In the spring of 1875, two ships set sail from Connecticut, travelling together to the Baffin Island Arctic whaling grounds. One ship is skippered by a sea veteran, the other by a young Newfoundlander who is an expert in sailing through ice fields. Conflicts arise during their year-long stay with whale hunting Inuit on the shores of Baffin Island in James Houston's The Ice Master (M&S $29.99). A feud with a shaman and a voyage back to New England through a hurricane further complicates the challenges facing the two men in an era when whaling was North America's biggest business, and successful expeditions to the Arctic returned with whale oil that lit the lamps of the civilized world.
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[BCBW 1997]