Bursey participated in three Byrd-related expeditions in 1928-1930; 1931-41; and 1955-57. He grew up in northern Newfoundland and claims to have read everything he could find on Antarctica while a youth and went on to be an apparently successful dog handler in all three expeditions. His book is a paean to the continent and its sheer magnetism to the smitten, and he expresses its pull chiefly through cliché. If he read more about Antarctica or anything else you won’t find out from this book. He does refer to the fine libraries in the first and third expeditions, but mainly he describes parts of the end of the world where no man has ever tread before, and similar bromides.
p. 55-56: I had selected eight dogs besides St. Lunaire, and I named them one by one as I got to know them better. I named “Ross” after the British explorer, Sir James Clark Ross; “Brownie” after Captain Brown of the Eleanor Bolling; “Byrd” after Commander Byrd; “Siple” after the Boy Scout, Paul Siple; “Bobby” after Captain Bob Bartlett.