There has been an extraordinary amount of interest lately in the incredible stories of those early explorers and sailors who overcame all kinds of odds to investigate, explore, and map the Arctic and Antarctic over the past two centuries. However, few realize that a great many of those who participated in those stirring voyages and expeditions were Irish. Here are the incredible stories of an array of Irish explorers, navigators, cartographers, scientists, naval officers, and seamen, many largely unknown or forgotten. The saga begins in the eighteenth century, continues with the search for the Northwest Passage, and the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845, and ends with the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Drawing on previously unpublished material-including previously unpublished photographs-and interviews with descendents, this book has a cast of characters as rich as any novel.