A sympathetic but not uncritical account of Ellsworth, his problem with his father, his relationship to Amundsen and Nobile on Svalberg, to Alaska flight, etc.
Polar Extremes: The World of Lincoln Ellsworth.
Pool, Beekman H. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 2002.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
Under the Ocean to the South Pole; or, The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Porpoise.
Rockwood, Roy. New York: Cupples & Leon, 1907.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
This is a sequel to Through the Air to the North Pole, in which some boys reached the North Pole but fought some savage Eskimos. Professor Henderson, probably modeled on Peary [who incidentally called himself Professor in Snowfolk], has a black companion named Washington White, probably modeled on Henson: “The Negro, who was a genius in his own way, though somewhat inclined to use big words, of the meaning of which he knew little and cared less” (p. 5). The novel posits land and an open sea at the SP, says he had read all the explorer accounts (p. 11). Professor Henderson is the Mate and the inventor of the ship (cf. Roosevelt). The ship after many adventures makes it to the SP amidst a sea of boiling water. Next adventure promised is a balloon to the center of the earth.
The Polar Rosses: John and James Clark Ross and their Explorations.
Dodge, Ernest S. New York: Harper & Row (Barnes and Noble Import), 1973.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
The Ross family of Uncle and Nephew could be called the dominant English explorers of the first half of the nineteenth century, despite the enmity which John Ross inspired from Sir John Barrow, the kingpin of the Royal Navy’s Arctic and Antarctic aspirations. John Ross was only engaged in the Arctic, with one of the first expeditions seeking the Northwest Passage, and much later the beginnings of the Franklin Search. James Clark Ross, on the other hand, was on his uncle’s first expedition, served with Parry on subsequent voyages, but is chiefly remembered for his command of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1838 to 1842, a long and important voyage bracketed for James Clark by Arctic expeditions. Among their achievements he can claim to have found both Magnetic Poles.
Polar Pioneers. John Ross and James Clark Ross.
Ross, J. M. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
A joint biography of uncle and nephew with much on other explorers of the time, e.g. Parry. There is an impressive body of contemporary literature surrounding the Rosses and Parry which is well-described here, including the acrimony between uncle and nephew, John and James.
The Private Life of Polar Exploration.
Scott, James Maurice. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1982.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
p. 65, re Scott’s Northern Party: Levick used to read aloud in the evening, first a chapter a night of David Copperfield, then the Life of Stevenson, then Simon the Jester [William Locke novel]. That was their library, and thus rationed lasted them about half way through the winter…. On Sunday nights they sang with a religious bias.
Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen: Ambition and Tragedy in the Antarctic.
Thomson, David. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002 [first published 1977].
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
A revision of a pre-Huntford critical work on Scott, though he says he didn’t know he was writing a “debunking” biography in 1977. Doesn’t have the acerbic bite of Huntford, but has something critical to say about all three explorers.
The Voyages of Captain Scott….
Scott, Robert Falcon. Edited by Charles Turley, with an introduction by J. M. Barrie. London: Smith, Elder, 1914.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
A completely adulatory semi-biography, much from Scott’s writings. Ex:
1910-14 Books aboard Fram
As exhibited at the Fram Museum, Oslo, 2015. Contributed by Geir O. Klover, Director of the Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Maritime Reading
Preview
Books from the library on the Fram (1910–14).