"We did not all come back." Thus begins the rare firsthand account of
the extraordinary ordeal of the Karluk, the flagship of explorer
Vilhjalmar Stefansson's Arctic expedition of 1913-1916. When ice trapped
the Karluk, Stefansson abandoned Captain Robert A. Bartlett and the
crew-eleven of whom perished-to their fate. When the ice crushed the
Karluk and sank her, Bartlett led the shipwrecked survivors safely to
Wrangell Island. From there, with one Inuit companion, he journeyed
across 700 miles of frozen seas and Siberian wilderness to return with
rescuers. It is a feat that rivals Shackleton's own celebrated efforts
to seek for the crew of the Endurance.