Cold Comfort: My Love Affair with the Arctic.

Rowley, Graham W. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

This is a rather dry account of a mid-1930s expedition to map the coastline of Baffin Island and the Foxe Basin and also some archaeological work on Thule and Dorset cultures. There are scattered reading references:

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.

The Flag Ship: Or A Voyage Around the World, in the United States Frigate Columbia; Attended by Her Consort The Sloop of War John Adams, and Bearing the Broad Pennant of Commodore George C. Read.

Taylor, Fitch Waterman. By Fitch Waterman Taylor, Chaplain to the Squadron. [Two Volumes] New.York: D. Appleton & Co., 1840.
  • 1838-39 American Circumnavigation (aboard Columbia commanded by George Campbell Read).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 154-55: Previous to our leaving the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, I preached in the English chapel. The congregation was very respectable. The English chaplain who has charge of the congregation, and the chaplain of the Stag [a Brazilian naval ship], were present—the former reading the service.

Chances for Arctic Survival: Greely’s Expedition Revisited.

Wesławski, Jan Marcin, and Joanna Legeżyńska. Arctic 55 4 (Dec. 2002) 373-379.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

The caloric requirements of the expedition survivors could not have been met by their available resources exclusive of cannibalism.

The Alaska-Klondike Diary of Elizabeth Robins, 1900.

Robins, Elizabeth. Ed. with Introduction by Victoria Joan Moessner and Joanne E. Gates. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 1999.
  • 1900 Private Visit to Alaska by Elizabeth Robins.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Robins was an actress, singer, feminist, and something of an adventurer; this diary covers only the Alaskan portion of her active life. Among other things she translated Nansen (p. 5), and wrote several novels and other books.

Shackleton Collection.

Rendell, Kenneth. Exhibited at Boston Museum of Science, March 2001.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Included in the exhibit were: Tennyson, Alfred Lord. Complete Works. Given in 1908 to Lt. Shackleton and the Officers of the Nimrod, and kept in officer’s mess; Swinburne Poems. Signed by Shackleton; South. First ed. Signed by Shackleton; Nautical Almanac. 1908. Shackleton’s copy from the Nimrod; Inscribed portrait of Shackleton; Signed 1914 solicitation letter for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition; Signed photograph of Frank Hurley’s Winter Night; Cover illustration of South, presented to a Mrs. Pearson.

Correspondence

Reynolds, Jeremiah. [with Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy.] New York, 1838.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A vicious attack on Dickerson for impeding the preparation and dispatch of the US Exploring Expedition [Wilkes], even though it had been approved by Congress, partly through Reynolds’ efforts.

The People of the Twilight.

Jenness, Diamond. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1959. [Phoenix Books. Preface by Fridtjof Nansen, dated March 4th, 1928. First published New York: Macmillan, 1928].
  • 1913-16 Canadian Arctic Expedition (Led by Stefansson with Captain Bob Bartlett commanding the Karluk).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

This version of Jennes’s account of the Stefansson Canadian expedition of 1913 to 1916?? mirrors Dawn of Arctic Alaska but told apparently as a young adult tale. There is no need to repeat passages from that book, but relevant passages can be found on these pages of the Chicago edition: 14, 26, 30, 46, 47, 53, 58, and 62. A few are worth noting here:

The Log of the Scotia Expedition, 1902-4.

Bruce, William Speirs. Edited by Peter Speak. With a foreword by Sir Vivian Fuchs. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992.
  • 1902-04 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (Bruce on Scotia).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

First Edition of the narrative of the 1902-04 Scotia Expedition to the Antarctic, published 90 years later, including Bruce's log, photographs, and plans as originally intended. Speak has added an introduction, explanatory notes, and a glossary of scientific terms.

Around the World with the Battleships

Miller, Robert J. … with Introductory Note by James B. Connolly. Chicago, IL: A.C. McClurg, 1909.
  • 1907-09 US Circumnavigation by the Great White Fleet.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Not much here on reading by the sailors of the Great White Fleet but it does add some purple propaganda to the overall picture.

The Private Life of Polar Exploration.

Scott, James Maurice. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1982.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 65, re Scott’s Northern Party: Levick used to read aloud in the evening, first a chapter a night of David Copperfield, then the Life of Stevenson, then Simon the Jester [William Locke novel]. That was their library, and thus rationed lasted them about half way through the winter…. On Sunday nights they sang with a religious bias.

Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger, being an Account of Various Observations Made during the Voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger”… 1872-1876.

Moseley, Henry N. London: Macmillan, 1879.
  • 1872-76 Challenger Expedition of Natural History (George Nares and Frank Thompson).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Moseley views most things from the viewpoint of a naturalist but brings a sympathetic humanity to everything he observes. One would have been fortunate to travel on the Challenger with him.

Polar Pioneers. John Ross and James Clark Ross.

Ross, J. M. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1994.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

A joint biography of uncle and nephew with much on other explorers of the time, e.g. Parry. There is an impressive body of contemporary literature surrounding the Rosses and Parry which is well-described here, including the acrimony between uncle and nephew, John and James.

The Last Voyage of the Karluk: Flagship of Vilhjalmar Stefansson’s Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-16.

Bartlett, Bob (Robert A.). As Related by her Captain, Robert A. Bartlett, and here set down by Ralph T. Hale. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1916. [A new edition with Introduction by Edward A. Leslie was published in New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001.].
  • 1913-16 Canadian Arctic Expedition (Led by Stefansson with Captain Bob Bartlett commanding the Karluk).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

The last voyage was in 1913 which found the ship trapped off Flaxman Island and finally sinking off Wrangell Island.