I think, or at least it seems to me, that Palin was only presenting what could be completely proven in regards to the ship, which may be why the trip to the Antarctic is so much more detailed. What happened to the ship there was meticulously written out. The same can't be same for the Northwest Passage voyage. The book is about the ship, not about the people.

I've always thought they had to be nuts to do what they did. Wearing only wool coats into sub-freezing weather? Not me!