This book celebrates the Arctic, exploring the natural history that has so inspired generations. Early travellers to the Arctic brought back tales of amazing creatures and of the endurance required of visitors, the Arctic becoming a land of inspiration and imagination. Adventurers test themselves against it. Its wildlife still amazes - when film and television show Earth's natural wonders it is always the polar regions that draw the biggest audiences. But today the Arctic is in retreat. Humanity's relentless exploitation of the Earth's resources in the pursuit of progress has, it seems, altered the climate and threatens the ice and ice-living organisms. It is a cliche that the loss of a species diminishes us, but it is true nonetheless. Even to people who have never seen a Polar Bear its loss will be immeasurable as the bear is iconic, both defining and reflecting the Arctic. This Traveller's Guide is designed to give visitors a handy identification guide to the wildlife they might see as they travel around, including stunning photography and detailed descriptions of each species.

'Our everyday lives are connected to the deep ocean in ways we seldom realise.' Between these pages is everything you need to know about our oceans, explained in 25 questions. In Ask An Ocean Explorer marine biologist of over 20 years and advisor for the BBC's Blue Planet II, Dr Jon Copley, explains the science and wonder of the deep ocean. Combining untold history of ocean exploration and personal account of what it's like to be a 'bathynaut' diving in a mini-submarine, Ask An Ocean Explorer will bring to light weird and wonderful deep-sea creatures that we find down there and how the oceans and their health is connected to our everyday lives.

If you centre a globe on Kiritimati (Christmas Island), all you see around it is a vast expanse of ocean. Islands of various sizes float in view while glimpses of continents encroach on the fringes, but this is a view dominated by water. The immense stretch of the Pacific Ocean is inhabited by a diverse array of peoples and cultures bound by a common thread: their relationship with the sea. The rich history of the Pacific is explored through specific objects, each one beautifully illustrated, from the earliest human engagement with the Pacific through to the modern day. With entries covering mapping, trade, whaling, flora and fauna, and the myriad vessels used to traverse the ocean, Pacific builds on recent interest in the voyages of James Cook to tell a broader history. This visually stunning publication highlights the importance of an ocean that covers very nearly a third of the surface of the globe, and which has dramatically shaped the world and people around it.

Travelling the circumference of the truly gigantic Pacific, Simon Winchester tells the story of the world's largest body of water, and - in matters economic, political and military - the ocean of the future. The Pacific is a world of tsunamis and Magellan, of the Bounty mutiny and the Boeing Company. It is the stuff of the towering Captain Cook and his wide-ranging network of exploring voyages, Robert Louis Stevenson and Admiral Halsey. It is the place of Paul Gauguin and the explosion of the largest-ever American atomic bomb, on Bikini atoll, in 1951. It has an astonishing recent past, an uncertain present and a hugely important future. The ocean and its peoples are the new lifeblood, fizz and thrill of America - which draws so many of its minds and so much of its manners from the sea - while the inexorable rise of the ancient center of the world, China, is a fixating fascination. The presence of rogue states - North Korea most notoriously today - suggest that the focus of the responsible world is shifting away from the conventional post-war obsessions with Europe and the Middle East, and towards a new set of urgencies. Navigating the newly evolving patterns of commerce and trade, the world's most violent weather and the fascinating histories, problems and potentials of the many Pacific states, Simon Winchester's thrilling journey is a grand depiction of the future ocean.

On September 4, 1805, in the upper Bitterroot Valley of what is now western Montana, more than four hundred Salish people were encamped, pasturing horses, preparing for the fall bison hunt, and harvesting chokecherries as they had done for countless generations. As the Lewis and Clark expedition ventured into the territory of a sovereign Native nation, the Salish met the weary explorers with hospitality and vital provisions, while receiving comparatively little in return. For the first time, a Native American community offers an in-depth examination of the events and historical significance of their encounter with the Lewis and Clark expedition. The result is a new understanding of the expedition and its place in the wider context of U.S. history. Through oral histories and other materials, Salish elders recount the details of the Salish encounter with Lewis and Clark - their difficulty communicating with the strangers through multiple interpreters and consequent misunderstanding of the expedition's invasionary purpose, their discussions about whether to welcome or wipe out the newcomers, their puzzlement over the black skin of the slave York, and their decision to extend traditional tribal hospitality and gifts to the guests. What makes "The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition" a startling departure from previous accounts of the Lewis and Clark expedition is how it depicts the arrival of non-Indians - not as the beginning of history but as another chapter in a long tribal history. Much of this book focuses on the ancient cultural landscape and history that had already shaped the region for millennia prior to the arrival of Lewis and Clark. The elders begin their vivid portrait of the Salish world by sharing creation stories and the traditional cycle of life. The book then takes readers on a cultural tour of the Native trails that the expedition followed. With tribal elders as our guides, we now learn of the Salish cultural landscape that was invisible to Lewis and Clark. "The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition" also brings new clarity to the profound upheaval of the Native world in the century prior to the expedition's arrival, as tribes in the region were introduced to horses, European diseases, and firearms. The arrival of Lewis and Clark marked the beginning of a heightened level of conflict and loss, and the book details the history that followed the expedition: the opening of Salish territory to the fur trade, the arrival of Jesuit missionaries, the establishment of Indian reservations, the non-Indian development of western Montana, and more recently, the revival and strengthening of tribal sovereignty and culture. Conveyed by tribal recollections and richly illustrated, "The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition" not only sheds new light on the meaning of the expedition, but also illuminates the people who greeted Lewis and Clark, and despite much of what followed, thrive in their homeland today.

Inspiring accounts of remarkable adventures and scientific discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of our world and tested the limits of human endurance. This is a collection of trailblazing journeys into the unknown that have had a profound effect on our understanding of the world, transformed the way we live and inspired generations. Each short chapter will focus on a groundbreaking journey and the scientific endeavour that made it possible, from the new navigational instruments used to discover a new country or hidden city, to the advances in engineering that have made it possible for us to explore the depths of the ocean, to the rocket science that has propelled us into space. From the moon to Mount Everest, this is a book about adventure, our thirst for knowledge and pushing the limits of human endurance.

`Wonderfully researched and beautifully written' Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan `Succeeds in conjuring a lost world' Dava Sobel, author of Longitude For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history. How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonise these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind. For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People is a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time. On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic. Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years. Then, in 2014, she was found. This is her story. _______________ BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK `Beyond terrific . . . I didn't want it to end.' Bill Bryson `Illuminated by flashes of gentle wit . . . It's a fascinating story that [Palin] brings full-bloodedly to life.' Guardian `This is an incredible book . . . The Erebus story is the Arctic epic we've all been waiting for.' Nicholas Crane `Thoroughly absorbs the reader. . . Carefully researched and well-crafted, it brings the story of a ship vividly to life.' Sunday Times `A great story . . . Told in a very relaxed and sometimes - as you might expect - very funny Palin style.' David Baddiel, Daily Mail `Magisterial . . . Brings energy, wit and humanity to a story that has never ceased to tantalise people since the 1840s.' The Times

Routes of explores Ponce de Leon, Henry Hudson, Hernando de Soto, Lewis and Clark, and dozens more are charted, showing the sites of encounters with native inhabitants or rival colonial powers, shipwrecks and uprisings, settlements and trading posts, and the death or disappearance of expeditions.

From late 1872 to 1876, H.M.S. Challenger explored the world's oceans. Conducting deep sea soundings, dredging the ocean floor, recording temperatures, observing weather, and collecting biological samples, the expedition laid the foundations for modern oceanography. Following the ship's naturalists and their discoveries, earth scientist Doug Macdougall engagingly tells a story of Victorian-era adventure and ties these early explorations to the growth of modern scientific fields. In this lively story of adventure, hardship, and humor, Macdougall examines the work of the expedition's scientists, especially the naturalist Henry Moseley, who rigorously categorized the flora and fauna of the islands the ship visited, and the legacy of John Murray, considered the father of modern oceanography. Macdougall explores not just the expedition itself but also the iconic place that H.M.S. Challenger has achieved in the annals of ocean exploration and science.

The new biography of Captain James Cook from Rob Mundle, the bestselling author of FATAL STORM, BLIGH and FLINDERS and master storyteller of adventure history. Captain James Cook is one of the greatest maritime explorers of all time. Over three remarkable voyages of discovery into the Pacific in the latter part of the 18th century, Cook unravelled the centuries-old mystery surrounding the existence of Terra Australis Incognita - the great south land; became the first explorer to circumnavigate New Zealand and establish that it was two main islands; discovered the Hawaiian Islands for the British Empire; and left an enduring legacy. Rob Mundle, bestselling maritime biographer of Fatal Storm, Bligh and Flinders, introduces us to an unlikely sailor in a teenage Cook who through the combination of hard-won skills as a seafarer, the talents of a self-taught navigator and surveyor, and an exceptional ability to lead and care for his men, climbed the ranks of the Royal Navy to achieve legendary status among all who sailed and mapped the world. Written with colour, sweep and the authority of Rob's five decades as a competitive sailor, maritime journalist and broadcaster, this extensively researched new biography of Cook will put you on the quarterdeck with the great navigator as he painstakingly guides his ship through dangerous, reef-strewn waters. You will also be alongside the captain when his ship is a wave-width away from annihilation; and at the helm at the start of an exciting new voyage.

Sergeant Charles Floyd was one of the first three men enlisted in Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. Born around 1782 in Louisville, Kentrucky, and personally recruited by William Clark, Floyd followed orders and kept a careful diary of the expedition, but only for ninety-nine days. On August 20, 1804, Floyd became the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to die along the route, apparently succumbing to a reptured appendix near present-day Sioux City. This elegant volume is the first facsimile edition of Floyd's journal. Readers will feel that they are holding the original journal as they see and read Floyd's own handwriting alongside new transcriptions. James J. Holmberg's detailed scholarly introduction and thorough, all-new annotations trace Sergeant Floyd's experiences with Lewis and Clark, his death, and the development of monuments to Floyd, including the stone obelisk that became our nation's first Registered National Historic Landmark. Exploring with Lewis and Clark captures Charles Floyd's story and his legacy and is a treasure for anyone with an interest in exploration and the American West.

When, as a young man in the 1880s, Benjamin Lundy signed up for duty aboard a square-rigged commercial sailing vessel, he began a journey more exciting, and more terrifying, than he could have ever imagined: a treacherous, white-knuckle passage around that notorious "graveyard of ships," Cape Horn.

A century later, Derek Lundy, author of the bestselling "Godforsaken Sea" and an accomplished amateur seaman himself, set out to recount his forebear's journey. "The Way of a Ship" is a mesmerizing account of life on board a square-rigger, a remarkable reconstruction of a harrowing voyage through the most dangerous waters. Derek Lundy's masterful account evokes the excitement, romance, and brutality of a bygone era -- "a fantastic ride through one of the greatest moments in the history of adventure" ("Seattle Times").

The first part of his trilogy on the Spanish Empire, Hugh Thomas's Rivers of Gold brings the rise of Spain's global empire vividly to life, capturing the spirit of an ebullient age. Inspired by hopes of both riches and of converting native people to Christianity, the Spanish adventurers of the fifteenth century convinced themselves that an Earthly Paradise existed in the Caribbean. This is the story of the hundreds of conquistadors who set sail on the precarious journey across the Atlantic - taking with them wheat, the horse, the guitar and the wheel as well as guns, malaria and slaves - to create an empire that made Spain the envy of the world. 'Affirms Hugh Thomas's record as one of the most productive and wide-ranging historians of modern times' The New York Times 'Splendid ... bold and strong in its outlines, rich in fasinating details' Paul Johnson, Literary Review 'So steeped is he in the spirit of the time, so familiar with its people and places that we almost feel he must have been there at the time' Sunday Telegraph 'A vivid, dramatic and compelling narrative' Arthur Schlesinger, Jr 'As a historian, Thomas is master of the big picture ... Rivers of Gold sweeps us restlessly on' Jonathan Keates, Spectator 'An epic history of an extraordinary age' Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman Hugh Thomas is the author of, among other books, The Spanish Civil War (1962) which won the Somerset Maugham Award, Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico (1994), An Unfinished History of the World (1979) and The Slave Trade (1997). The second volume of his planned trilogy on the Spanish Empire, The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V was published in 2011.

The figure of Sir Ernest Shackleton, inflated by time and celebrity, has come to personify the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Whilst the story of his ill-fated 1914-18 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and his crew's narrow escape from death is legendary, less well known, and told here in its entirety for the first time, is the staggering tale of the men who worked in Shackleton's shadow - the six members of the Mount Hope Party who risked their lives to ensure the safety of his. Sent to the opposite side of the polar continent to lay life-saving food depots for his journey across the Great Ice Barrier, theirs was a vital mission: without it, Shackleton was destined for failure. Stitching together the previously unpublished diary accounts of these unsung heroes, Wilson McOrist traces the magnificent highs and extraordinary lows of the Mount Hope Party in intimate, often excruciating detail. Their words paint a shiver-inducing picture of the everyday hardships and insurmountable obstacles of life on the ice - exhaustion, starvation and crippling frostbite being just a few examples - whilst revealing the humour, camaraderie and emotional strength necessary for survival. Out of a sense of duty to Shackleton, the polar adventurers struggled on through the ferocity of Antarctica, for months battling some of the most extreme conditions on the planet, convinced they were critical to his success. 100 years after their mission began, this is their remarkable story. With a foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Shackleton's Heroes is an adventure story of the highest calibre, told through the voices of the men who completed an almost impossible task in horrific conditions.

Until a few decades ago, the ocean depths were almost as mysterious and inaccessible as outer space. Oceans cover two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of more than two miles--yet humans had never ventured more than a few hundred feet below the waves. One of the great scientific and archaeological feats of our time has been finally to cast light on the "eternal darkness" of the deep sea. This is the story of that achievement, told by the man who has done more than any other to make it possible: Robert Ballard. Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic. He led the teams that discovered hydrothermal vents and "black smokers"--cracks in the ocean floor where springs of superheated water support some of the strangest life-forms on the planet. He was a diver on the team that explored the mid-Atlantic ridge for the first time, confirming the theory of plate tectonics. Today, using a nuclear submarine from the U.S. Navy, he's exploring the ancient trade routes of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea for the remains of historic vessels and their cargo. In this book, he combines science, history, spectacular illustrations, and first-hand stories from his own expeditions in a uniquely personal account of how twentieth-century explorers have pushed back the frontiers of technology to take us into the midst of a world we could once only guess at. Ballard begins in 1930 with William Beebe and Otis Barton, pioneers of the ocean depths who made the world's first deep-sea dives in a cramped steel sphere. He introduces us to Auguste and Jacques Piccard, whose "Bathyscaph"descended in 1960 to the lowest point on the ocean floor. He reviews the celebrated advances made by Jacques Cousteau. He describes his own major discoveries--from sea-floor spreading to black smokers--as well as his technical breakthroughs, including the development of remote-operated underwater vehicles and the revolutionary search techniques that led to the discovery and exploration of the Titanic, the Nazi battleship Bismarck, ancient trading vessels, and other great ships. Readers will come away with a richer understanding of history, earth science, biology, and marine technology--and a new appreciation for the remarkable men and women who have explored some of the most remote and fascinating places on the planet.

He was known simply as the Blind Traveler. A solitary, sightless adventurer, James Holman (1786-1857) fought the slave trade in Africa, survived a frozen captivity in Siberia, hunted rogue elephants in Ceylon, helped chart the Australian outback--and, astonishingly, circumnavigated the globe, becoming one of the greatest wonders of the world he so sagaciously explored. A Sense of the World is a spellbinding and moving rediscovery of one of history's most epic lives--a story to awaken our own senses of awe and wonder.

Before Sir Ernest Shackleton's exploration of the Antarctic waters in 1914, Captain Roald Amundsen led a courageous team through ice-chocked waters to become the first expedition to reach the South Pole in 1911. Read the fascinating account of his journey in "The South Pole."

"Roald Amundsen planted the Norwegian flag on the South Pole on December 14, 1911: a full month before Robert Falcon Scott arrived on the same spot. Amundsen's 'The South Pole' is less well-known than his rival's, in part because he is less of a literary stylist, but also, perhaps, because he survived the journey. His book is a riveting first-hand account of a truly professional expedition; Amundsen's heroism is understated, but it is heroism nonetheless."
--"The Times of London," 23 June 2001

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the South Pole was the most coveted prize in the fiercely nationalistic modern age of exploration. In the spring of 1911 two separate expeditions left their respective camps in Antarctica in a desperate bid to achieve the glory of being first to reach the South Pole: a British party, led by Captain R. F. Scott, and a Norwegian one under Captain Roald Amundsen. The South Pole, -- Amundsen's first-hand account of the expedition, -- is a fascinating and highly readable history of the tenacity and perseverance of the age.

"The last of the Vikings," Roald Engebreth Gravning Amundsen was a powerfully built man of over six feet in height, born into a family of merchant sea captains in 1872. In 1903 he navigated the Northwest Passage in a 70-foot fishing boat. Soon afterwards he learned that Ernest Shackleton was setting out on an attempt to reach the South Pole. Shackleton abandoned his quest a mere 97 miles short of the Pole, but Amundsen began preparing his own expedition. Although this was the age of the amateur explorer, Amundsen was a professional: he left little to chance, apprenticed with Inuits, and obsessed over every detail.

On October 18, 1911 Amundsen's party set out from the Bay of Whales, on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, for their final drive toward the pole. His British counterpart, Robert Falcon Scott, dependent on Siberian ponies rather than on dogs, began his trip three weeks later. While Scott clung fast to the British rule of "No skis, no dogs," Amundsen understood that both were vital to survival. Aided by exceptionally cooperative weather conditions, Amundsen's men passed the point where Shackleton was forced to turn back on December 7, and at approximately 3pm on December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen raised the flag of Norway at the South Pole, one month before Scott's party would arrive.

A polar masterpiece of history and adventure, The South Pole is the stunning first-hand account of one of the greatest success stories in the annals of exploration. Most skillfully Amundsen constructs the expedition's character through its personalitiesthe cast of veteran explorers, scientists, and crewproviding insight not only into Amundsen's philosophy of exploration, but into the classical age of polar explorers.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER `HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times An inventive biography of one of the most famous ships of all time - an alluring combination of history, adventure and science From Johnson's Dictionary to campaigns for liberty, the Enlightenment was an age of endeavours. `Endeavour' was also the name given to a commonplace, coal-carrying vessel bought by the Royal Navy in 1768 for an expedition to the South Seas. No one could have guessed that Endeavour would go on to become the most significant ship in the history of British exploration. Endeavour famously carried Captain James Cook on his first great voyage, but her complete story has never been told before. Here, Peter Moore sets out to explore the different lives of this remarkable ship - from the acorn that grew into the oak that made her, to her rich and complex legacy. `Fascinating and richly detailed... Peter Moore has brought us an acute insight into the ship that carried some of the most successful explorers across the world. A fine book that's definitely worth exploring' MICHAEL PALIN

'Always the leader and always the best' Bear Grylls 'Even readers with a broadly low tolerance for macho heroism will find themselves gripped . . . compelling' - Time Out Sir Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on Earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond. In his bestselling autobiography, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to travel to both Poles on land. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman and attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole - the expedition that cost him several fingers, and very nearly his life. And now the extraordinary life story of the world's greatest living explorer is re-published to celebrate his 75th birthday, with two new chapters to bring his story up to date - telling of more mountains climbed, including his ascent to the top of Mount Everest, and even more extraordinary and risky adventures.