I love the sea; I love the birds; I love adventure. In what better way could I indulge myself, in these later years of my life, than to undertake an expedition in the great Southern Ocean?

In 1983, at the age of 56, Gerry Clark set out from New Zealand in his 10-meter homemade wooden yacht to circumnavigate Antarctica in a quest for new information about seabirds. In this graphic account of the ensuing three-year-eight-month voyage, he describes his adventures in some of the remotest, wildest, and most spectacularly beautiful parts of the world.

Below the clouds which hid the mountain peaks, the icefields above the glacier shone with a weird, mauvish light. There are many strange icebergs: a cathedral, a fine gothic arch, and a huge and voluptuous female torso.

Gerry and his crew members visited Robinson Crusoe Island, little known islands in the Chilean Archipelago, and the infamous Cape Horn, where they camped on the very peak to make important bird discoveries. They spent many months sailing around the Falklands and South Georgia, and narrowly escaped being trapped by pack ice on a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula. Sailing from South Georgia to Punta Arenas, Totorore was dismasted; and again between Cape Town and Marion Island. On this occasion, Gerry had to cut the mast and rigging adrift. He continued alone under jury-rig, and Totorore rolled five times in two of the most terrifying storms yet encountered.

With the engine out of action and the jury-mast gone, the voyage became a desperate struggle for survival ending with Totorore limping into Fremantle two-and-a-half months later.

In this remarkable adventure story of resilience and resourcefulness in the face of perils and disappointments, we share the author's determination to survive and his exhilaration at each new discovery. It's an enthralling story for anyone interested in the sea and the birdlife of the Southern Oceans.