The Impossible Rescue: The True Story Of An Amazing Artic Adventure

Whaling in the Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast was as dangerous as it was lucrative in 1897. In that particular year, winter came early, bringing with it storms and ice packs that caught eight American whale ships and about three hundred sailors off guard. Their ships were imprisoned in ice with no hope of escape. With limited provisions on board the ships that hadn't been crushed by the ice, there was little hope that these men could survive until warmer temperatures arrived at least ten months later.

Martin Sandler tells the incredible true adventure story of three men who were ordered by President McKinley to carry out an overland rescue that covered 1500 miles of treacherous Alaskan terrain in the dead of winter. Their mission was to drive two herds of reindeer the distance to feed the starving men. With their own survival in the balance, these men battled raging storms, killing cold, injured sled dogs, and their own will to continue to bring relief to the stranded whalemen. Entries from the journals of two of the rescuers and photographs taken by the third key men of the unlikely expendition dramatically documnent every mile of their heroic, unprecedented journey.

Author: Martin W. Sandler

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Released Date: 2012

ISBN: 9780763650803