Wind, Fire, and Ice

The Perils of a Coast Guard Icebreaker in Antarctica

by Robert M. Bunes

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Pub Date Oct 01 2021 | Archive Date Oct 08 2021

Rowman & Littlefield | Lyons Press

Biographies & Memoirs | History

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Description

Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton’s fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction in the crushing ice pack, only to experience a three-hour fire that nearly killed one of the crew, followed by eighty foot waves that came close to capsizing the ship. Wind, Fire, and Ice is a story about a physician who starts out with a set of false assumptions—namely that he is going have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports, but then slowly comes to realize a much different hard reality.

Robert Bunes started his career as a general practitioner in medicine but spent most of his career as a legal psychiatrist specializing in civil litigation cases. He lives in Malibu, California.

Available Editions

ISBN	9781493060344
PRICE	$32.95 (USD)

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Featured Reviews

Erich H, Reviewer

Dr. Robert M. Bunes volunteered to serve on an ice breaker (called the Glacier) headed to Antarctica in the U.S. Coast Guard at the height of the Vietnam War. Bunes explains he didn’t agree with the war, but he also wanted to serve his country. The Public Health Service offered a way to serve without having to serve directly in Vietnam.

He joins the Coast Guard as a way to avoid fighting in Vietnam without acting with cowardice, but he soon discovers so many great things accompanying Coast Guard service—a sense of pride in serving a branch that has rescued more than one million people (according to Coast Guard historians), fellow service members who share his mission to save lives, even some whom become personal friends, and better pay than being a medical intern. Readers quickly learn it takes a brave individual to serve on an ice breaker headed to Antarctica.

This is a memoir—most readers will already know this—so, if you are expecting a clinical approach, your expectations might be dashed. However, I really enjoyed the conversational style of the writing. I really felt like I was there with Bunes, his boss Captain Brennan, and the uptight chief who loves crew cuts and hates Bunes’ mustache. Bunes includes photos and maps as visual aids (it’s really helpful when he is describing the specifics of Antarctica).

I really enjoyed how Bunes uses Ernest Shackleton as a comparison to his predicament. Of course, Shackleton and his crew were heroes for their explorations and brave survival in frigid conditions in Antarctica, but, while Bunes and his crew aren’t afforded the same reverence and don’t experience the same conditions, they do have to demonstrate similar traits, particularly perseverance as they face multiple obstacles. Overall, a great read. Thanks to the author, Rowman & Littlefield and NetGalley for the ARC.