EXPLORING GREENLAND
NORTH ICE, by Commander C. Jj. W. | Simpson; Hodder and Stoughton, English | price 37/6. / HE leader of the British North | Greenland Expedition has told | simply its story covering the years 1952 | to 1954. It is one of triumph and fortitude, of mechanical |
skills and_ spiritual exaltations. Whether read as adventure, geography, or Narrative, the account is satisfying at every level. Commander Simpson sublimated unrealised ambitions for the Himalayas by years of preparation for his Greenland expedition. He had to travel in the company of experienced Danish explorers, fight apathy in the services that must support ‘him, scrounge for funds, judge men wisely and choose compatible teams, face responsibility, loneliness and death, and always bear in:mind the distant goal. His book justifies all his hopes, gives full credit to the 30 men under his command, and brings to life the trials, misfortunes and successes of the hard Arctic years. He has continued the (continued on next page)
BOOKS (continued from previous page) naval traditions established by Captains Cook and Scott. Science was as hard a task-master as exploration. The voyages by sea, and in spite of pack ice, the sledge journeys, the air drops (during which one aircraft crashed), the seismic experiments, the trouble with dogs and mechanised "Weasels," the survey and geological work; each episode is a story in itself. The illustrations in colour and monochrome are as thrilling as the text. Perhaps the greatest feat achieved by the expedition was te establish a station "Northice" on the ice-sheet of Greenland, where three men lived, virtually buried under the snow for the long winter months. No part of this long and detailed book fails to excite admiration and interest. "If man is an explorer," wrote Commander Simpson, "the greatest quest of all is the search for his Creator. . . In the infinite snows which stretch beneath the midnight sun, in the starlit silence of the polar night, in the ever-crowded warmth within the thronging base hut, he may discover things he never knew about himself, his fellow men and his God." With this acceptance of the values of Arctic life, Commander Simpson reveals the strength that enabled him to plan, to endure and to achieve.
John
Pascoe
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 945, 20 September 1957, Page 15
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368EXPLORING GREENLAND New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 945, 20 September 1957, Page 15
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