Trapped in an Arctic ice flow, starving, men dying from scurvy, the crew of the steamer-whaler "Diana" endured 14 months of hell in 1866-67. As they helplessly watched each other waste away, the ice threatened to crush their only chance of survival—the "Diana" herself. In what reads like a thriller, this true-life tale of struggle was captured in all its desperation and despair in the ship-surgeon's diary. As a man of science, his keen observations reveal the terrible effects of deprivation and despair, as well as inspiring stories of heroism. Nearly fifty years before Ernest Shackleton's famous "Endeavour" was crushed in Antarctic ice, the "Diana's" story thrilled the world.