Originally published in Canada in 1988, this novel about real-life events is told through the journal of a fictional teen. Peter Griffin is the nephew of Sir John Franklin, an arctic explorer who, along with his crew of 128 men, vanished 13 years previously while trying to find the Northwest Passage. Now Peter is ship's boy to Captain Francis McClintock of the Fox, who is trying to discover the fate of that lost expedition. The story begins in November 1858 with the Fox trapped in ice and waiting to thaw free. In his journal, Peter reflects on the brutality of the weather, the differences between himself and other crew members, and his hopes of finding his uncle alive. Peter is an honest, sometimes conflicted narrator who is proud of Britain's standing in the world and his small part in it. Readers of the book's introduction will already know the expedition's outcome, but this is a quick, exciting read that should appeal to fans of historical fiction and the I Survived series.