This is a remarkable tale that was well researched and well written. It tells the history of a particularly bad year for North Atlantic shipping, 1856. It focuses on the packet shipping boat, the John Rutledge, and its captain, crew, passengers, and cargo. The history of packet shipping of the era was particularly interesting to me. I thought cargo shipments and passenger liners were generally kept separate, but what happened in this era were that passengers were squeezed below decks and kept in squalid conditions for the voyage that could take three weeks to over two months.

One interesting fact that I can take away from this book is that icicles formed from saltwater has much less salinity than saltwater.

The dramatized elements in this book put me off a bit even though much of what was said during the accident of the John Rutledge is unknown, or simply could not be known. I would have preferred more direct quotes from the 1st mate's log, and more direct quotes from newspapers.

I have read many books that cover shipping of this era. Despite some of the things I did not like about the book, this one ranks highly among other shipping books that I've read.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley for my unbiased review.