinking of the Karluk and traversed nearly 1,000 miles of frozen wilderness to save his marooned shipmates—fighting to survive excruciating, frigid temperatures in makeshift shelters with scarce food sources as months passed with no sign of rescue.

Buddy Levy reveals the true story of the 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition in Empire of Ice and Stone, a harrowing account of one man’s misguided ambition to succeed and another’s tenacious courage to survive in a frozen environment.

Endorsements

National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Buddy Levy.

“A life-and-death drama of tragic proportions. Brimming with malevolence and malfeasance but also humble charity and true nobility, Empire of Ice and Stone is a triumphant exploration of the forces that drive the human heart to extremes.” —Pulitzer Prize finalist Kim Barnes