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Glyn Williams has been Professor of History at Queen Mary and Westfield College since 1974. His main teaching interests are the history of exploration, the history of Europe overseas, and British imperial history. He has travelled and lectured in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies. He is Emeritus Professor of the University of London. He lives in Kent.
After the renowned expedition of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492, European navigators and explorers began in earnest to seek shorter sea routes across the Atlantic to the Orient to avoid the lengthy voyage round the horn of Africa. The mass of land now known as the North American continent proved to be something of a stumbling block for explorers such as Baffin, Frobisher and Hudson as they sailed bravely up and down the east coast in search of a passage to the Pacific Ocean. Momentum to find a route gathered in the late 17th and the 18th centuries, and Glyn Williams concentrates on expeditions made during this period - the delusions being the ease with which explorers ignorant of the sheer size of the continent and the extreme freezing conditions anticipated the finding of a passage, as shown by reproductions of maps of the time. Glyn has researched the subject very thoroughly through original journals and other documents and written an excellent book with a wealth of information about the explorers, their captains and subordinates, as well as the onshore machinations involved in gaining the support of politicians and Admiralty officials in order to finance the voyages. Glyn colourfully describes not only the aspirations and bravery of these navigators, but the dreadful hardships faced, such as violent storms, freezing cold, shortage of food, hostile natives, disease and madness. (Kirkus UK)
