Arrow Erebus: The Story of a Ship

‘The ship sailed in to the harbour, the weather was cold, Mr Smith was the captain, he noted that day that the sailors were bored so they spent the day scrubbing the decks. The next day the ship sailed out of the harbour on a westward bearing. The weather was cold. Mr Smiths journal noted that he took magnetic measurements all day whilst the captains mate studied the local pigeons. The sailors were bored so they scrubbed the decks.’ If you found that interesting you’ll like this book.

A most excellent and well researched book to add to the almost library sized works now written about Franklin and the infamous expedition.I think this is the first one that turns focus on the actual ship though and tells the well known disaster story from a different angle. Written also in Palin's usual engaging and very easily readable style, the book is well worth a read if you are interested not only in the Franklin Expedition but also in British Maritime history.

After wondering myself for many years about the Franklin ships, how eloquently and with much humility Palin offers a full explanation to why the next ball should not be hit for six again when exploring poles.Aboard the Erebus his enlightening first encounter with the Ross Ice shelf and active volcano, the ocean teeming with whales, is straight out of space exploration in its magic the moment described in precious precision even down to some of the crew members upon whom it was another day at work. The epic voyages to Antarctica could not really have been more triumphant.The strength of the book is its compare-and-contrast presentation of the two missions, diagnosing accurately the failings of the Franklin with the strengths of the Ross. Franklin had not changed the tactics to suit the terrain or the useful presence of humans all around him, his vessels too well equipped to act as prison hulks for bored sailors. Palin captures the early warning signs that this was to be the case, and leaves us keen to hear what details the wrecks may further yield to the story which we know at least by chapter headings.Palin is the ideal shipmate on the these voyages and I feel as if I have been carried in his mind's eye throughout.It's totally essential.

I was unaware of the expeditions of the Erebus and the Terror, until recommended this book by a friend whose judgement I trust. Michael Palin provides fascinating insights into survival on perilous journeys into the unknown, back when parts of the world truly were unknown.It is amazing how much detailed information is available on the people, events, and seafaring practice of 150 years ago, and much research must have been done. Palin pulls all of this information together very effectively, and the book was rarely (though sometimes) a chore to read.I have only awarded 4 stars because I have read a similar, but superior, book of survival, in Endurance by Alfred Lansing. It is miraculous how Ernest Shackleton brought his team from disaster to eventual rescue on his Antarctic expedition. That book was a clear five stars; Palin's writing is very good, but not as excellent as Lansing's.

I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Palin's book Erebus, from when the ship was built in Wales, to when it saw service in the Royal Navy, to its disappearance in the Arctic in the 1840s. The book mainly focuses on the first voyage of HMS Erebus to Antarctica which was the most successful of its 3 voyages to the white continent, where they got through the pack ice and sighted land, lionizing Captain James Clark Ross as a hero of polar exploration, and crediting Great Britain with the discovery of Antarctica, even though a similar voyage at the same time by the USA claimed to have discovered it. Palin goes onto its last voyage to go through the northwest passage with HMS Terror in 1845, with the doomed Franklin Expedition, but I felt it was not covered very well, nor the fate of the crew in sufficient detail that it deserves. I did like the last part of the book when they found HMS Erebus in 2014, but felt that the last third of the book was rushed. Overall the book was a terrific read and read like a novel. I hope Palin writes more maritime exploration books in the near future.