Mingming II & the Impossible Voyage

Far to the north of Russia, across the cold waters of the Barents Sea, lies the desolate archipelago known as Franz Josef Land. Hidden away still further to the north and west of those islands is one of the most inaccessible and least known seas on this planet – the Queen Victoria Sea. In his fifth book of voyages, Roger Taylor describes his successful attempt to sail into those lonely and usually icebound waters. On the way he weathers the most northerly point of the Svalbard islands before sailing due east along 81°North to the north-west coast of Franz Josef Land. Pack-ice would normally render such a route impossible. This voyage, which linked the endpoints of Taylor’s two previous Arctic voyages to the north-west and north-east of Svalbard, marks the culmination of nearly fifty years of small-boat ocean sailing. Taylor has been described in the yachting press as ‘one of the best sailing writers on this planets’ and ‘the best-balanced writer you will ever read’. His books combine vivid description with deep reflection, humour, an intimate knowledge of ocean species and a lifetime of practical sea-going experience.