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The Man Who Ate His Boots

The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage

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The Man Who Ate His Boots

By: Anthony Brandt
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

 The enthralling and often harrowing history of the adventurers who searched for the Northwest Passage, the holy grail of nineteenth-century British exploration.

After the triumphant end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the British took it upon themselves to complete something they had been trying to do since the sixteenth century: find the fabled Northwest Passage, a shortcut to the Orient via a sea route over northern Canada. For the next thirty-five years the British Admiralty sent out expedition after expedition to probe the ice-bound waters of the Canadian Arctic in search of a route, and then, after 1845, to find Sir John Franklin, the Royal Navy hero who led the last of these Admiralty expeditions and vanished into the maze of channels, sounds, and icy seas with two ships and 128 officers and men.

In The Man Who Ate His Boots, Anthony Brandt tells the whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration through its development into a British national obsession to the final sordid, terrible descent into scurvy, starvation, and cannibalism. Sir John Franklin is the focus of the book but it covers all the major expeditions and a number of fascinating characters, including Franklin’s extraordinary wife, Lady Jane, in vivid detail. The Man Who Ate His Boots is a rich and engaging work of narrative history that captures the glory and the folly of this ultimately tragic enterprise. Americas Arctic & Antarctica Canada Europe Expeditions & Discoveries Great Britain World Polar Region Imperialism Royal Navy United Kingdom British Empire
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Most relevant
I’ve listened to this book 4 times since buying it. It’s a must listen for fans of adventure, history and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. Could not ask for a better researched, written, and performed audiobook.

Doesn’t just tell the story of Franklin, but places the famous expedition in the context of past and future exploration.

Best book on Audible

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A testimony to the courage of the men who risked their lives to find the Northwest Passage, and also to the stupidity of the very idea of doing so.

Very good

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This remarkable composition by Brandt is almost certainly my favourite non fiction work.
The author assiduously catalogues and documents most of the significant voyages, in the most remarkable yet pertinent detail.
Weaved into a Hegelian narrative as the North West Passage is thrust upon, and along the tapestry of history.
The Author's dissent from the enterprise wrestles with the indefatigable and indomitable courage of the men who gave and won their lives to and from the Arctic ice.
All this, comes to the great crescendo of the golden age of maritime exploration: The Lost Franklin Expedition.

One of the finest works ever written.

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I found this book to be very informative and very well written and read. Though at times it seemed lacking in a coherent storyline. By this I mean the stories (non fiction) tended to jump back and forth. I would have preferred the book to stick to a strict chronological pathway and offer more information on the post Franklin exploring. The early part of the book was a delight in relating the early attempts at the Passage. I found myself at times during the narration skipping forward - not because of the Narrator - as occasionally the text seemed to drift and on an odd occasion off topic.

Narration was a delight. Crisp, clear and very listenable. Simon Vance is a top class Narrator.

Certainly worth listening to or reading through.

Informative though patchy history

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enjoyed the book and the history of travel across the ice and Canada north , but what really was disappointing was the climate change rubbish in nearly every chapter if I had realized it was there I wouldn't brought the book history is history, don't destroy it by making it woke

If I had known

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