Early on the morning of 20 May 1847, the "Bark Ajax" weighed anchor in Dublin harbour with 258 passengers on board facing a six-week crossing of the North Atlantic to what they hoped would be a land of promise somewhere in Canada. Vessels constituting what has aptly been called the coffin fleet tran[...]

This edited volume on Arctic, Antarctic and sub-polar microbiology is designed to introduce this fascinating field to a wide range of microbiologists and environmental scientists.[...]