Vickie's Reviews > Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge's Masterpiece

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved reading about the trials and travails of this mear child who was thrust into the world to fight wars, who braved hostile environments, and who became this rough and rugged person surviving in a strange land with strange people, but who never seems to lose his gentlemanly character. I appreciated the simplest details that elicited my emotions. Like when Samual Hearne was attempting to use his fragile equipment to measure locations along his trek, we knew how important a mission it was to map out his travels, and when the wind blew and broke his equipment, the disappointment was palpable.  Likewise when he had been more than a year out on his first journey to find the Northern Sea, and he was forced to turn back, one could feel the exhaustion and the fear at the prospect of having to go through again what they had just experienced and without the experience of triumph for reaching their goal. I appreciated the author's matter-of-fact description of the event at bloody falls, without any judgements.  And I appreciated the difficulty in Hearne's decision to support Matanabbee, in spite of the seeming injustice of the attack. He accepted the Chipewyan leader's decision, even tried to understand it. Hearne was earnest in his approach to learning about native culture, language and lifestyle.  Hearne's constitution was further tested when the French arrived and threatened the Fort, and he showed himself capable of making a wise decision for the inhabitants of the fort.  By doing so, he probably saved lives, but at great sacrifice to himself.  The author finishes the book by following in Hearne's footsteps in England as well as Canada, and it was a gratifying end to the story for me. During the reading of the book I felt the desire to see the places described, and the author satisfied the need with pictures and descriptions of these places in modern times. It was somewhat sad to discover that Hearne's home town had not lauded him much more than history itself. He hadn't met a brutal death or been imprisoned or courtmarshalled upon return like other famous explorers.  If not for the famous poem by Colleridge, or in my case the song by Iron Maiden, many might never have heard about Hearne at all. Thanks to Ken McGoogan, many more can learn about him.