This was a BAS sponsored survey of the birdlife of the Elephant Island group of islands of the South Shetlands. Despite a detailed listing of all supplies and equipment for the expedition, there is no mention of books or reading.
Elephant Island: An Antarctic Expedition.
Furse, Chris. Shrewsbury, UK: Anthony Nelson, 1979.
- 1976-77 British Elephant Island Expedition.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Icebound in Antarctica
Lewis, David and Mimi George. London: Secker & Warburg, 1987.
- 1982-84 Australian Yacht Cruises (aboard Dick Smith Explorer).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
p. 81, on meeting the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Markov: There were sixteen women on their ship, most in their thirties and forties. Some were very good-looking. I noticed. Some were sailors; some laundry workers. We tied to a rope a copy of Voyage to the Ice, the story of my 1977-8 expedition. It was hauled up and we received in return a guide to Leningrad’s Hermitage Museum.
Antarctica: A Year at the Bottom of the World.
Mastro, Jim. Boston: Little, Brown, 2002.
- 1982-96 American Antarctic Program Expeditions.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
A composite one-man account of winterovers from 1982 to 1996 combing a dozen trips into one narrative. There are a few content-free references to the McMurdo library—it seems obvious he didn’t use it often. Mastro served as a photo-journalist and the book includes some extraordinary photographs.
Sitting on Penguins: Australia and the Antarctic.
Murray-Smith, Stephen. Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Mandarin Australia, 1991.
- 1985-86 Australian Expedition to Antarctic Bases.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
The author went as a highly critical “ministerial observer” to visit Australian bases in Antarctica and as a journalist reporting on his 1985-86 trip, “a testimony to the spectacular beauty of the region and an indictment of our treatment of it.”
A Walk to the Pole
Mear, Roger. New York: Crown, 1987.
- 1985-87 ‘Footsteps of Scott’ Expedition (Southern Quest).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Private British expedition tracing Scott’s trip in 1985, with Roger Mear, Robert Charles Swan, and Graeme Phippen, who walked from Cape Evans to the Pole. Did they have a copy of Cherry-Garrard with them? They quote from it frequently. They spent several days at Scott’s hut at Cape Evans, though they apparently were afraid to sleep in it. Given their views of the Scott expedition that may not be surprising.
Antarctica: Both Heaven and Hell.
Messner, Reinhold. Translated by Jill Neate. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers, 1991.
- 1989-90 Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Messner and Arved Fuchs).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
On the two-person Transantarctic expedition of 1989-90, including visit to South Pole, and which included a number of days stranded in their tent. The trek was 2,800km on foot.
Time on Ice: A Winter Voyage to Antarctica.
Shapiro, Deborah & Rolf Bjelke. Shrewsbury, UK: Waterline Books, 1997.
- 1989-92 Palmer Peninsula Expedition (Shapiro and Bjelke).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Three-year voyage with overwintering on Palmer Peninsula 1989-92.
Alone to the South Pole.
Kagge, Erling. Oslo: Cappelens Forlag, 1993.
- 1992-93 Norwegian Solo Expedition to South Pole.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
An unsupported sledging and ski trip from the Ronne Ice Shelf near the Ellsworth Mountains to the South Pole, ca. 1300 km, with use of GPS and maps. He provides one of the best synopses of expedition reading, at a time when books and reading are being replaced in Antarctica by videos, albeit with a small group of titles.
Skating to Antarctica: A Journey to the End of the World
Diski, Jenny. Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1997.
- 1993-96? Tourist Excursion to South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula aboard Academik Vasilov.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
This largely autobiographical work using the hook of a voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the tourist ship, Academik Vavilov, to explore the pained relation of the author to her parents, and her own daughter’s efforts to explore those relationships. The somewhat mean-spirited passages on the sea voyage to South Georgia and the Peninsula are outweighed by the psychological exploration of troubled parental relations. In essence there is little about Antarctica beyond descriptions of tourists and penguins, nothing about reading, and a bit about boredom.
Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole.
Nielsen, Jerri. New York: Hyperion, 2001.
- 1998-99 South Pole Winterover (NSF) at Amundsen-Scott Base.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
This book created considerable controversy by the author going public with her medical condition, despite commitments not to call for special services in case of serious illness. Her cancer was the cause.
Voyage to the End of the World, with Tales from the Great Ice Barrier.
Burke, David. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2005.
- 2001 Russian Tourist Expedition (Kapitan Khlebnikov).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
This modest book is quite a beautiful evocation of the southern continent, contrasting the author’s own tourist voyage aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov in January 2001 with a select history of other voyages, adventures, and explorers. Well chosen and nicely illustrated. Little on reading but does tell brief story of a lone watchman at Framheim in 1911 who feared an attack by some Englishmen. After loading his rifle, he dug out an English grammar and looked up “and how are you this morning?” so he’d be prepared for the assault.
Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica.
Griffiths, Tom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
- 2002-03 Australian Base Resupply (Griffiths).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Recounts a summer 2002-03 resupply trip, combining diary entries, with reflections, historical discursions, and thoughtful reporting on the trip. Some reading tidbits:
Personal communication from David H. W. Wilson, Emeritus Fellow, British Antarctic Survey, January 20, 2014.
Walton, David H. W.
- 2013-14 Antarctic Study Cruises to Patagonia and Antarctica aboard Seabourn Quest.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
The late David Walton was a lecturer on this cruise and his description of library facilities on the cruise tells a good deal about changes in book and information provision aboard expeditionary ships, including commercial trips, in the 21st century.
Alone in Antarctica.
Aston, Felicity. With a Foreword by Joanna Lumley. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2014.
- 2011-12 British Solo Ski Crossing of Antarctica.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Aston crossed Antarctica alone and unsupported in 59 days. Her book, hyped as a riveting adventure, is to my mind a rather tepid affair though describing an unusual and impressive accomplishment. She apparently took no books or print with her but jokes about her experience with modern audio practice.
The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768-1771.
Cook, James, Captain. Edited by J. C. Beaglehole. (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1968).
- 1768-71 British Voyage to the South Pacific (aboard Endeavour commanded by Captain James Cook).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Maritime Reading
Preview
Captain Cook’s first voyage rounded Cape Horn but came no closer to Antarctica. His second voyage was marked by his complete circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent, and his pessimistic statements that no one was likely to get any closer than he did through the impenetrable ice and fog.