The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, Part 1: The English at the North Pole

MP3 Audio CD. First published in 1864, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras is a novel in two parts, the first volume, entitled The English at the North Pole, featuring a part of the protagonist?s journey to the northernmost point of the planet.

Captain Hatteras has long been obsessed with the idea that the sea around the pole is not frozen and he decides to go on an expedition to prove his theory. He sets sail in 1861 in a newly built ship, without informing his crew about his identity or about the destination of the trip. One of the reasons why he kept all these details from the crew was that he had previously led several failed expeditions and he did not want the crew to be discouraged by his bad reputation. However, he and his suspecting crew soon encounter horrible hardships ? they run out of fuel, the ship gets stuck, food deposits keep dwindling and Hatteras must reveal his name and the destination as well. The crew is outraged, a mutiny ensues and the ship is also damaged. Most crew members decide to leave Hatteras, but the Captain still has a few men who are willing to accompany him on his expedition.

The character of Captain Hatteras is largely based on the real-life character of Sir John Franklin, the British explorer who has led four expeditions to the North Pole, being the second European traveler to reach the mouth of the Mackenzie River, the longest river on Earth and the largest one flowing into the Arctic Ocean. In 1845, he was the leader of the Arctic expedition that contributed significantly to the complete charting of the Northwest Passage. Franklin?s expeditions were never easy - he and his crews faced terrible hardships and starvation, many of them resorting to cannibalism and many never returning from their adventures.