The Impossible Rescue

The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure

By: Martin W. Sandler

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Whaling in the Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast was as dangerous as it was lucrative in 1897. In that particular year, winter came early, bringing with it storms and ice packs that caught eight American whale ships and about three hundred sailors off guard. The ships were imprisoned in ice with no hope of escape. With limited provisions on board the ships that hadn’t been crushed by the ice, there was little hope that these men could survive until warmer temperatures arrived at least 10 months later.

Martin Sandler tells the incredible true adventure story of three men who were ordered by President McKinley to carry out an overland rescue that covered 1,500 miles of treacherous Alaskan terrain in the dead of winter. Their mission was to drive two herds of reindeer the distance to feed the starving men. With their own survival in the balance, these men battled raging storms, killing cold, injured sled dogs, and their own will to continue, to bring relief to the stranded whale men. Entries from the journals of two of the rescuers and photographs taken by the third key member of the unlikely expedition dramatically document every mile of their heroic, unprecedented journey.

©2012 Martin W. Sandler (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Great Read. Hard to put down.

Makes you want to keep reading. Well done. Love use of diary entries and first person accounts. An unbelievable rescue story. Highly recommended.

amazing tale of survival

100+ stranded sailors rescued by a heard of reindeer, and several volunteers some of which were Alaskan Natives.

Great story

A nearly unbelievable story of a rescue of desperate men by other very brave and hardy men.

TRULY CAPTIVATING

A wonderful piece of obscure history and heroism. Amazing detail. I kept wanting to jump into the story to help.

Wonderful story, truly inspiring story

A story of true sacrifice, and menly men. Very awesome story. Our family loved it.