Search results for ""Author Sandy Winterbottom""

Shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award In 2016, Sandy Winterbottom embarked on an epic six-week tall-ship voyage from Uruguay to Antarctica. At the mid-way stop in South Georgia, her pristine image of the Antarctic was shattered when she discovered the dark legacy of twentieth century industrial-scale whaling. Enraged by what she found, she was quick to blame the men who undertook this wholescale slaughter, but then she stumbled upon the grave of an eighteen-year-old whaler from Edinburgh who she could not allow to bear the brunt of blame. There are two sides to every story. The Two-Headed Whale vividly brings to life the spectacular scenery and wildlife of the vast Southern Oceans, set alongside the true-life story of Anthony Ford, the boy in the grave, as he sailed the same seas and toiled in an industry where profits outranked human life. In this compelling account, Sandy challenges our preconceptions of the Antarctic, weaving in themes of colonialism, capitalism and its link to both environmental and human exploitation. Drawing together threads of nature and travel writing with an unflinching narrative of life onboard a whaling factory ship and the legacy it left behind, The Two-Headed Whale leaves us questioning our troubled relationship with the extraordinary abundance of this planet.

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The title The Two-Headed Whale comes from a story one of the whalers told Sandy about a whale they once caught with one tail and two heads (such twinning is rare but does happen). The idea of two separate beings with one shared body, one shared life, is a metaphor for the two stories of whaling in the Antarctic. Fathoms meets Madhouse at the End of the Earth:deftly combines British maritime and industrial history with stunning facts and stories about whales and why we must protect them. The lasting impacts of colonialism and capitalism on a precious place: the book explores the lives of Indigenous people and Scottish workers who suffered at the hands of colonists in the post-War period in Antarctica. It also connects this period to today's climate crisis. Excellent travel writing and research: the author grounds her historical research with her own story of sailing the Antarctic in a tall ship during the present day. An unputdownable true crime mystery: when the author discovers the old grave of a whaler who died at 18, she researches his backstory and learns that life aboard a whaling boat was more dismal, the conditions more grave, than she could have ever imagined. Challenges our preconceptions of the Antarctic, weaving in themes of colonialism, capitalism and its link to both environmental and human exploitation.

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