The Ice Master

The "Ice Master" is a lengthy tale of the doomed voyage of the Karluk. The title refers to the hero of the book, Bartlett, and his quest to save the members of his crew. The villain of the story is famous anthropologist, Stefansson, who organized the ill-equipped fiasco and then abandoned ship to continue his exploration. But mostly, it is the story of the 22 men, 1 woman, and two children who stayed and who came back and who did not. The main story tellers are Mamen, the diary of the dead man, and McKinlay, who lived to an old age to tell the tale. Like the book "Animal Farm", many of the men were either lazy or rotten, especially when their leader went off for help. It is very unlikely they would have made it without the help of the native Alaskans. The 13-month ordeal on the sinking ship, the ice flow, and on Wrangel Island was horrendous and hard to fathom.