Into the Ice

The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery

De: Mark Synnott

Narrado por: Mark Deakins

New York Times bestselling author Mark Synnott has climbed with Alex Honnold. He’s scaled Mt. Everest. But in 2022, he realized there was a dream he’d never realized—to sail the Northwest Passage in his own boat, a feat only four hundred or so sailors had ever accomplished—and in doing so, try to solve the mystery of what happened to legendary nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and Terror.

Only a few hundred vessels have ever transited the Northwest Passage, stretching through Canada’s north from Maine to Alaska—and substantially fewer have completed the treacherous journey in a fiberglass-hulled boat like Polar Sun. But Mark Synnott was determined to add his name to the list, and in doing so, also investigate a 175-year-old mystery, that of what happened to the legendary captain Sir John Franklin and his crew aboard the legendary HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

In this pulse-pounding travelogue, Mark Synnott paints a vivid portrait of the modern-day Arctic like you’ve never seen before. With human-caused climate change warming the region twice as fast as any other part of our planet, Synnott offers a fresh and exciting look at the journey itself, but also of the history of the land and the people who live there today. At the same time, he searches for the tomb of Franklin, who, along with his entire 128-man crew, perished after their ships became trapped in the ice near King William Island.

In Into the Ice, Mark and his crew must race against time and horrific storms to investigate legends, and in the end, try to find the answer to why any of us would risk it all in the name of exploration.

©2025 Mark Synnott (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Synnott delivers a thrilling account of his 2022 journey through Canada’s inhospitable Arctic islands… while recapping heart-pounding encounters with blizzards, gales, polar bears, and an Arctic typhoon—all in a 47-foot fiberglass sailboat that could crack open like a walnut if caught in the ice…a page-turner.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Part historical detective story, part modern-day seafaring saga, Into the Ice paints an indelible portrait of the delicate yet perilous world of the Arctic. But Mark Synnott has also done something else. Out of gin-clear fjords, ice floes the size of Walmart Supercenters, and century-old Inuit tales of marooned British mariners, he’s crafted a moving parable on ambition, hubris, and the price of ignoring Indigenous voices in a beautiful yet haunted land.”—Scott Ellsworth, bestselling author of The Ground Breaking

“An extraordinary account of expedition sailing and painstaking historic detective work. Synnott writes with humility and grace born of deep experience in difficult situations. He's as tough as they come but this voyage, the harrowing and heroic story of piloting Polar Sun, a 47' fiberglass sailboat, through the Northwest Passage will leave you shivering and awestruck. Synnott and crew display a raw tenacity that rivals the early explorers they retrace, pressing on as the forbidding Arctic throws all it has at them. You will have to read the book to see if Synnott finds the lost tomb of Sir John Franklin, but there's no doubt he rediscovers his spirit. Into the Ice will join the ranks of classic arctic literature, it's a hell of a read.”—John Kretschmer, author of Sailing to the Edge of Time