George Francis Lyon (1795-1832) was a rare combination of African and Arctic explorer. A 'pop star' of his day, he caught the public's Romantic imagination by battling against untrustworthy allies, callous slave owners, destitution, and disease in the desert, and by struggling against freezings, hunger, thirst, and over-exertion in the Polar region. The geographical detail in his journals helped to lay the path for other explorers and his genuine interest in the communities he visited, very unusual for the time, proved invaluable to later anthropologists. After serving on several ships, he joined Joseph Ritchie's ill-fated expedition to North Africa (1818-20). The Admiralty appointed him to command HMS Hecla and he accompanied Edward Parry in HMS Fury on Parry's second Arctic expedition (1821-3). In 1824, the Admiralty assigned George to HMS Griper with orders to go to Repulse Bay and undertake an overland expedition. The Royal Navy shunned him after he failed to reach his destination. He then managed mines in Mexico and Brazil where his relentless ambition eventually killed him. Many of his accomplished drawings illustrate this book which is the first to cover his extraordinary and fascinating life and travels in full.
