BEYOND CAPE HORN: Travels in the Antarctic

by Charles Neider ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 1980

An account of a ten-week return visit to Antarctica in 1977 by the author of Edge of the World, starting at McMurdo Station south of New Zealand and ending at Palmer Station south of Tierra del Fuego, some 3600 miles away. Since Neider traveled chiefly by water--a Coast Guard icebreaker, a British Antarctic Survey ship, a small marine biology research trawler--his vantage point was unusual, and several of his most effective set pieces take place on the ocean: the ""kinesthetic thrill"" of standing in the prow of an icebreaker; the icy misery and danger of boarding a ship from a launch in 45-knot winds (""Don't worry, Charles, we've never lost a journalist""); an awesome water ballet of killer whales. Though Neider's knowledge of the history of Antarctica is encyclopedic, and amply displayed, he avoids tedium by interweaving the ""heroic"" past, present-day daily life (mundane, scientific, geopolitical), and his own recollections of a place of ""sheer, utter, magnificent desolution."" He also catches the people of Antarctica--the British ship officers in starched shirts, coats, and ties; the eccentric scientists; the pilot who nonchalantly carries on--tho' his backup plane is lost and he is beyond rescue if he crashes. An extraordinarily full book, stocked with facts, images, and feeling.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1980

ISBN: 0815412355

Page Count: -

Publisher: Sierra Club--dist. by Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION