The polar regions and their oceans have been the backdrop of Robyn Mundy's life for 14 years. She has over-wintered with emperor penguins in Antarctica, and regularly roams the high seas as an Assistant Expedition Leader on ship-based tours to wild, remote places. Robyn lives in Australia and has had a lifelong passion for the Heroic Era of polar exploration. Her novel, The Nature of Ice, was published in 2009. Nigel Rigby is Head of Research at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK. He joined the Museum in 1996 to curate a gallery on Britain's imperial maritime trade. His own research interests lie in exploration, particularly the European exploration of the Pacific Ocean. With colleagues, he has
written two books on exploration, based on the Museum's fine Pacific collections:
Captain Cook in the Pacific (2002) and Pioneers of the Pacific (2005).