p. 109, footnote 39: The catalogue of the Resolute library appears in the first issue (June 1850) of the Aurora Borealis, one of the manuscript newspapers produced on that voyage. The issue is held in the Edward Newell Harrison papers, MS/75/061, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The catalogue was not reproduced in Arctic Miscellanies, the publication that reprinted selections from the Aurora Borealis after the crew returned home to England. The catalogue of the library on Belcher’s Assistance was actually printed on board ship: A Catalogue of the Library Established on Board H.M.S.Assistance, Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B. Commanding the Arctic Squadron in Search of Sir John Franklin and His Companions: Printed and published on Board H.M.S.Assistance, Wellington Channel, Arctic Regions, H. Briantt, Printer, 1853. (1853). A copy of this catalogue is held in the Royal Geographical Society Library bound with other pamphlets concerning the Arctic donated by John Barrow Jr. and given the binder’s title: Arctic Pamphlets, 1852-54.
“Caxtons of the North: Mid Nineteenth-century Arctic Shipboard Printing”
- Arctic Reading: General
The Narrative of Captain David Woodard and Four Seamen, who Lost Their Ship while in a Boat at Sea, and Surrendered Themselves up to the Malays, in the Island of Celebes; …Holding Out a Valuable Seaman’s Guide… .
- 1793-96 British Officer Voyage. Shipwreck of America and Survival (Captain David Woodard).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Maritime Reading
Introduction by William Vaughan is a veritable guide to reading for seamen. On January 20, 1793, Woodard, an English officer, “sailed as chief-mate in the American ship Enterprise, captain Hubbard, from Batavia, bound to Manila” (p. 2). In seeking provisions, Woodard in a small rowing boat with sail, and with five other sailors, was soon separated from his ship with no water, food, or compass. After other misadventures they fought with some Malays who killed one of their men and then stole the boat, leaving five men stranded and fleeing into the jungle. The Narrative is the rest of the story, plus a series of appendices telling other shipwreck tales.
The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America ca A.D. 1000-1500.
- Greenland.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Interesting study of the Norse settlement in Greenland during its chief period, and its demise.
Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor who Inspired Coleridge’s Masterpiece.
- Hudson's Bay Company.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
A rather jaunty (i.e. unscholarly) account of Hearne’s adventures, with very little on Coleridge other than their meeting.
Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy.
- Heroic Age 1901-1921.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
At over 500 pages this is a very substantial biography of Scott, with some of the warts but mostly sympathetic to the man and his image.
The Greatest Show in the Arctic: The American Exploration of Franz Josef Land, 1898-1905.
- 1898-1905 US Expeditions to Franz Josef Land (Wellman, Baldwin and Ziegler).
- Arctic Reading: United States
A lengthy study of three incompetent American attempts on the North Pole from Franz Josef Land. The first left two Norwegians, hired by the American Wellman, isolated at Fort McKinley advised by second-in command Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, for the winter of 1898-99 on poor rations and little fuel for cooking or heat.
In Search of a Polar Continent 1905-1907
- 1905-07 Canadian Overland Journey of Alfred H. Harrison.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
The objects of this expedition were to penetrate as far as possible into that unknown region which lies to the north, and to meet and to get to know the natives, of whom I have always fostered an idea of making use in ice expeditions. Besides the natives, the whale-fishers who navigate those waters might, I trusted, be able to render me assistance. Furthermore, I wished to discover, if possible, whether there was land hitherto unknown in the Arctic Ocean: in ascertaining this, I would make Herschel Island my base of operations (p. viii).
On Polar Trails.
- 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Mercer Co. Historical Society has Goodsell’s ms which in 650 pages shows his transition from Peary admirer to bitter enemy. This 200 p. revision is extensively cut and edited by Whisenhut from Goodsell’s diaries.
The Historical Russian Library of Alaska
- Arctic Reading: Russia
Describes a collection of about 1200 volumes, mostly in Russian, sent from the Russian ship Nadezhda in 1803 and following years to “Our Colonies in America.” It was first at Kodiak, and then in Sitka before removal to the Mercantile Library of San Francisco in 1871, and eventual disposition. By 1825 it was described by Kyril Khlebnikof, chief of the counting house at Sitka: “The library in Sitka consists in more than one thousand two hundred volumes, which are held at 7500 rubles, in the number which are more than 600 Russian, 300 French, 130 German, 35 English, 30 Latin, and the remainder in Swedish, Dutch, Spanish and Italian languages.” How it was eventually found abandoned in San Francisco is not known, nor how it escaped the Great Fire. By 1869 Sitka had another library, its post library, but connected to the earlier one as far as the author can see.
Birdie Bowers: Captain Scott’s Marvel.
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Biography of the sailor who went to the South Pole and then died with Scott in 1912. Brought up an evangelical whose father was a Freemason, the biography shows a gradual ebbing of his faith through the early part of his career until he was summoned by Scott from the Royal Indian Marines.
Arctic Frontiers: United States Explorations in the Far North.
- Arctic Reading: United States
p. 43, in 1859 Charles Francis Hall petitioned the British government to make the Resolute available to him for a further Franklin search. No success there.
Chances for Arctic Survival: Greely’s Expedition Revisited.
- 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
- Arctic Reading: United States
The caloric requirements of the expedition survivors could not have been met by their available resources exclusive of cannibalism.
Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin’s Last Polar Expedition
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
p. 11, On Hobson’s discovery in 1859 of the remains of the Franklin party: vi books—five Bibles and The Vicar of Wakefield—were also discovered, but no journals.
The Three Voyages of Edmond Halley in the Paramore 1698-1701.
- 1699-1701 English Naval Expedition (Edmond Halley aboard Paramore).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
[Note]: Halley retained the confidence of the Admiralty, and his second cruise from September 1699 to September 1700 was successful. He went south as far as 52° into the ice field north of the site of the modern Halley Bay Geophysical Observatory and was in considerable danger, as he was later from a storm off the coast of Africa. (ODNB)
The Race to the White Continent.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Describes and compares three major Antarctic expeditions of the late 1830s, one French (d’Urville), one British (Ross), and one American (Wilkes).