Safe Return Doubtful

Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition

Published 2017

This is the gripping telling of two voyages of Vitus Bering on his Russian expedition to the Aleutian Islands and Kamchatka on the early eighteenth century. It is an excellent addition to the literary canon of books on the Age of Sail, and the earliest I have read.
This period fascinates me, and Bown writes well in what soon becomes a fast-paced story of adventure.

The first Kamchatka Expedition (1725-1730) lasted only 50 days, and was unsuccessful, so understandably the majority of the book is given over to the second expedition of 1733 – 1743. Bown uses a variety of expedition diaries, letters, and official reports to provide a captivating narrative of ‘the most extensive scientific expedition in history.’

In 1733 more than a thousand explorers, scientists, craftsmen and crew left St. Petersburg with tons of supplies, taking three years to cross 6,000 miles of Russia. That was stressful enough, with plenty of quarreling, suffering, and problems over a roadless and thinly populated Siberia. On reaching the Pacific Ocean the expedition built several ships. One sailed south and made Russia’s first contact with Japan. Another, under Bering’s direction, sailed through the strait that eventually would bear his name, confirming that Russia was not connected to America and reaching Alaska. They then became shipwrecked and spent years on an isolated island with much suffering and death.

As well as being the story of Bering, this is also the story of the naturalist and scientist George Steller, a fascinating and controversial character whose story deserves a book in itself. He gave his name to many of the animals he describes in his notes; Steller’s sea eagle, Steller’s sea cow (now extinct), for example.

This is a tremendous story of a lesser known Arctic Expedition, and off the back of it, I look forward to reading more of Bown’s Arctic non-fiction.

My Goodreads score 5 / 5