1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni)

Abruzzi was an unusual aristocrat in commanding an expedition which he himself sponsored (Prince Albert Grimaldi of Monaco was another). Despite some severe difficulties, including his ship frozen in for eleven months, the amputation of Abruzzi’s fingers, and the disappearance of three men, the expedition did attain a Northern first of 86°34′N on April 24, 1900, twenty-one nautical miles closer to the Pole than Nansen’s record of 1895.

Farther North than Nansen. Being the voyage of the Polar Star.

Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia. Two Volumes. London: Howard Wilford Bell, 1901.

1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni).
Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia

Preview

Abruzzi’s expedition divides neatly into the two parts described in these volumes. The first volume deals with the sea voyage of the Polar Star, the second with Umberto Cagni’s sledging journey toward the North Pole. Much of the second volume is by Cagni who had taken over command because of Abruzzi’s injuries.

On the “Polar Star” in the Arctic Sea.

Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia. Translated by William Le Queux. Two Volumes. New York: Dodd Mead; London: Hutchinson, 1903.

1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni).
Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia

Preview

Volume. I.