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    Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions: Terrifying True Stories
    Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions: Terrifying True Stories
    Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions: Terrifying True Stories
    Ebook76 pages45 minutes

    Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions: Terrifying True Stories

    By Michael Burgan

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    About this ebook

    Imagine being lost near the North or South poles. All around you is nothing but snow and ice as far as you can see. What would you do? Discover the true tales of daring people who survived through bitter cold, deadly storms, and other dangers with little food or other resources in this book from the Fighting to Survive series.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateMay 27, 2020
    ISBN9780756566920
    Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions: Terrifying True Stories
    Author

    Michael Burgan

    Michael Burgan has written more than 250 books for children and young adults. His specialty is history, with an emphasis on biography. A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in history, Burgan is also a produced playwright and the editor of The Biographer’s Craft, the newsletter for Biographers International Organization. He first started writing for children as an editor at Weekly Reader before beginning his freelance career in 1994. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

    Read more from Michael Burgan

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      Book preview

      Fighting to Survive the Polar Regions - Michael Burgan

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Cover

      Title Page

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: And Then There Was One

      Chapter 2: Wartime Survival

      Chapter 3: Crash in the Arctic

      Chapter 4: Adrift in the Ice

      Chapter 5: A Long Antarctic Winter

      Chapter 6: Trapped in the Ice

      Glossary

      Read More

      Internet Sites

      Source Notes

      Select Bibliography

      Index

      About the Author

      Copyright

      Back Cover

      INTRODUCTION

      At the top of the world, an invisible circle stretches several hundred miles around the North Pole. Humans have lived in this region, called the Arctic Circle, for tens of thousands of years. They learned to survive in its cold and snowy climate by hunting and fishing. But for some who have dared to explore the region, ice and cold have proved deadly. On some Arctic expeditions, only a few people survived journeys that doomed their companions.

      On the opposite end of the globe, an even colder land surrounds the South Pole. Antarctica is one of Earth’s seven continents, and its climate is the harshest on the planet. Blizzard winds there can reach 200 miles (322 kilometers) per hour. Temperatures often plummet to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 73 degrees Celsius) or more. Ice sheets in Antarctica can be more than 1 mile (1.6 km) thick. Unlike the Arctic, no one settled in Antarctica until 1898, when the first scientists set up a base to study the weather and wildlife there. But even before then, brave explorers made the difficult journey to Antarctica. Some wanted to reach the South Pole. Others sought to map the geography. Even today, some people attempt to ski across the remote southern continent. They love the adventure of pushing themselves to withstand the extreme cold and isolation.

      Whether they’re explorers, scientists, or sailors, several people have survived the harsh conditions of the polar regions. In the stories ahead, you’ll meet people who could have died from starvation or the bitter cold during missions that went wrong. But in most cases, their incredible courage and skill, along with some luck, helped them survive the most extreme locations on Earth.

      In the early 1900s, few people had the strength and courage to explore Earth’s harsh polar regions.

      AND THEN THERE WAS ONE

      Douglas Mawson

      With 16 dogs, two sledges, and almost a ton of food and supplies, Australian scientist Douglas Mawson was ready. On November 10, 1912, he set off to explore the northern coast of Antarctica. No human had ever gone there before, and Mawson wanted to map the area and collect mineral samples.

      Joining him on the expedition were Xavier Mertz and Belgrave Ninnis. The three had sailed to Antarctica on the ship Aurora as members of a much larger team called the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Its mission was to explore and chart 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of Antarctica’s coastline that lay south of Australia. Mawson, the mission leader, was no stranger to the world’s southern continent. He had explored part of it in 1908 on an expedition led by Ernest Shackleton, who had hoped to become the first person to reach the South Pole. After that first trip, Mawson decided he wanted to return to Antarctica to focus more on science.

      As Mawson and his partners set off with their dogs, they hoped to reach a point about 350 miles (563 km) southeast of the expedition’s main base at Cape Denison. They had to get there and back by January 15, 1913. That day, the Aurora would return to pick up the expedition members and bring them back to Australia. The men had just enough food to last for the two months they would be on the ice. And if they missed the ship, they would have

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