Island of the Lost.

Cooper, Paul Fenimore. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1961).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

This is an elegant little book posing as a biography of King William Island and a vehicle for telling its indigenous history, the story of the Franklin debacle (prior to discovery of the sunken Erebus), and a fairly brief account of the Franklin Search.

Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd’s First Expedition to Antarctica.

Rodgers, Eugene. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1990.
  • 1928-30 First U.S. Antarctic Expedition (Byrd on City of New York).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A rather damning account of Byrd’s expedition and his handling of publicity in covering up anything that might reflect poorly on him, and there were many such things.

Personal Letter to David Stam, January 15, 2018.

Jakups, Deborah.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Jakups is the Librarian of Duke University, a specialist in Latin American affairs, and an old friend. In early 2018 she served as a consultant at the Falkland Islands, when we had the following email exchange, about the book culture of the islands:

Antarctica: An Encyclopedia

Stewart, John. Second revised edition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1990.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 108, entry for “Books”: The first book published in Antarctica was Aurora Australis, a 120-page book written in 1908 by Shackleton and his 14-man crew of winterers to ward off boredom. They wrote it, printed, and bound it. Joyce and Wild typeset it, Marston illustrated, and Day created the covers. Shackleton’s printing press had been presented to him by Messrs. Joseph Causton and Sons, and they had trained Joyce and Wild in printing and typesetting. During Charcot’s Pourquoi Pas? expedition of 1908-10, Jules Rouch wrote a novel for a bet. It was called L’Amant de la dactylographe (The Typist’s Lover). Charcot brought 1,500 books with him on that trip. The Ross Sea party of 1914-17, under Mackintosh, had an Encyclopaedia Britannica available. On the other side of Antarctica Hurley salvaged some volumes of Britannica when the Endurance went down in 1915.

Old Whaling Days.

Barron, William. Hull, UK: William Andrews & Co., 1895.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

p. 59: Conclusion—Advice to Apprentices. NOW if any youth, who is intending going to sea, should read this rough sketch of the life of an apprentice, I would advise him to be very careful how he enters upon his duties. He should be civil to everybody and dutiful to his officers, doing his best to gain their good-will by performing what he is told, cheerfully. When he is set to do anything, do it quickly with a good grace. Nobody gains ill-will so soon as a sulky, grumbling boy. I will vouchsafe to say at the end of a long voyage a civil boy will be respected. Do not listen to the yarns of some men. When they wish you to stay, leave at once, and begin some trifling job, also improve your mind with reading, and your spare time in learning navigation. When the men see you are superior in education to them, they will treat you with respect. If a poor fellow cannot write, proffer to write his letters for him. It will cost nothing, and he will send a letter to his friends, otherwise he would neglect doing so, and I can assure you that he will befriend you in some way or other. Help those who are not so well educated as yourself, and do not taunt them because they are not so, although there are not so many now as formerly who cannot write.

Arctic Alaska and Siberia, Or, Eight Months with the Arctic Whalemen.

Aldrich, Herbert L. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1889.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

p. 75: Each native is said to keep a diary of his hunting trips by carving the important events on a piece of ivory, showing his camps, shooting deer, walruses, seals or bears, or catching and driving fish. A few of the supposed diaries were offered for sale.

In Nation Named for Ice, Poets Are Just Getting Warmed Up.

Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko de. New York Times (Dec. 1, 2016) p. A3.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

On Iceland (pop. 330,000) as a nation of devoted if sometimes amateur poets: Icelanders are unusually prolific readers and writers, and books of verse tend to sell very well in Iceland. Poetry was the third-largest category of books published in the country in 2014, after fiction and the arts….

The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768-1771.

Cook, James, Captain. Edited by J. C. Beaglehole. (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1968).
  • 1768-71 British Voyage to the South Pacific (aboard Endeavour commanded by Captain James Cook).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
    Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Captain Cook’s first voyage rounded Cape Horn but came no closer to Antarctica. His second voyage was marked by his complete circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent, and his pessimistic statements that no one was likely to get any closer than he did through the impenetrable ice and fog.

Saga of the “Discovery.

Bernacchi, Louis Charles. London: Blackie, 1938.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Bernacchi was an Australian/Belgian explorer, another veteran of the heroic age of polar exploration, having participated in Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross expedition, Scott’s Discovery expedition, as well as journeys to Africa and Peru. He was also the biographer of Lawrence Oates, who died on Scott’s last expedition.

John West and His Red River Mission

Heeney, William Bertal. Toronto: Musson Book Company, 1920.
  • 1820-23 British Chaplain Residence at Red River Colony.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

A rather simple description of John West, an Anglican clergyman, who as chaplain to the HBC established a Mission School at Red River in 1821.

The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture.

Robinson, Michael. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 61-62, re Hayes expedition of 1860, amidst other calamities: …two local Danish naturalists accused William Longshaw, the expedition’s surgeon, of stealing their books and natural history specimens. A search of Longshaw’s trunk turned up some of the missing items. With the Danish community in an uproar, Hayes quietly sent Longshaw home, where the surgeon told surprised reporters that he had returned because of snow blindness. But this did not silence talk about Longshaw’s actions in Greenland. “This surgeon’s rascality,” Grinnell fumed, “had spread the whole length of the Greenland coast." And it would soon spread further. By the spring of 1861, Grinnell would learn the full story of the scandal from his son, who reported from England that the matter had become a topic of conversation among British explorers.