Trial by Ice: The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition.

Parry, Richard. New York: Ballantine Books, 2001.
  • 1870-73 US North Pole Expedition of Charles Hall (aboard USS Polaris).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A rather pedestrian and purple account of the Polaris expedition of 1871, the death of Charles F. Hall, the separation of the ship from several of the crew, the stranded sailors’ remarkable survival, and the whitewash of the inquiry into the fate of Hall and the expedition.

Arctic Experiences: Containing Capt. George E. Tyson’s Wonderful Drift on the Ice-floe, A History of the Polaris Expedition, the Cruise of the Tigress, and Rescue of the Polar Survivors. To which is Added a General Arctic Chronology.

Tyson, George Emory. Edited by Euphemia Vale Blake. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874.
  • 1870-73 US North Pole Expedition of Charles Hall (aboard USS Polaris).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A fascinating account of an extraordinary drift on an ice-floe, preceded by “A General Arctic Chronology” by the Editor, E. Vale Blake, (p. 19-74).

The Wonders of the Arctic World: A History of All the Researches and Discoveries in the Frozen North, from the Earliest Times. Together with a Complete and Reliable History of The Polaris Expedition. By William H. Cunnington.

Sargent, Epes L. [“Perils and Escapes among Icebergs!” precedes title.] Philadelphia, John E. Potter, 1873.
  • 1870-73 US North Pole Expedition of Charles Hall (aboard USS Polaris).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

This large volume neatly combines two works, the first a general history of arctic exploration up to the Hall expedition (Sargent) with an early hagiography of Hall, or in Parry’s words, a “massive whitewash” .

Polar Colonization: The Preliminary Arctic Expedition of 1877.

Howgate, H. W. Washington: Beresford Printer, 1877?.
  • 1877-78 US Preliminary Arctic Expedition for IPY 1881-84 (led by Howard Howgate).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Describes a preliminary plan of exploration, useful for another main expedition of 1878, but involving both meteorological and naturalist research. The expedition had George Tyson as choosing a suitable ship, the Florence, and captain of the expedition which sailed on August 3 from New London for a year-long venture. Howgate was a flawed character who nonetheless was a consummate bookman, none better to prepare for the book needs of the IPY expedition in 1881.

The Cruise of the Florence; Or, Extracts from the Journal of the Preliminary Arctic Expedition of 1877-78.

Tyson, George E. Edited by Captain H. W. Howgate, U.S.A. Washington, DC: James J. Chapman, 1879.
  • 1877-78 US Preliminary Arctic Expedition for IPY 1881-84 (led by Howard Howgate).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

This expedition had three stated objectives, preparation for a colony at Lady Franklin Bay, collection of scientific data, and commercial whaling (p. 8-9). Despite Howgate’s description of books aboard Florence (see below), there are no references to reading in Tyson’s abstracts, though he has an engaging and easy-going style.

Trip to Alaska. A Narrative of What was Seen and Heard During a Summer Cruise in Alaskan Waters.

Wardman, George. San Francisco: Samuel Carson & Company. 1884.
  • 1879 US Treasury Summer Cruise to Alaska (Captain Bailey aboard Richard Rush).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 79-80, on Russian church services in the 1880s: As you enter, the congregation stands facing the screen, but back from the rotunda. The men stand upon the right, the women on the left. The singers consist of men and boys led by the second priest. In Sitka the choir had a position behind a screen to the right of the rotunda. Here in Onalaska they occupy a narrow gallery, where there is also a bench for visitors.

Lieutenant Danenhower’s Narrative of the “Jeannette”

Danenhower, John W. Boston: Osgood, 1882.
  • 1879-81 US North Pole Expedition (commanded by George De Long aboard Jeannette).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A well-written and sympathetic account by the syphilitic officer who actually served fairly well despite his periodic illnesses, and the opprobrium of having concealed his condition in order to join the expedition.

Explorer’s Wife.

De Long, Emma Wotton. Introduction by Vilhajlmur Stefansson. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1938.
  • 1879-81 US North Pole Expedition (commanded by George De Long aboard Jeannette).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 1: During the winter of 1932 Vilhjalmur Stefansson asked me to lend some of the relics of the Jeannette Expedition, commanded by my husband, to Mr. Bassett Jones of the Explorers Club. Mr. Jones was organizing a private exhibition of Arctic books and relics at the Grolier Club of New York. I had such things aplenty, of course, and gladly complied. Among those chosen were the large journal written by my husband on board the Jeannette up to the time of her crushing by the ice pack, the two ice journals in pencil, which faithfully recorded his fearful trip southward with his men to Siberia across the ice, and a silk flag which I had made as my contribution to the Expedition.

Hell on Ice: The Saga of the “Jeannette“

Ellsberg, Edward. .” New York: Dodd, Mead, 1938.
  • 1879-81 US North Pole Expedition (commanded by George De Long aboard Jeannette).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. viii-ix, Preface: Reading what I could get my hands on concerning it [the Jeannette expedition], I soon enough saw that De Long's early failure was a more brilliant chapter in human struggle and achievement than the later successes of Peary and of Amundsen.

Schwatka’s Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records.

Gilder, William H. New York: Scribner’s, 1881.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Not to be confused with his Greely rescue, much of this earlier journey was published in the New York Herald for whom Gilder was a correspondent who also had gone in search of the Jeannette. The book credits the Schwatka expedition with confirming the loss of Franklin records (at Starvation Cove), the burial of the men and bones of the victims, the transport of one body home, and the recovery of the relics that went to Greenwich.