The crowds cheered as Sir John Franklin’s ships sailed away in May 1845. The famed adventurer’s objective was to find, at last, a navigable route across the top of the world—the North-West Passage—and the hopes of a nation went with him. Neither Franklin nor his men were seen alive again. Scores of expeditions set out to discover what had happened but the terrible story remained incomplete—until now. John Geiger’s account of the quest for Franklin covers all aspects of the story from the beginning to the most recent discoveries. In a book that brings together fabulous paintings and engravings and rarely seen archival and modern photographs, Geiger presents a compelling investigation of the most enduring mystery of Arctic exploration.

JOHN GEIGER is author of five books, including the bestsellers Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition and The Third Man Factor. He is editorial board editor at The Globe and Mail, a governor of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and a fellow of the Explorer’s Club, New York.