'For most men, as Epicurus has remarked, rest is stagnation and activity madness. Mad or not, the activity that I have been pursuing for the last twenty years takes the form of voyages to remote, mountainous regions.'H.W. 'Bill' Tilman's fourteenth book describes three more of those voyages, 'the first comparatively humdrum, the second totally disastrous, and the third exceedingly troublesome'.The first voyage describes Ti...

'To those who went to the War straight from school and survived it, the problem of what to do afterwards was peculiarly difficult.'For H.W. 'Bill' Tilman, the solution lay in Africa: in gold prospecting, mountaineering and a 3,000-mile bicycle ride across the continent. Tilman was one of the greatest adventurers of his time, a pioneering climber and sailor who held exploration above all else. He made first ascents througho...

'So I began thinking again of those two white blanks on the map, of penguins and humming birds, of the pampas and of gauchos, in short, of Patagonia, a place where, one was told, the natives' heads steam when they eat marmalade.'So responded H. W. 'Bill' Tilman to his own realisation that the Himalaya were too high for a mountaineer now well into his fifties. He would trade extremes of altitude for the romance of the sea w...

'Experience is said to be the name men give to their mistakes and of the experience I gained in Spitsbergen that may well be true.'The circumnavigation of Spitsbergen is the first of three voyages described in H.W. 'Bill' Tilman's fifteenth and final book, a remarkable example of Tilman's ability to triumph when supported by a crew game for all challenges. The 1974 voyage of the pilot cutter Baroque takes Tilman t...

In "South! - The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917," Ernest Henry Shackleton recounts the harrowing journey of his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which sought to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. Written in a compelling narrative style, the book blends vivid imagery with meticulous detail, capturing not only the physical perils of the expedition but also the psychological strains faced by the crew. Shackleton's eloquence and attention to emotion immerse the r...

Richard Henry Dana dropped out of school and became an ordinary deckhand on the brig Pilgrim. The perilous journey from Boston, begun in 1834, took the ailing yet determined youth past Cape Horn and around the Americas, concluding in the Mexican territory California. This expedition inspired Two Years before the Mast, a first-hand account of "the life of a common sailor" a work that combines history, philosophy, and personal experience.

'A masterpiece.' New Yorker'Wholly riveting, brilliantly researched.' Evening Standard'A meticulous investigation into the seeds of disaster... fascinating, uncomfortable reading.' Sunday TimesIn 1968, Donald Crowhurst was trying to market a nautical navigation device he had developed, and saw the Sunday Times Golden Globe round the world sailing race as the perfect opportunity to showcase...

When Ben Tucker and his kid brother Matt decided to sail south in search of icebergs on Ben's small home-built kiwi sloop, their father Jon was allowed to come along as their cabin-boy, on a promise of good behaviour.The unfolding adventure took them through thick pack ice to become trapped at the windiest place on the planet, a remote location in East Antarctica.'Snow Petrel' is proof of what ordinary people can achieve on a minimal budget. Recently released in New Zealand...

Scottish doctor and explorer John Rae is a controversial figure in the history of the Arctic. He began his career with the Hudson's Bay Company as a surgeon in Moose Factory, Ontario, where he learned to survey, live off the land, and travel great distances on snowshoes. These skills served him well when, in 1846, he was charged with completing the geography of the northern shore of North America and set out on his first expedition. Some years later, while exploring the Boothia Peninsula i...

Instant answers for your boat handling, navigation, and seamanship questionsThe Instant Handbook uses a dynamic new quick-reference format to cover the critical aspects of piloting, seamanship, and boat handling under sail or power more accessibly and effectively than has ever been done before. It puts at your fingertips all the information you need about:Boat Handling Under Power--Bob SweetSail Trim and Rig Tuning--Bill Gladstone

This classic book contains Ponting's well-written and witty account of Captain Scott's final Antarctic expedition of 1910-12. Fully detailed and with many of Ponting's own photographs, this moving account will make an excellent addition to the bookshelf of any admirer of Captain Scott, or anyone with an interest in travel and adventure. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishin...

This edition is published in 2 volumes sold separately.
 Elibron Classics. Replica of 1908 edition by Archibald Constable & Company Limited, London.
Oversize maps are available as a free download. 
By Roald Amundsen, with a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen, Vice-commander of the Expedition. With about one hundred and thirty-nine illustrations and three maps.
Gjøa was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage...