Audiobook · read by volunteers
Fast in the Ice
R. M. Ballantyne (1825–1894)
Read by Esther · 11 chapters · 2 h 52
About the book
Winter is coming to the Arctic, and a ship is caught in the ice with no hope of release until the following summer. Her crew must face months of cold, darkness and isolation, with hunting parties, long nights, strange visitors and constant danger. R. M. Ballantyne, who had spent six years in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada, writes of the north with the confidence of a man who knew it. His rule was to write from personal knowledge as far as possible, and the details of life in the ice, from the daily routines to the encounters with the local people, carry a ring of truth. It is a spirited tale, full of courage and cheerful comradeship, for lovers of adventure at sea. A short and vivid winter story, well suited to an evening by the fire.
Introduction
Robert Michael Ballantyne, born in Edinburgh in 1825 and died in 1894, left Scotland for Canada at the age of sixteen to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company, the great fur-trading enterprise. He spent six years in the wilderness, travelling by canoe and snowshoe, and later drew on that experience to write adventure stories for boys. His first book described his time in the north, and he went on to write more than a hundred.
Ballantyne was among the most popular authors of boys’ adventure in Victorian Britain. His best-known novel, The Coral Island, appeared in 1858 and inspired many later castaway stories. He was careful to visit the places he wrote about, and he often took notes on the spot, for example by spending time in lighthouses or on ships. This commitment to accuracy gave his books a distinctive flavour.
Fast in the Ice, published in 1863, belongs to his Arctic stories. It follows a crew as they overwinter in the far north and describes how they manage to survive. The book has eleven chapters and runs for about three hours, read by a single LibriVox volunteer. It is a short, vivid listen for anyone who enjoys polar exploration, and a fine introduction to a writer who shaped the way many young readers imagined the world beyond Europe.
The book also provides a picture of the way Victorian readers pictured the polar regions: a place of danger, but also a place of endurance and community. Ballantyne pays attention to the details of clothing, food, hunting and daily work, so the listener comes away with a good sense of how a ship’s company might pass the long winter months.
Public domain
R. M. Ballantyne died in 1894: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text