Ebook: The Outpost of the Lost: An Arctic Adventure

One of the six crew members who survived a disastrous polar expedition tells his story: "No work of fiction is more absorbing than this Arctic diary." —The New York Times
In the summer of 1881, Lt. Adolphus Greely of the Fifth United States Cavalry and a crew of twenty-one men set out on the Proteus to explore the then relatively unknown Arctic Circle. During their three-year journey, the Lady Franklin Bay expedition, as it came to be known, was meant to ascertain new astronomical data, to establish an observation station, and to record other meteorological data. And while they did accomplish those tasks, the crew of the Proteus will instead forever be remembered for the catastrophe that they encountered, one that yielded few survivors.
After a relatively calm first year in the Arctic, the members of the expedition grew increasingly desperate as ships carrying essential supplies—food, clothing, and building materials, among other items—failed to reach them due to increasingly perilous conditions. Slowly but surely the harsh weather and low supplies decimated the crew, as one by one they succumbed to the merciless Arctic. When a rescue vessel finally reached the Proteus in 1884, only six members of the original expedition remained. Told in concise prose with stunning clarity, this memoir by crew member David L. Brainard is an inspiring account of human spirit and perseverance, not be missed by any armchair adventurer or history buff.