Here’s an interesting one that’s come my way! Passage by Angus Wardlaw which tells the story of Britain’s worst Polar expedition disaster.

Here’s the scoop:

‘PASSAGE’ by Angus Wardlaw.

Published in hardback by Daredevil Books.

Clothbound hardback edition with dust wrapper, 408 pages including map illustrations.

ISBN 978-1-7393932-2-9

Dimensions 235 x 164 x 27 mm

RRP UK £25.95

RRP US $29.95

Will be available direct from Daredevil Books or all good bookshops.. and of course Amazon!

Wardlaw, a descendant of Captain Francis Crozier who commanded the HMS Terror, sister ship to the HMS Erebus on the expedition, has meticulously researched all that is known about the fate of this ambitious but doomed enterprise.‘I am directly related to Francis Crozier, captain of HMS Terror, and have long been fascinated by what happened to him and the other 129 men who perished on the expedition. ‘PASSAGE’ tells their story.’

Popularized by the BBC TV series ‘The Terror’, there remains a high level interest in this story prompted by the continuing hunt for information on the fate of the luckless crews, the exploration of the wrecks and the recent auction by Sotheby’s of fourteen rare daguerreotypes of the crew from 1845 which had been sitting in storage for 178 years and were sold at public auction in September for £444,500.The wrecks of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were finally located in the Arctic waters off Canada in 2014 and 2016.There is lots of great information about the expedition to be found at the Royal Museums Greenwich site.

Story Synopsis On 19th May 1845 the Royal Navy launches its most technologically advanced Arctic expedition ever in the hope of finding the fabled Northwest Passage: a direct trade route to the Far East that could bring untold wealth to the British Empire. But, just as the expedition is on the brink of astonishing success, nature cruelly threatens to crush the ships and stretch the crews of Erebus and Terror to the limits of human endurance. With the temperature plummeting, the body count rising and little hope of rescue, their troubled leader has no option but to abandon ships with his freezing, sick and starving men and begin a brutal 500-mile death march across the High Arctic.This is the true, epic story of the brotherhood and heroism of 129 souls who must pass through the very darkest of places in their struggle to survive as told by the great-great-great-great nephew of Francis Crozier, captain of HMS Terror.

About The Author
Angus Wardlaw comes from a naval family and as a descendant of Francis Crozier has long been fascinated by his naval forebear and the fate of the expedition. Following a career in the military where he specialised in intelligence and reconnaissance, Angus became an award-winning advertising creative director in London and New York. He is now an author and lives on a boat in London.