Benjamin Leigh Smith, Britain's Forgotten Arctic Explorer

Charlotte Moore recounts the stranger-than-fiction tale of her great-great-great-uncle

Benjamin Leigh Smith, born in 1828, was the polymath illegitimate son of an MP. Born into a radical family, by various twists and turns of fate he ended up as an explorer of the frozen north.

His fifth expedition ended in the wreck of his ship, Eira, and ten months of gruelling survival in the arctic, before a daring escape via makeshift longboat. The only tragedy is that this story of ingenuity and resolve isn’t better known.

This podcast episode was recorded on 22nd January, 2020, and was edited and produced for Pushkin House by Rafy Hay. Listen here on the Pushkin House website, on Apple podcasts, or via Acast.