Alone Against the Arctic

Two audacious Alaskan journeys are depicted in this captivating adventure tale. In the winter of 1897-88, three officers of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service set off from below the Arctic Circle with a large herd of reindeer to feed the crews of whaling ships trapped in thick ice off Point Barrow, some 1,500 miles to the north. Almost 100 years later, in the summer of 1984, Anthony Dalton embarked on a near-fatal voyage in a small open boat along that same wild northwest coast of Alaska, attempting a solo transit of the Northwest Passage. His modern sea voyage ran parallel to the arduous trek undertaken by the men of the relief expedition. Both journeys show that the human spirit can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.