The Unlucky Viking

Early in the twentieth century, adventurous Norwegians were drawn to the southern hemisphere, seeking their fortune from sealing and whaling. This book tells the extraordinary tale of one of the pioneers of this era, a young captain, Anders Harboe-Ree, who, far from making his fortune, was shipwrecked twice on subantarctic islands.

The first shipwreck, in 1906, resulted in 14 men being stranded on the desolate and remote Crozet Islands. Determined to save the marooned crew, Anders and two companions attempted to sail a 5.8-metre whaleboat 7,300 kilometres to Australia, across the wild Southern Ocean. The second shipwreck, just two years later, saw 75 men stranded on the equally bleak Prince Edward Islands. These were the most dramatic, but not the only, misfortunes faced by this unlucky, modern-day Viking.

Echoing the old Norse sagas, this book is both a thrilling yarn about shipwrecks and survival and an important contribution to sealing and Antarctic history.