Off the Map Read online

  Praise for Off the Map:

  “Fleming skillfully captivates the reader’s imagination with enthralling accounts of the explorers’ hardships and heroism, permitting the expeditions’ journals to convey the excitement, frustration, and agony felt by these men. . . . Overall excellence.”

  —Library Journal

  “Fleming has mastered the craft of imparting huge swaths of information in an accessible way. . . . Fleming’s writing is informative and vivid, never stinting on such basic human drives as greed, glory, and geopolitical domination. . . . Almost comprehensive enough to serve as a reference, this densely packed tome supplies a bewildering wealth of information about some of humanity’s most compelling adventures.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Instead of extracting passages from the likes of Marco Polo and Captain Cook, Fleming has retold their stories in his own words, something he is particularly skilled at.... [Fleming] is always entertaining.”

  — The Sunday Times (London) Book of the Week

  “The material is artfully shaped, and Fleming avoids the hazard of formlessness inherent in collections of unrelated tales. He rightly pounces on synchronicity, and on ways of linking one character to the next, or to the historical continuum of which each is inevitably a part. . . . The gobbets of social history he teases out of the stories are fascinating. . . . Fleming wrings maximum value from his story. . . . Fleming writes here in jaunty, loose-limbed prose.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  “[Off the Map] allow[s] . . . readers to experience achievements beyond their wildest dreams.”

  —Booklist

  “Some of the most extreme adventures man has ever endured. Each tale describes the exploits in vigorous and evocative prose, giving individual stories a vitality that they might lack if told at greater length. ... It stands as a fascinating testament to the achievement of explorers and will entertain even the most weathered of arm-chair adventurers.”

  —Good Book Guide

  OFF THE MAP

  TALES OF ENDURANCE AND EXPLORATION

  as told by

  FERGUS FLEMING

  Copyright © 2004 by Fergus Fleming

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by

  any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including

  information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from

  the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of

  the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission

  to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to

  Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

  First published in Great Britain in 2004 by

  Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London,

  under the title Cassell’s Tales of Endurance

  Printed in the United States of America

  FIRST GROVE PRESS EDITION

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Fleming, Fergus, 1959–

  Off the Map / as told by Fergus Fleming.

  p. cm.

  Originally published: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004.

  ISBN-10: 0-8021-4272-9

  ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-4272-6

  1. Discoveries in geography. 2. Explorers–History. I. Title.

  G80.F54 2005

  910’.9–dc22 2005047849

  Design by Butler and Tanner Ltd., Frome and London

  Grove Press

  an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  841 Broadway

  New York, NY 10003

  Distributed by Publishers Group West

  www.groveatlantic.com

  06 07 08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  CONTENTS

  List of Illustrations

  Preface

  PART 1: THE AGE OF RECONNAISSANCE

  To the heart of the Mongol Empire: Marco Polo (1271–95)

  The wanderings of Ibn Battuta (1325–55)

  Sailing west to America: Christopher Columbus (1492–1506)

  East to the Indies: Vasco da Gama (1497–9)

  A passage to the Pacific: Ferdinand Magellan (1519–22)

  Adventures in the Amazon: Francisco de Orellana (1541–6)

  The quest for the North-East Passage: William Barents (1594–7)

  Mutiny in the Arctic: Henry Hudson (1610–11)

  Looking for a North-West Passage: Luke Foxe and Thomas James (1631–2)

  Colonizing the American wilderness: René La Salle (1669–87)

  PART 2: THE AGE OF INQUIRY

  Linking Russia and America: Vitus Bering (1725–42)

  Measuring the world: Charles-Marie de la Condamine (1735–45)

  In search of the Great Southern Continent: James Cook (1768–79)

  The conquest of Mont Blanc: Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1760–88)

  Into the heart of South America: Alexander von Humboldt (1799–1803)

  The Great Trigonometrical Survey (1800–66)

  Across the American wilderness: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1803–6)

  Furthest into the Arctic: W. E. Parry (1818–27)

  Across Canada’s Badlands: John Franklin (1818–25)

  The quest for the Niger: Hugh Clapperton and Richard Lander (1821–31)

  The road to Timbuctoo: Gordon Laing and René Caillié (1824–8)

  Four winters in the Arctic: John Ross (1829–33)

  Charting the Antarctic: James Clark Ross (1839–43)

  The search for Franklin (1845–59)

  PART 3: THE AGE OF ENDEAVOUR

  Crossing the Australian continent: Robert Burke and William Wills (1860–1)

  The source of the Nile: Richard Burton and John Speke (1857–65)

  The conquest of the Matterhorn: Edward Whymper (1865)

  The Great Survey: The Pundits (1865–1902)

  Marooned off Greenland: Paul Hegemann and Karl Koldewey (1869–70)

  An Arctic drift: Charles Hall, George Tyson and the Polaris (1871–3)

  Across the dark continent: David Livingstone and H. M. Stanley (1871–7)

  The discovery of Franz Josef Land: Carl Weyprecht and Julius von Payer (1872–4)

  Britain’s fight for the North Pole: George Nares (1875–6)

  A Siberian disaster: George De Long (1879–82)

  Tragedy on Ellesmere Island: Adolphus Greely (1881–4)

  Skiing to the North Pole: Fridtjof Nansen (1893–6)

  By balloon to the top of the world: Salomon Andrée (1897)

  Across the Sahara to the Congo: Fernand Foureau (1899–1900)

  Italy’s northernmost: The Duke of Abruzzi (1899–1900)

  The Pole at last? Robert Peary and Frederick Cook (1908–9)

  The race for the South Pole: Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen (1911–12)

  Alone in the Antarctic: Douglas Mawson (1911–13)

  The Imperial TransAntarctic Expedition: Ernest Shackleton (1914–16)

  The conquest of Everest? George Mallory and Sandy Irvine (1924)

  By airship to the North Pole: Umberto Nobile (1928)

  Bibliography

  Index

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  Between pages 86 and 87

  Marco Polo arrives at Hormuz en route from China to Italy, c.1291. Bridgeman Art Library/Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

  Christopher Columbus lands on Hispaniola, 1492. Bridgeman Art Library/Private Collection

  The departure of Vasco da Gama’s fleet in 1497. Bridgeman Art Library/Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa, Lisbon

  Ferdinand Magellan’s assault on Macta
n Island, 1521. Bridgeman Art Library/Private Collection

  A polar bear attacks William Barents’s men, 1595. Corbis/Stapleton Collection

  Barents’s hut at Ice Haven during the winter of 1596–7. Mary Evans Picture Library

  Charles-Marie de la Condamine’s descent of the Amazon, 1743. Bridgeman Art Library/Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, Paris

  Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, 1779. Bridgeman Art Library/Giraudon

  The ascent of Mont Blanc by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, 1787. Bridgeman Art Library/Private Collection

  Alexander von Humboldt’s sketch of a Mexican river. (1799–1804). Bridgeman Art Library/Royal Geographical Society, London

  Escaping a grizzly bear: Lewis and Clark’s 1803–6 traverse of North America. British Library

  W. E. Parry’s Hecla being sawn into an ice harbour, 1824. Corbis/Stapleton Collection

  A canoe strikes a tree and overturns: Lewis and Clark’s 1803–6 traverse of North America. Hulton Archive

  One of John Franklin’s camps during his retreat through the Badlands, 1821. Bridgeman Art Library/Stapleton Collection

  Between pages 214 and 215

  Richard and John Lander travel in rare style down the Niger, 1830. British Library

  Timbuctoo, as drawn by René Caillié, 1828. Bridgeman Art Library/Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

  An Inuit settlement: John Ross’s Arctic voyage of 1829–33. Bridgeman Art Library/Stapleton Collection

  James Clark Ross claims Antarctica’s Possession Island for Britain, 1841. Bridgeman Art Library/Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

  The note found at Victory Point by Franklin searchers in 1859. Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

  Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills after their 1860–1 crossing of Australia. Mary Evans Picture Library

  Samuel Baker, big-game hunter and explorer of the Nile. (1864–5). Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection

  The apparition that greeted Edward Whymper following the Matterhorn disaster, 1865. Mary Evans Picture Library

  Charles Francis Hall’s winter funeral, 1872. Private Collection

  George Tyson’s separation from the Polaris, 1872. Private Collection

  The wreck of the Hansa, 1869. Corbis/Bettmann

  David Livingstone surprised by a lion. (1858–64). Bridgeman Art Library/Stapleton Collection

  Between pages 342 and 343

  Life in the tent: Julius von Payer’s exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1874. Mary Evans Picture Library

  The wintering of HMS Alert at Floeberg Beach, 1875. Corbis/Hulton-Deutsch Collection

  Adolphus Greely, leader of the US expedition to Ellesmere Island. (1881–4). Corbis

  Fridtjof Nansen at Cape Flora, 1895. Royal Geographical Society

  Salomon Andrée’s Eagle fails to reach the North Pole, 1897. Mary Evans Picture Library

  Fernand Foureau, conqueror of the Sahara. (1899–1900). Roger Viollet/Rex Features

  The Stella Polare caught by an ice ridge, 1899. Private Collection

  Robert Peary and Francis Cook dispute their right to the North Pole, 1909. Bridgeman Art Library/Archives Chaumet

  Robert Falcon Scott (centre) and party at the South Pole, January 1912. Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

  Roald Amundsen, who reached the South Pole before Scott on 14 December 1911. Corbis/Bettmann

  Douglas Mawson, leader of another expedition to Antartica 1911–13. Bridgeman Art Library/Private Collection

  Ernest Shackleton’s men hack a passage through the Weddell Sea, 1915. Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

  The Italia before the start to the North Pole, 23 May 1928. Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

  George Mallory and Edward Norton on Everest in 1922. Bridgeman Art Library/Stapleton Collection

  PREFACE

  The lion’s share of the credit for Off the Map must go to my excellent editor Richard Milbank. It was he who came up with the concept, the title for the British edition – Cassell’s Tales of Endurance – and the format. My lesser contribution was to suggest that it be structured as a sort-of history of explorations – and then, of course, to write it.

  A sort-of history needs sort-of boundaries. They were drawn thus: it should start in about the 14th–15th centuries, with the birth of exploration literature; it should end in the 1920s, when the combustion engine transformed the raw nature of the quest; it should be divided into three ‘Ages’, equating roughly to the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Industrial eras; and the yarns within it should be both ripping and important. There the problems started. So many explorers did exciting things, and so many of their journeys can be interpreted as important. How to choose? The ‘greats’ had to be included – Marco Polo, Magellan, Shackleton, Scott & Co. – but thereafter the options were endless. After much deliberation it was agreed that geographical discovery should be paramount. So out went individuals such as Bligh and Bartlett, who endured much (very rippingly) yet discovered little; out, too, went a host of travellers who were keen observers and chroniclers but who did not break new ground. Still, the list of candidates was dauntingly long. Should one include Barth, Richardson, Laperrine and Lenz in Africa? In the Arctic, Steffansen, Rasmusssen and Nordenskjold? How about Hedin, Przhevalsky and Stein in Asia? What was one to do with Flinders, Sturt and Tasman in Australia? Which of the Central and South American conquistadores was most noteworthy? They all had the makings of a good story. It would have been possible, I suppose, to impose an order of seniority, to apply topographical quotas or to regiment them in some other fashion. In the end I just picked the ones I liked best.

  The final selection will probably infuriate adventure afficionados and historians alike. Where are the Arabs, Greeks, the Chinese and the Vikings? Where are the quirky people that nobody has heard of? Where are the many women travellers whose exploits have long been underestimated? Not here, I am afraid – well, not much, at any rate. This is not to say they are unworthy; it is simply that they either didn’t meet the spec, or weren’t as exciting as the many others that did. More serious, perhaps, is the lack of balance between discoverer and ‘discovered’. Many histories (like this one) treat native people as bit players: they arrive from the wings, shake their spears, then trudge offstage to await their next call. It is a distorted picture. Not only were they integral to the process of Western exploration – whether obstructing the white man or, more often, helping him – but they were occasionally explorers themselves. Whenever they had a chance they wrote clear, perceptive and sometimes beautiful narratives of the time they spent with the interloper. I am sorry that their stories cannot be told here.

  In researching this compilation I have (embarrassing to admit) often found myself consulting my own books. Some tales may therefore seem familiar, but I hope they are none the duller for the retelling. While crediting myself I must also acknowledge the many other authors upon whose wisdom I have drawn. Without notes it is hard to allocate precisely my indebtedness, but the bibliography contains a list of secondary sources that have been more than helpful. Their titles are in most cases self-explanatory and I recommend them to anyone who wants to read in greater depth about any particular explorer. I would also like to thank my agent, Gillon Aitken; Rosie Anderson, Richard Milbank and Neil Wenborn at Cassells; and the staffs of the Bodleian Library (Oxford), the British Library, Gloucestershire Libraries, the Kensington and Chelsea Library, the London Library, the Royal Geographical Society, the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge).

  Traditionally, every preface contains an apology for the author’s lack of narrative prowess, poor organisational skills, general incompetence and so on. Here, therefore, is a quote from George Steller, naturalist and surgeon to Vitus Bering 1741–2, that says it all: ‘As to the style and arrangement of matter, the pressure of duties does not permit me to spend too much time in perfecting any one thing ... I therefore set out my porridge in carefully ma
de earthen vessels. If the vessel is an offence to any one, he will perform for me and others a most friendly service if he will pour it all into a gold or silver urn.’

  PART 1

  THE AGE OF RECONNAISSANCE

  THE AGE OF RECONNAISSANCE

  Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the 20th-century author and explorer, famously described exploration as a meaningless pursuit. How could anyone claim to have discovered new territories when, with the exception of Antarctica and possibly the northern Arctic islands, humans had already walked, at one time or another, over every landmass on the globe? ‘The great tales which we are able to present are those of rediscovery,’ he wrote. ‘Our very best stories are lucky when they are no worse than second-best.’ Theoretically he was correct. Yet the history of exploration is not just that of people breaking new ground; it is also that of people writing about breaking new ground. With no means to describe their experiences, how could explorers explain what they had seen and where they had been? Without the written word, they were trees falling in the forest, unheard and unseen. The fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, for example, plunged Europe into a limbo: fragments of knowledge survived in monastic libraries, but for more than half a millennium it was as if the intellectual slate had been wiped clean. It was this very absence of records that gave birth to a surge of discovery which started in approximately the 14th century AD and did not abate for another 600 years.

  There had been explorers and geographers aplenty in the past. In the 4th century BC, the Greek traveller Herodotus wrote a description of the world, drawing partly on his own voyages through the Mediterranean and partly on those of traders whom he had encountered en route. (For his trouble he was dubbed ‘The Prince of Liars’.) In 340 BC another Greek, Pytheas of Massilia, claimed to have travelled beyond the Arctic Circle, and although he may have reached Iceland his reports of a land even further north called Ultima Thule, where there was constant ice and the sun shone 24 hours a day, were probably fabricated. In 980 AD the Vikings (who had trading links with Greece and the Middle East) found a place that fitted Pytheas’s description of Ultima Thule when they landed in Greenland. Twenty years later Leif Ericsson and other Greenland colonists accidentally discovered North America. Their discoveries survived in oral tradition, later to be transcribed as the Icelandic sagas. To most Europeans, however, it was as if none of this had happened. So complete was the collapse of knowledge following the demise of Rome, and so restricted the availability of information during the Dark Ages, that they had only the haziest notion of what lay beyond their borders.