Empress Anna Ivanova decrees that Danish-born Captain-Commander Vitus Jonassen Bering is to spearhead an ambitious Imperial Great Northern Expedition to explore and map the coastal waters off Siberia, chart a northern sea route to Japan and Cathay, and prove or disprove once and for all the existence of a new continent believed to lie between Russia and the Americas. The hazardous 8,000-kilometre overland trek from St Petersburg to Siberia is no more than a prelude to many months of cruel hardship at sea. For Vitus Bering, this epic expedition is a voyage of self-discovery and the realisation of a lifelong ambition. For Bering's wife Osa, it proves a dramatic and life-changing experience. For Bering's dedicated lieutenants, charismatic Martin Spanberg and loyal First Officer Sven Waxell, it is a unique test of their seafaring skills and their instincts for survival. And for timid German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, it will be in every sense a rite of passage. All the while, back in the hotbed of political intrigue and infighting that is St Petersburg, the time has come to forge new alliances and settle old scores...This extraordinary novel charts the thrilling of one of the greatest but least known of all journeys of exploration.