Shipwrecked on the Top of the World: Four Against the Arctic - Tapa dura

'David Roberts' relentless pursuit of the truth of four men's story engages us in a riveting journey ... This monumental tale ... deserves the impressive research efforts of a writing talent like Roberts' Pen Hadow, Polar explorer; 'David Roberts does a phenomenal job of piecing together this elusive and remarkable piece of history ... Roberts turns this book into a gripping suspense thriller' Jennifer Niven, author of THE ICE MASTER.

While reading Valerian Albanov's IN THE LAND OF WHITE DEATH David Roberts came across an old legend of four shipwrecked Russian sailors who had managed to survive for six years on Svalbard in the high Arctic. Incredulous, Roberts - an expert on exploration literature - determined to learn the truth about this astonishing story. This book is the result of that quest, a journey that took Roberts to libraries and archives on two continents and eventually to Russia and Svalbard itself. In 1743 a Russian ship bound for Arctic walrus-hunting grounds was wrecked by ice, stranding four of its crew - the only survivors - on a tiny island. With minimal provisions they endured six years of ice- bound hell: they collected driftwood for fires and with homemade lances killed ten polar bears (nine of which attacked them) for food. Concluding with Roberts' own four-man expedition to the desolate island where the ordeal took place, this riveting book explores more than just the struggle of men against nature - it ponders the genius of survival against impossible odds which turns a true story into a legend that, centuries later, still fires the imagination.