Stories that will entertain, inform, and inspire.Few people would want to test their mettle in an ice-encrusted boat with Ernest Shackleton, or search for the Northwest Passage with Franklin's doomed crew, or watch their mates being beheaded by angry pirates like Daniel Collins. But it's quite another thing to read these true accounts while settled into a favorite chair. Here are stoic and hardy sailors who persevered in the face of travails that would have given even Job pause. Their vivid accounts are stronger and more dramatic for their total lack of affectation, their frankness, and their lack of ego. Their gripping stories are custom-made for the imaginative reader who seeks adventure in a more controlled environment, safe, warm, and well fed. Civilized readers with their armchairs anchored firmly to the living room floor.This eclectic collection will not disappoint. Some are classics that have endured through time and continue to excite new readers. Others are hidden gems about to see the light of a reading lamp for the first time in one hundred years.