Frozen in Time

The Fate of the Franklin Expedition

By: Owen Beattie, John Geiger

Narrated by: Liam Gerrard

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1845, Sir John Franklin and his men set out to "penetrate the icy fastness of the north, and to circumnavigate America." And then they disappeared. The truth about what happened to Franklin's ill-fated Arctic expedition was shrouded in mystery for more than a century. Then, in 1984, Owen Beattie and his team exhumed two crew members from a burial site in the North for forensic evidence, to shocking results. But the most startling discovery didn't come until 2014, when a team commissioned by the Canadian government uncovered one of the lost ships: Erebus.

©1987, 1988, 1998, 2004, 2014 Owen Beattie and John Geiger (P)2019 Tantor

Deservedly a classic

Still gripping almost 40 years after its first publication. Recommended for anyone with even a casual interest in history and exploration. The only downside is that some other books will pale in comparison.

Good Scientific Book with a Humorous Narrator

The book is a little disjointed but if you're interested in the science around the deaths of the Arctic explorers it is very interesting.
The Narrator has a very dry wit and makes the somewhat dry material lively.

Fascinating Study of the Mystery of the Terror and Erebus Tragedy

Deep dive into the causes of the deaths of the crew of these two ships. As interesting in the examination of the reasons of the deaths as it is for the account of how modern day scientists did the exhumations and the detective work. While it does not go deeply into the sacrifices those modern day detectives made, their dedication to knowledge for its own sake was impressive.
I am always in awe of the explorers who not only make these journeys, but their dedication to documenting them! Both modern day and long past.
Impressive!

The narrator's voice ruined it

I know this narrator has won multiple awards but his inflection and pauses were GRATING. I am fascinated by the story of this expedition but I couldn't finish this book because his voice is just too much, unfortunately.

frozen in time

The narrators voice took some getting used to. He uptalks and pauses in places that feel kind of unnatural, but I got used to it. His cadence is just a little bit different than what I prefer in audiobooks.

I know a fair bit about the Franklin Expedition so most of this book tread familiar ground. It was outlined in a fairly well structured way and kept my interest. I understand the reasoning behind theorizing about what could have happened when a particular sailor died or what Franklin might have done, but I don't necessarily like it. I think it takes away from the tragedy at hand, but I can also understand why it's done. The book is also structured in a peculiar way where the first half is about the expedition and then the second is about the exhumation of the bodies by Beatie. Not uninteresting, just kind of two books put into one.

The Franklin Expedition is the culmination of terrible luck (being locked into the ice an extra winter & the cans), scurvy, lead poisoning, and hubris. Those men were sent out there to die.

I'd consider this book good information for someone looking for the basics on the expedition, as it is repetitive if you know more about it. I don't entirely agree with the author's assertion that the loss of life was caused primarily by lead poisoning from the cans, but I think that's a part of the cause of the tragedy.

You'll forget about the narrator by the first chapter

I just finished reading the terror and was looking for more info on this expedition. And this was the perfect book to fill that void. With facts and the truth behind it all. Also gave me insight into why Dan Simmons may have done his story the way he did.
Nonetheless if your a fan of the Franklin expedition. You will want to give this a listen. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And don't worry about the narrator if you love this topic you won't notice him after the first few minutes. Also last thing this book covers back story to the Franklin expedition,before, during and after the expedition and some other expeditions during that same time period. Which I did not know about. So it made it all the more intriguing. Read this one !!!

Narrator’s voice

The first time We have disliked a narrator! Such a great story but couldn’t tolerate the narrator.