The Great Ocean of Truth

Hudson-70 was a famous voyage by a Canadian oceanographic ship, carried out over 11 months from 1969 to 1970.

It was the last of the great globespanning multi-disciplinary oceanographic expeditions, a tradition that began with the epic voyage of HMS Challenger in 1872.

During the expedition, the CSS Hudson of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, accomplished the first, and still the only, circumnavigation of the Americas.

The vessel worked in the South Atlantic, Antarctic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans and was only the sixth ship to transit the Northwest Passage.

Peter Wadhams was one of the youngest of the 100 scientists involved in the voyage, and completed the entire circumnavigation.

This is his personal story of the voyage. He weaves together descriptions of the oceanographic research with a lyrical account of being a young man living and working on the ocean, visiting such exotic locations as the fjords of Chile, Antarctic islands, Tahiti and the fabled Northwest Passage.

This is a book to delight old salts and armchair travellers alike. Peter's memories match those of Joseph Conrad: wasn't that the best time when we were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing, except hard knocks - and sometimes a chance to feel your strength?A"