Into the Great Emptiness

Peril and Survival on the Greenland Ice Cap

By: David Roberts

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

The riveting story of one of the greatest but least-known sagas in the history of exploration from David Roberts, the “dean of adventure writing”

By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed “Gino”), a twenty-three-year-old British explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious expedition to the east coast of Greenland and into its vast and forbidding interior to set up a permanent meteorological base on the icecap, 8,200 feet above sea level. The Ice Cap Station was to be the anchor of a transpolar route of air travel from Europe to North America.

The weather on the ice cap was appalling. Fierce storms. Temperatures plunging lower than negative fifty degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. Watkins’s scheme called for rotating teams of two men each to monitor the station for two months at a time. No one had ever tried to winter over in that hostile landscape, let alone manage a weather station through twelve continuous months. Watkins was younger than anyone under his command, but he had several daring trips to the Arctic under his belt and no one doubted his judgement.

The first crisis came in the fall when a snowstorm stranded a resupply mission halfway to the top for many weeks. When they arrived at the ice cap, there were not enough provisions and fuel for another two-man shift, so the station would have to be abandoned. Then team member August Courtauld made an astonishing offer. To enable the mission to go forward, he would monitor the station solo through the winter. When a team went up in March to relieve Courtauld, after weeks of brutal effort to make the 130-mile journey, they could find no trace of him or the station. By the end of March, Courtauld’s situation was desperate. He was buried under an immovable load of frozen snow and was disastrously short on supplies. On April 21, four months after Courtauld began his solitary vigil, Gino Watkins set out inland with two companions to find and rescue him.

David Roberts draws on firsthand accounts and archival materials to tell the story of this daring expedition and of the epic survival ordeal that ensued.

©2022 David Roberts (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Great narration

Not a lot of detail on the expeditions and trials. Mostly it just talked about Watkins.

A part of Arctic exploration that I never knew.

I have read stories of the Antarctic missions, and Arctic missions, but never knew anything about the Greenland explorations. It's a good story, with an excellent reader.

Very interesting and well done

Very interesting story of 14 British explorers. Greenland is the focus of the main stories/ expeditions. It’s fascinating Watkins was a so young.

Very enjoyable!

A very interesting story and a good narrator. I really enjoyed this audible book. There are some important history details within this narrative that I was happy to learn.

Interesting read

I fall into the pitfall that the author mentions at the end: focusing on the big ones like Antarctica or Everest in the exploration stories I've read so far. The most interesting thing to me is that this was only 100 years ago. I found the how's and why's of exploring during this time interesting.

Fascinating Biography

This book about 1930s Arctic explorer Gino Watkins, was very well written and read. It kept me interested throughout, even though it would be the last thing I’d ever want to do.

Roberts was the best.

I’ll dearly miss the adventure of reading his books for the first time. One of the best exploration authors of all time.

Better reader required

My enjoyment of the book would have been enhanced by a different reader. The English accent was disconcerting and unnecessary.

Well Read

Excellent voice. Paced. Superior handling of difficult names and geographical terms. Excellent! Compels to further readings on exploration.

The trust that Gino's men extended to him given his age and lack of experience.

I liked the people, weather, land and peril descriptions which gave the story immediacy. Left me wanting to read more about the multiple people who populated the book.