Antarctica Sixty Years Ago: A Re-appraisal of the British Expedition 1934-1937.

Bertram, Colin. Polar Record 32 (181) April 1996, p. 98-183.
  • 1934-37 British Graham Land Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 151: Our reading matter, our library, was limited and exiguous. We had a pleasing special bookplate that may be a collector’s item one day. We had a good collection of Antarctic exploratory histories of past expeditions, a few basic reference books, to which each of us had added a personal collection limited, I think it was, to 10 volumes each. The voyage of the Beagle and Anson’s voyage I read while we sailed the Southern Ocean, and we compared the size and shape of Beagle with that of Penola. Darwin was a gentleman scientist; for him no hauling on the ropes watch by watch, by day and by night. Nor did Darwin nor Anson cook for the entire ship’s company, baking bread and washing up: times had changed, and they have changed again since. Darwin in Beagle started out at age 22, whereas I was already 23. The incredible genius of Darwin must astonish us all. Would that one could say with him in his biography: ‘My industry has been nearly as great as it could have been in the observation and collection of facts. What is far more important, my love of natural science has been steady and devout.’

Southern Lights: The Official Account of the British Graham Land Expedition 1934-1937, with Two Chapters by A. Stephenson, and an Historical Introduction by Hugh Robert Rymill.

Rymill, John. London: The Travel Book Club, 1939.
  • 1934-37 British Graham Land Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A rather lacklustre account of a scientific expedition aboard the Penola and on the Antarctic Peninsula, with solid accomplishment and little adventure. Apart from a few general remarks about reading in the evening, the only references to books are in the appendices. In the list of sledging equipment p. 279, a Nautical Almanac and Hints for Travellers Vol. I (RGS) are cited along with various notebooks needed for traverse and meteorological records. Personal equipment (p. 281) for sledging includes “1 book for reading.”