In the years after the loss of the Franklin Expedition many ships were dispatched to the Arctic, first to look for the survivors of Franklin’s crew, then to look for evidence of what had happened to them. “The Surfacing” is the story of one of the ships searching in the Arctic. As the crew prepared for their northern adventure, they spent time getting supplies in Disko and Morgan, one of the officers, had a brief affair with a woman, Miss Rink, the sister of the governor. When the expedition heads north Morgan discovers Miss Rink is a stowaway. It is too late to turn back. The ship heads into the far north where it becomes stuck fast in the ice.

The story was about the isolated crew and their struggles to survive and to get back to civilization. The words revealed a background of unrelenting cold and treacherous ice. The narrative was ultimately about isolation and what it means to be a father – as the results of Miss Rink’s fecund condition became more and more obvious after she was discovered on board.

When I started reading this book, it frankly didn't interest me that much, but the more I read, the more I found I could not put the book down. I knew very little about the ships lost during the search for the Northwest Passage, and James inspired me to do some research to learn more. I can imagine through the writing how quiet it must have been, except for the cracking and shifting of the ice. I was only displeased with the ending. Maybe I missed some hint, but the book just seemed to end. ( )

Cormac James tells the story of the dangerous 1850 voyage of the Impetus, which sailed north of Greenland to find and rescue men who’d been lost while searching for the Northwest Passage. The story is told from the viewpoint of Impetus’s second in command, Mr. Morgan, and his doubts about the judgment of their captain are growing. Captain Myer has a monomaniacal desire to push on, even though it’s late in the season, and his ship risks being trapped in the ice.
It’s ice and snow and wind and water and more ice everywhere. Such conditions might seem likely to become rather tedious, but James surprises with his inventiveness and acute perception, expressed in beautiful prose.
Despite conditions, there’s good humor among the crew, especially between Morgan and his friend, the ship’s doctor. The woman with whom Morgan had a dalliance in their last port-of-call has been smuggled on board, pregnant, and he must contend not just with an incompetent captain and implacable weather, but with the unexpected pull of fatherhood.
The conditions so far north put everyone to the test. As the darkness of another winter descends, they must each face their fate in their own way. ( )

I received this in early 2015 as an Early Reviewer. I can't really give it any stars as I couldn't finish it, I kept on getting stuck somewhere around pages 20-30, would put it down, try it again in a few weeks, forget everything and have to go back. It was just ... boring. Lack of punctuated dialogue, perhaps (which worked well in Cormac McCarthy's The Road and I think parts of Emma Donaghue's The Room if I'm remembering correctly)? Odd since I usually enjoy tales of suffering and adventure and it's quite bothersome that I can't quite put my finger on why it proved impossible to capture my attention.

Over the years I have read a number of books, fiction and non-fiction, that concerned the search for the lost Franklin Expedition. I have always found it fascinating to read about the lengths people have gone to in the most challenging circumstances to find traces of Franklin and all the crew of his two ships, the Erebus and the Terror. Of course, we now know that Franklin headed west and south of his wintering spot on Beechey Island. In fact, Parks Canada found the Erebus on the bottom of Victoria Strait near King William Island in 2014. However in the 1850s it was thought that Franklin went north from Beechey Island and that was where the search concentrated. This book is an account of a fictional ship, the Impetus, which took part in the search starting in 1850.

The second in command of the Impetus was Lieutenant Morgan of Anglo Irish ancestry. He seems to have joined the expedition as much to get away from his family as for the adventure. When the Impetus put into Disko Harbour on Greenland Morgan became friendly with the governor's unmarried sister, Kitty. While the other officers and the governor were away on a short trip Morgan and Kitty fell into bed together. To Morgan it was a matter of no importance. He was thus astonished when, three weeks after leaving Disko, the chaplain informed him that Kitty was on board and was expecting his child. Morgan was sure Kitty was shamming and he was determined to get her off the Impetus as soon as possible. Despite his best efforts Kitty remained on board. When the ship got stuck in the ice beyond where any other ship had ventured Kitty gave birth to Morgan's son. To his amazement Morgan became besotted with his child. Thereafter his actions were couched in terms of what would be best for his son.

I wanted to like this book but it just did not grab my attention. There were sections that were quite gripping but they would end suddenly and then a new time period would start up with little mention of what went before. Kitty's role was never developed; she remained a cardboard mother figure throughout the book. There were some promising secondary characters such as Dr. DeHaven and the French cook, Cabot, but they could not redeem that disconnectedness of the main story.

If you want to read about the search for Franklin I can recommend both The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton and Race to the Polar Sea by Ken McGoogan. For a modern and fictional take on the quest check out Darkness at the Stroke of Noon by Dennis Murphy ( )