Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)

I've read several Arctic and Antarctic exploration books, and this is one of the best. The journey from St. Petersburg to the Pacific overland through Siberia was as appalling as it was epic. It's an incredible story of bravery, hubris, brutality, madness, resourcefulness, survival, and sacrifice. It's a first-rate Russian-led Arctic expedition.

I enjoy these tales of exploration and survival, and have read many of then, from Magellan, to contemporary stories of surviving aircrews, and others.This book was good, as it describes Peter the Great, the expedition's sponsor, Bering, the expedition's leader, the planning (good & bad), the colossal undertaking of transporting everything needed across thousands of miles of territory with mostly nonexistent infrastructure (including trails & rivers) and extremely rough terrain, the expedition itself, which took years just to start, and the aftermath.One subject of this book that I find particularly interesting, is shipwrecked crews in extremely harsh environments and their survival techniques. Another one is the existing native populations of same environments.One sad aspect was that some of the species Steller documented are now extinct, such as a the Steller sea cow, sometimes called a northern manatee. The survivors finally figured out how to kill one of these large creatures, and it helped feed them while they built a new ship.I read some reviews where the readers thought the story was too ''Dry'', and they wanted more ''Human Connection'' – Then read Harry Potter.One can only imagine, and admire, the trials these men endured.

Like the British, French, Portuguese, and Spanish Empires, the Russian Empire also had ambitions to expand globally and attain prominence through discovery, conquest as well as research and findings. This was largely inspired and promoted by Czar Peter I aka Peter the Great in the 17th Century. The result was to send an expedition starting in European Russia and eventually sailing from Kamchatka in Siberia in hopes of discovering land across the north Pacific, hence, North America. And what a tough undertaking that turned out to be in the 1740s.First, the expedition, which consisted mostly of Russians,but also had a number of leading prominent naval officers from Denmark (most famous of which was Vitus Bering) and scientists from present-day Germany, had to travel thousands of miles across uninhabitable and largely unchartered Siberia, build two ships from scratch and sail to what later became Alaska, not knowing where they were going or how long the journey would take. Throughout the journey, the men battled a brutal climate, deteriorating ship conditions, hostile wildlife, disease, starvation, as well as interpersonal conflict.A very fascinating adventure about a little known chapter in Russian history well written by Stephen Brown in Island of the Blue Foxes.

A great expedition to the east to discover new lands at a time when Russian sought to be more European through science and exploration. An interesting story of determination and sacrifice.

When Russia's Peter the Great felt the necessity of understanding Russia vast eastern territories, and the frozen sea that lay beyond, Russia funded two grueling expeditions. This fascinating book tells of their brutal struggles , and hard earned successes.

Oh, what a good read! I couldn't put it down. Great historical account of an impossible expedition under very difficult circumstances.

I cannot imagine the research that went into this book. Tracking documents left behind had to take a lot of effort and the results show.Probably a majority of the world know the name “Bering”, but few know the name “Stellar” without whom there would probably be no survivors or records.It is a fascinating read, one not to be missed.

I served in the Coast Guard on Kodiak island in the 80s. I learned then of the Russian history in the North Pacific. But I have never read an account of the exploits of Bering and expedition until now. It’s really unimaginable the feats and accomplishments, the pain and suffering these explorers experienced. I enjoy reading survival stories and this has to be the most epic one of all.

Very interesting and well written and documented story of a part of history I knew little about. Other histories of explorers and their trials that I've read do not make the hardships endured such a part of the story; as this book does. Amazing that any of them survived. Would like to know more about Russia's 'exploitation' of their new territory in the years before Alaska's sale to the U. S. of A. and why it came about. But that's another story.

The book's description says it all `...adventure and historic achievement, shipwreck, endurance and...tragic and ghastly suffering.' Tsar Peter attempted to drag Russia into the second millennium and one of his scheme was a great expedition to investigate its furthest reaches: Siberia (nominally in Peter's empire, but a lawless wilderness), and its northern pacific coast. Behring's expedition of 1733 was partly intended to show the world that Russia wasn't the country of barbaric peasants they believed it to be (rightly); but Behring was instructed to explore, find routes discover resources, set up trading posts, found industries and educate the natives and all this before building ships to navigate the stormy and freezing waters of the Pacific and survey the unknown North American coast, now known as Alaska. The only settlements on the route were little more than villages, quite incapable of supporting such a huge party and instead of three years the few survivors arrived back 10 years later after some amazing strokes of luck but also after months of starvation, shipwreck, and scurvy, only to find a new government that had turned its back on Peter's reforms and which did what it could to conceal the results the expedition.A readable account of an almost forgotten group of heroes.

Sometimes it reads like a list of bare facts, but then it tells an absorbing tale of the conditions those guys had to put up with; the complete lack of understanding that the government (in the East) had of the way things worked and what was possible in Siberia. Then brings home to the reader how little was really known, in 1730, about geography of the world, human health, and other such (to us) simple things...

A superbly written account of Vitus Bering in his search for Alaska, along with all the historical events charting his steps to achieve Peter the Great of Russia’s goal to put Russia on the map, so to speak. So sad that Bering was never sooner recognised for his achievements - partly because he was Dutch and not Russian! Peter the Great, if he had lived to see it would not have had this bias, as he instructed Bering to take on the voyage in the first place. Enjoy the book.