In Mischief's Wake Paperback

Harold William 'Bill' Tilman (1898-1977) was among the greatest adventurers of his time, a pioneering mountaineer and sailor who held exploration above all else. Tilman joined the army at seventeen and was twice awarded the Military Cross for bravery during WWI. After the war Tilman left for Africa, establishing himself as a coffee grower. He met Eric Shipton and began their famed mountaineering partnership, traversing Mount Kenya and climbing Kilimanjaro. Turning to the Himalaya, Tilman went on two Mount Everest expeditions, reaching 27,000 feet without oxygen in 1938. In 1936 he made the first ascent of Nanda Devi - the highest mountain climbed until 1950. He was the first European to climb in the remote Assam Himalaya, he delved into Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor and he explored extensively in Nepal, all the while developing a mountaineering style characterised by its simplicity and emphasis on exploration. It was perhaps logical then that Tilman would eventually buy the pilot cutter Mischief - not with the intention of retiring from travelling, but to access remote mountains. For twenty-two years Tilman sailed Mischief and her successors to Patagonia, where he crossed the vast ice cap, and to Baffin Island to make the first ascent of Mount Raleigh. He made trips to Greenland, Spitsbergen and the South Shetlands, before disappearing in the South Atlantic Ocean in 1977.

Foreword - Bob Shepton 9


Preface 13


part one: mischief 's last voyage


I An Ambitious Plan 17


II To Iceland 25


III To Jan Mayen 34


IV The Loss of Mischief 46


part two: first voyage in sea breeze


V Buying a Boat 61


VI A False Start 71


VII Second and Third Start 80


VIII A Polite Mutiny off the Greenland Coast 90


IX Homeward Bound 99


part three: second voyage in sea breeze


X A Different Crew 109


XI To Cape Farewell 118


XII In the Ice 126


XIII To Julianehaab 135


XIV To the Mountains 146


XV Homeward Bound 157


Afterword: Rolling Home, 1970 - Bob Comlay 169