Four Against the Arctic. Shipwrecked for Six Years at the Top of the World.

Roberts, David. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
  • 1740? Russian Expedition to Svalbard.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

More an account of Roberts’s search for the story of four Russian sailors stranded on Svalberg for six years in the 1740s, ending only with circumstantial speculations that they were likely to have spent almost seven years on small Halfmoon Island in southeast Svalberg. They were probably illiterate Mezeners (Pomori from Mezen, Russia) who had no books with them, and Roberts speculates on how then spent time fighting “cabin fever” and keeping healthy: endless knot tying, mending nets, repairing clothes, carving driftwood, some games, etc. (see p. 208-16 on the phenomenon of cabin fever). The title puns on the four who went to spend two weeks on Halfmoon Island, with the polar bears, etc., looking for the remains of the story.

Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822, & 1823. Commanded by Lieutenant, Now Admiral, Ferdinand von Wrangell…

Wrangell, Ferdinand Petrovich, baron. Edited by Major Edward Sabine.London: James Madden and Co., 1840.
  • 1820-23 Russian Journey Exploring Siberia and the Northeast Passage (led by Baron Wrangell).
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Gives introductory summary of prior expeditions to Northeast and Siberia, before describing Wrangell’s expedition across the entire Northern coast of Siberia, as based on Wrangell’s journals, edited by Sabine, and translated from German by Mrs. Sabine. This journey takes place at the same time as Franklin’s land journey. The travel route was St Petersburgh, Moscow, the Urals, Irkutsk, to the Lena and then by river both to the north, Siberia & Jakuzk, with a view to studying the inland fur trade. The work is a combination of geography, anthropology, and adventure.

In Search of a Siberian Klondike as Narrated by Washington B. Vanderlip the Chief Actor and Herein Set Forth by Homer B. Hulbert.

Vanderlip, Washington V. New York: The Century Co., 1908.
  • 1896 Russian-Sponsored Overland Expedition by American W. V. Vanderlip in Search of Gold.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Hard to know whether the charm of this book is to the narrator or amanensis, but it is a delight to read both for its human interactions and its elements of natural history and hunting. These exxcerpts give some flavor of the book, and there are a few comments on language and literature.

Cruises in the Bering Sea: Being Records of Further Sport and Travel

Niedieck, Paul. Camden, SC: John Culler, 1995. [First published in 1909.].
  • 1906 British Hunting Trip to Alaska and Siberia.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

The author hunted bear and sheep in Alaska and Siberia and his book is now especially current as he hunted on the fabled Kamchaka Peninsula where hunting had just opened. The author bagged many brown bears and snow sheep.

Charting the Russian Northern Sea Route: the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition 1910-1915.

Starokadomskiy, Leonid Michailorich. Translated by William Barr. Montreal: Arctic Institute, McGill-Queens Univ. Press, 1976.
  • 1910-15 Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. 38: Once or twice we called at uninhabited bays on the Bering Sea coast to shelter from strong winds and storms….It was strange and unexpected to recognize the names of four mountains scattered across the island [Ostrov Arakamchechen]; Athose, Porthos, Aramis, and D’Artagnan. They were put on the map in 1823 by F. P. Litke’s colleagues, mapping the Asiatic coast of Bering Strait aboard Senyavin . Obviously the hydrographers had been carried away by the newly published novel by A. Dumas, The Three Musketeers .

Icebound in the Siberian Arctic: The Story of the Last Cruise of the Fur Schooner

Gleason, Robert J. Nanuk and the International Search for Famous Arctic Pilot Carl Ben Eielson . Anchorage, AK: Alaska Northwest Pub. Co., 1982.
  • 1928-29 Soviet Trading Voyage in Northwest Passage (aboard Nanuk).
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

The story of a fur trading vessel that wintered over at North Cape near the Bering Straits among Chukchi Eskimos, together with an account of the rescue attempt by air of Carl Ben Eielson, founder of Alaskan Airlines. In 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the Nanuk , then trapped at North Cape.

The Krassin.

Parijourire, Maurice. Trans. by Lawrence Brown. New York: Macaulay Co., 1929.
  • 1928 Russian Rescue Operation for Nobile.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Russian ice-breaker involved in Nobile rescue in 1928. A romanticized and heavily pro-Soviet account.

The Voyage of the Chelyuskin.

Chelyuskin. By Members of the Expedition. New York: Macmillan, 1935.
  • 1934 Russian Voyage of the Cheluyskin (commanded by Captain Schmidt).
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

The Chelyuskin was beset and sank near the Bering Strait in 1934. The book has contributions by many of the crew, including captain Schmidt, and presents a most idealistic view of Bolshevik sacrifice.

I Went to the Soviet Arctic.

Gruber, Ruth. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939.
  • 1938 Russian.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. 16-17, for her journey north: Accordingly I packed into one pocket of the duffel bag the Compleat Explorer’s Equipment…. The other pocket was filled with notebooks, typing paper, pencils and a little library of books and newspapers which I would leave with the people who were starving, I was sure, for culture.

Life on an Icefloe.

Papanin, Ivan Dmitrievich. Translated from the Russian by Fanny Smitham. London: Hutchinson, 1947?.
  • 1938 Russian.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

A Soviet paean to Stalin and the system, claiming Stalin’s great interest in Arctic science. There is a heavy dose of communist Stalinism written by a rather pedestrian author but still there is some interest simply in seeing what they were reading.

Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, from the Frontiers of China to the Frozen Sea and Kamchatka.

Cochrane, John Dundas. Fourth Edition. London: Charles Knight, 1825.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. 64-65, walking towards St. Petersburgh: A sigh escaped me as I ejaculated a last farewell, till, startling at the expression of my weakness, I resumed my journey with slow and melancholy steps. It was ten o'clock (for I had now a watch), and I had reached six miles. The night was beautifully clear, though rather cold from the effects of a northern breeze; while the moon was near her full. I looked at the beautiful luminary, and actually asked myself whether I were, as had been asserted, under the baneful influence of that planet. Smiling that I received no reply, I then considered my projects and intentions, and the conduct I ought to follow; and, sitting down at a fountain on the Poulkousky hill, I read to myself a few lessons, which the time and the occasion seemed to inspire. “Go,” said I, “and wander with the illiterate and almost brutal savage—go and be the companion of the ferocious beast!—go and contemplate the human being in every element

Polar Attack.

Weber, Richard and Mikhail Malakhov. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1996.
  • 1988-95 Canadian-Russian Journeys to North Pole.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

On Soviet-Canadian treks to North Pole in 1988, 1992, and 1995, recounted by one of each of them.

Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America.

Coxe, William. Second ed. London: J. Nichols for T. Cadell, 1780.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. 30: at some distance from thence lies a great island called Sabya, of which the inhabitants are denominated Rogii: these inhabitants, as the Russians understood or thought they understood him, made crosses, had books and fire-arms, and navigated in baidars or leathern canoes.

Nova Zembla (1596-1597). The Barents Relics, Recovered in the Summer of 1876, by Charles L. W. Gardiner, Esq. and Presented to the Dutch Government.

De Jonge, Jan K. J. Described and explained by J. K. J. de Jonge…. London: Trubner, 1877.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Preface by translator: The first discoveries of vestiges of the Barents Voyage were made by Capt. Elling Carlsen in 1871, the first to enter Ice Haven since Barents in 1596. Discoveries were made on Sept. 9 and 11, 1871. He found the Barents “Behouden-huis” or house of safety and some relics, but was intent on circumnavigating the island. The 80 items described in de Jonge’s first report (see the 1873 Hakluyt volume on Barents’ voyages) included some books bought by an English tourist, Ellis C. Lister Kay, but the Dutch government went after them, and obtained them for the same price. They were placed in the Naval Department at the Hague where a replica of the house (with open front) houses the relics.