p. vii: Baron Nordenskiöld has told me that, during the voyage of the Vega, when the North-East Passage was discovered, the books most in request were the “blue book” and the “white book,” as they called the Arctic manuals.
I was convinced that an ‘Antarctic Manual’ for the Expedition of 1901 would be even more useful, if prepared with the same object in view and on similar lines.
p. 75: Sea ice, as it occurs in the Arctic ocean, has been described in great detail by Weyprecht, in a work [Die Metamorphosen des Polareises. Wien, Moritz Perles, 1879] which should be included in the library of every Antarctic expedition. The Tegetthoff, which was Weyprecht’s ship, was beset in the pack in lat. 76° 18′ N., long. 61° 17′ E., on August 13, 1872. Twenty-one months later she was still a prisoner in the pack, and had to be abandoned. During all these months there was no lack of time or opportunity to study sea-ice in all its forms and moods, and every line of Weyprecht’s book is of interest to the voyager in icy seas. The matter is treated quite objectively….
p. 305-51. Under Geography, this volume includes extracts from the journals of John Biscoe, John Balleny, a brief passage by Darwin, the log of John Balleny’s Mate, the journal of M. J. Dumont-d’Urville, a long section from Arctowski, and one from Bernacchi.
p. 517-80 is a quite comprehensive Arctic Bibliography based on the subject catalogue of the RGS. Most of the book is devoted to instructions for scientists in selected disciplines.