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.