Berserk in the Antarctic

the long version

Three men in a boat - as never seen before..."This is suicide!" Manuel screamed frantically. So begins David Mercy's amazing true story of his journey to Antarctica in a 27-foot sailing boat. After a year travelling through South America to Tierra del Fuego, the only continent he had never visited beckoned to him across treacherous waters. Ships booked for scientific expeditions wouldn't take him, and tourist cruises didn't appeal. Then he saw a little boat in the harbour, its name inscribed on the hull with short lengths of black electrical tape: Berserk. Joined by the boat's young Norwegian owner and an Argentinian newlywed, he set sail with little idea of the tumultuous storms, mishaps and emergencies that loomed on a Shackleton-style voyage to the world's coldest, most dangerous and inaccessible continent. He brilliantly recounts their experience of the endless pounding of wind and waves, the bleak darkness, and the delicate balance of personalities where a mutiny was always in the air.