| Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699-1839 Contributor(s): Gurney, Alan (Author) |
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ISBN: 0393329046 ISBN-13: 9780393329049 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company OUR PRICE: $22.75 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2007 Annotation: In search of scientific knowledge, natural prestige, and profit, many courageous explorers captured the hearts and attention of their countrymen when they set out to discover what lay below the Convergence, the sea frontier marking the boundary between the freezing Antarctic waters and the warmer sub-Antartic seas. The stories of their adventures and discoveries makes for riveting reading and offers an abundant history. Maps & illustrations. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Military - Naval - History | Modern - 18th Century - Travel | Polar Regions |
| Dewey: 919.8 |
| Physical Information: 0.82" H x 5.58" W x 8.2" (0.63 lbs) 328 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Arctic/Antarctic - Chronological Period - 18th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This wonderfully written book tells of the first Herculean expeditions to Antarctica, from astronomer Edmond Halley's 1699 voyage in the Paramore to the sealer John Balleny's 1839 excursion in the Eliza Scott, all in search of land, glory, fur, science, and profit. Life was harsh: crews had poor provisions and inadequate clothing, and scurvy was a constant threat. With unreliable--often homemade--charts, these intrepid explorers sailed in the stormy waters of the Southern Ocean below the Convergence, that sea frontier marking the boundary between the freezing Antarctic waters and the warmer sub-Antarctic seas. These men were the first to discover and exploit a new continent, which was not the verdant southern island they had imagined but an inhospitable expanse of rock and ice, ringed by pack ice and icebergs: Antarctica. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gurney, Alan: - Alan Gurney was a former yacht designer and photographer. His books include Compass, The Race to the White Continent, and Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica: 1699-1839. |