Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition

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Summary: Another Fine Addition to the Arctic Struggle
Review: Ghosts of Cape Sabine has everything one has come to expect from an Arctic adventure from heroism to cowardice, sacrifice to betrayal, incompetence to perseverence. It tells the tale of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, which was planned to set up a scienitic base at Lady Franklin Bay with supply ships arriving in the summers to replenish the explorers. When those ships do not arrive, an interesting story of beauracratic incompetence on its own account, the explorers travel down the coast to meet their fate. Thanks to the journals left by the explorers, their long struggle against starvation can told, with forays into murder, suicide and cannibalism for the more bloody-minded. Leonard F. Guttridge does a superb job of bringing this tragedy to life for the reader. These arctic misadventures are enormously popular right now and fine examples such as this one help to explain their popularity.

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Summary: The Ghosts of Cape Sabine - Major League Screw-up
Review: I loved the book. If you enjoy adventure, history and reading about explorers and expeditions into extreme climates and dangerous places then this is a good book for you.
I have read many books dealing with both Arctic and Antarctic expeditions as well as exploration, mountain climbing and military history.
This is the story of an Army Signal Corp expedition and a series of screw-ups which left them stranded in the unforgiving climate of the Arctic. The extremes that these men were subjected to and the pressures brought to bear on them are mind boggling. We wonder what we would do under similar circumstances.
I came away thinking that there were really no "good guys" in this book, but lots of "bad guys" and just people who couldn't/wouldn't get along. Some had personality quirks that only magnified their plight and made things worse for everyone. No heroes in this account, only survivors. A good read.

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Summary: Down in My Darkened Reading Room Sleep Gray and Icy ghosts
Review: I purposely delayed finishing Ghosts of Cape Sabine. I saved the ending for one more reading. That night I wrote this poem, (obviously the "ghosts" were on my mind.)

Down in my darkened reading room, sleep gray and icy ghosts. It's too late this eve to stir them up from their papery hosts. Long night must pass and dawn come 'ere their sleep be ended. When this reader's fingers will turn pages their sleep be ended. Then ghostly explorers will stir to hear, to see their rescuers!

Those who do not hear or see, their bed is in the cold country. All will be shipped back to regions south, where waiting them, Mourners and greeters to embrace their return. Rescuers silently Bear the dark truths. Many who opposed the doomed expedition, Go on, with their work they go on, some to success some to fail. And as I turn the pages, in reading I free each spirited line That tells of who lived, and tells of who died-- the Ghosts of Cape Sabine.

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Summary: It was OK (2.5 stars really)
Review: I've read alot of pole exploration books lately. This one fell into the OK catagory; alot of names, dates, flashbacks, wordy sentences etc. Hard to follow sometimes. It was an OK read but by far the best book I've read on this subject is Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.

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Summary: Hurrah! for a book on the Lady Jane Franklin Bay expedition
Review: If you're interested in the adventure literature of polar exploration you may already have noted that though intriguing references to the Lady Jane Franklin Bay expedition keep cropping up, nothing seems to be available in the literature to explain what it was -- how it came about -- what happened, and how the story survived to be told. Existing references were out of print or otherwise unavailable . . . until now!

The Ghosts of Cape Sabine tells the complete story of the Greely expedition to Lady Jane Franklin Bay. The ghastly mismanagement of the relief and rescue expeditions must be read to be believed, but it is all true. Guttridge's research uses previously unconsulted archival information to present a deeply affecting picture of the emotions and aspirations of the men of the expedition. Of particular interest to me was his exploration of the ways in which Greely's own perhaps over-careful instructions for relief and reprovisioning can be said to have contributed to the disaster that befell the expedition.

Under conditions of appalling stress and privation Greely's leadership was tested more severely than it had been even under fire, and it can be said that it was found wanting to an extent. Not every man can be a Shackleton. And still he brought every man in his command alive to Cape Sabine, and could have brought them all back home again -- if only, if only.

Guttridge is a fair and sympathetic historian who declines to either idolize or demonize, treating the personalities involved with compassion and respect. This book is an invaluable contribution to the literature of polar exploration. He writes well and with persuasive conviction, and does an altogether too effective job of communicating the horrors of Cape Sabine without stooping to sensationalism.

My thanks to Leonard Guttridge for making this story available one again -- and now I have to go look up his story about the Jeanette!

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Summary: Cold Explorers and Cold Bureaucracy
Review: In the 1880's Americans set the record for the farthest penetration north toward the pole.

The Greely Expedition set that record, from a camp established on far north Ellsworth Island in Canada. That was one of the few positives that saw an expedition of a dozen and a half men whittled down to six shoe eating survivors who were finally rescued two years and many tragedies later.

Greely's was an American military expedition -- though set off without the full or enthusiastic support of General Sherman or Sec. of War Lincoln (the President's son). In fact, Sec. of War Lincoln is one of the chief villains in the story -- the archetype cold bureaucrat who worries about everything but the lives of the men and their succor during their years of peril and while totally dependant on annual relief ships that never make their landing as agreed.

Although Greeley's first year went rather smoothly and the failure to find a relief ship worrisome thought not disastrous, the second absence forced the men to march through the frozen artic to an agreed upon rescue point some two hundred miles from their camp (Ft. Conger). Pre-positioned supplies were not there in quantities promised nor was an anticipated ship to take them home. The men had to winter in tents with few provisions, little game, and lessening hope. Most would die, cannibalism would become an element of survival and bureaucratic ineptitude would continue to prevent an organized and serious effort to help these men go forward.

The author has written a well researched and interesting book. He gives good concise backgrounds on Greely and the other principal players in the drama. Throughout the book she intersperses scenes from above the Arctic Circle with farcical scenes from Washington as the Army Department, Navy Department and the Army Department's Signal Bureau send memos, blame, investigations and poorly organized, manned and planned relief ships. Although sometimes the bureaucratic parts of the book drag, the glimpse it provides of an inept officialdom has to be told to be believed. And Greely's men suffered for it.

This is a good and exciting tale of arctic exploration and survival. The author uses the many diary entries the existed from men who were part of the expedition to recreate a believable first-person account of this strange and sad saga from our past.

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Summary: Finally the truth about the Greely Expedition
Review: Len Guttridge's extensive research has uncovered the true story of what happened to the ill-fated Greely expedition. For the first time, we are given new details of this horrendous part of our history. In the past, things that have been written about this expedition have been almost entirely from Greely's official records. The excerpts from new unpublished diaries and papers in Guttridge's book give us new insights about other members of the expedition and their hostility towards Greely. We see Lieutenant Greely's decisions on the retreat south as pure madness. As Mr. Guttridge concluded, Mr. Greely was no match for the arctic. Washington politics concerning the rescue of these poor souls was equally disheartening. Guttridge has subtly exposed a desperate plot by a chosen few to stay alive. Interesting that the two cooks, Greely and Brainard are among those who managed to survive. The horror of the fate of those not so lucky makes this book a real page turner. It would make a fabulous movie.

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Summary: accurate but boring
Review: Over the last couple of years, I've read quite a few books dealing specifically with mankind's assault on the Arctic, and this title is one of the best. In all my other readings, the Greely expedition was a curious one, in that no one really knew what happened. Guttridge does a splendid job of taking the reader to frostbitten camps where food is scarce and the environment unforgiving. While sitting outside on a warm Southern California day, I swear I felt goosebumps on my arms.

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Summary: A tale of heroism and foolishness
Review: The story contained in this book is a good example of why governments should have stayed out of the exploring business in the Arctic regions. The inadequate research, underfunding, and the willy-nilly selection of leaders and expedition members practically doomed the Greely excursion to Lady Franklin Bay before it began. Once under way, the objections and obstructions put forth by Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln definitely contributed to the tragedy that ensued. There is no doubt that the members of the expedition acted very heroically in many instances, including the commander himself, but there are also many times when foolish things happened, and those things had tragic consequences later. Reading this book is a good cautionary tale: plan ahead for as many contingencies as possible, have proper funding, and make sure that instructions are sufficiently clear and flexible enough to take into account changing situations.

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Summary: how can you care when the protagonists are jerks?
Review: This book was not as exciting or compelling as I expected, chiefly because the protagonits were unappealing and uncharistmatic. I got the impression that the author was fascinated by all his research, but had a hard time culling detail to make a good book. The information about the bureaucratic delays within the US government, for example, were interesting, but did not warrent anything like the amount of tedious detail they received. I found myself constantly comparing the book to Lansing's Endurance (about the Shacketon expedition on the other pole), which was, in contrast, suspenseful, thrilling, and had a mesmerizing protagonist. On the other hand, characters in GOCSabine do turn up in other stories of the period, such as Issac's Storm, so you can see what happened to them. Overall, not worth much time.