Throughout most of the expedition, James regularly kept a diary, and his account of the time spent on Elephant Island gives perhaps the best insight into what conditions were really like for the 22 men left stranded there. Paper being scarce, he was forced to write some of his diary on spare pages in the copy of Lang’s Translation of the “Iliad”, which was one of the few books the men rescued from the sinking Endurance. The book is still in the safe keeping of the James family. His diary includes a number of maps and sketches.
Obituary.
James, Reginald. Online.
- 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Captain Cook’s Journal during his First Voyage round the World Made in H.M. Bark “Endeavour” 1768-71….
Cook, James, Captain. Edited by Captain J. L. Wharton. London: Elliot Stock, 1893.
- 1768-71 British Voyage to the South Pacific (aboard Endeavour commanded by Captain James Cook).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Maritime Reading
Preview
p. x: In reading Cook’s Journal of his First Voyage it must be remembered that it was not prepared for publication. Though no doubt the fair copies we possess were revised with the care that characterizes the man, and which is evidenced by the interlineations and corrections in his own hand with which the pages are dotted, it may be supposed, from the example we have in the published account of his Second Voyage, which was edited by himself, that further alternations and additions would have been made, to make the story more complete, had he contemplated its being printed.
With Byrd at the Bottom of the World: The South Pole Expedition of 1928-1930.
Vaughan, Norman D. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1990.
- 1928-30 First U.S. Antarctic Expedition (Byrd on City of New York).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
This is an adulatory, almost pandering book of Vaughan’s participation in the first Byrd Antarctic expedition (1928-30), by Byrd’s principal dog handler. It reads as compellingly as the Boy Scout accounts. His chapter on life in camp was mostly about the dogs, but also on some psychological troubles, nothing about coping other than card-playing and purloined alcohol.
Scout to Explorer: Back with Byrd in the Antarctic.
Siple, Paul. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1936.
- 1933-35 Byrd Second Antarctic Expedition.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
Here is Siple’s account of his return to Antarctica on the Second Byrd Expedition. He’s lost a little of his Boy Scott adolescence but is still a young man filled with wonderment at his good fortune of being asked to return, and at the lack of wonder among some of his new colleagues.
A Voyage Round the World by the Way of the Great South Sea, performed in the Years 1719, 20, 21, 22, in the Speedwell of London….
Shelvocke, George. London: Printed for J. Senex, 1726.
- 1719-22 English Voyage around the World in War with Spanish Crown (George Shelvocke aboard Speedwell and other ships).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Maritime Reading
Preview
p. 14-15: But having read in Frezier’s Voyage of the Island of St. Catherines, on the coast of Brazil, in the Latitude of 27, 30. So. which according to his account, afforded every thing we stood in need of, even without any expense, or, at least, in exchange for salt, which is very valuable there; and this being confirmed to me by one of my Officers…it was indisputably advisable to put in there….
The First Crossing of Spitzbergen, Being an Account of an Inland Journey of Exploration and Survey… and of an Almost Complete Circumnavigation of the Main Island…. With Contributions by J. W. Gregory, D.Sc. A. Trevor-Battye, and E. J. Garwood.
Conway, Sir William Martin. London: J. M Dent & Co.; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897.
- 1896 and 1897 British Exploring Expeditions Crossing Spitzbergen and its Interior (led by Sir William Martin Conway).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
Preview
p. 36-37, describing some passengers on this tour boat: There was a crow's-nest to be fitted up. All sorts of people came to say good-bye—consuls, agents, dealers, and relatives or acquaintances of passengers. The deck was crowded. Glasses clinked. Every one was in the way of every one else, but the sun shone brightly and all were gay. In the midst of the shindy, Gregory digested geological papers from various journals, cross-questioned any one that came handy about Spitsbergen birds or the Norwegian vocabulary, and went on piling up information generally. “You read always,” said the French gentleman to him. “Yes,” was the merry reply; “you see I am young and have a lot to learn.” Garwood was also busy. He started from England with some work on hand still requiring a preface. With this he had been labouring in the intervals of sea-sickness, negative developing, baggage overhauling, and the rest, at odd moments during the voyage. The hour appointed for sailing came, but the preface lingered. Furiously the author worked on amongst teacups and the debris of food. At last the work was done. A wild rush on shore, and the precious document was consigned to the post and all the printer's devils.
Ned Myers; or, A Life before the Mast.
Cooper, James Fenimore. In Two Volumes. London: Richard Bentley, 1843.
- Maritime Reading
Preview
An 1840 Cooper work in which he served as amanuensis in telling the narrative of Ned Evans attempting to “lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,” such as Cooper himself knew, and which follows that pattern of degradation and conversion. I confess to an early impression that the work was more novel than narrative, and it certainly is an hybrid genre of edited narrative, or a semi-imaginary reconstruction, in which the narrator [Cooper?] is telling the story of Ned Myers. The repeated cycle of debauchment does become tiresome.
Life Aboard: The Journals of William N. and George F. Smith.
Smith, William N. and George F. Edited by Alan D. McNairn. (Saint John, CAN: NBM Publications, 1988.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Preview
Diaries of typical 19th-century voyages by New Brunswick ships to all over the world, usually carrying timber. Nothing polar about it (mostly St John to Liverpool), but an interesting example of a seaman’s journals.
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen
Bown, Stephen R. . Boston: Da Capo Press, 2012.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Preview
Poorly documented, totally derivative (mainly from NY Times), this book is riddled with errors, but generally an engaging and respectful biography. Repeats story of Amundsen’s teenage reading of everything he could find on polar exploration, but adds something about a voyage from Spain to Florida. He is careful to emphasize Amundsen’s careful reading of fellow explorers and his use of that information to give himself an extra edge. For that Amundsen probably gets insufficient credit.
A Voyage Towards the South Pole, Performed in the Years 1822-24 Containing an Examination of the Antarctic Sea (1827).
Weddell, James. A reprint with a new Introduction by Sir Vivian Fuchs. Second edition. London: David & Charles Reprints, 1970.
- 1822-24 Weddell Whaling Expeditions.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Preview
It’s obvious that Weddell was well-read on the history of the region he explored (cf. his translation and abstracts of earlier Spanish reports, on p. 61-9), but this isn’t evidence of books aboard—he does speak of the credibility of some books inducing him to search certain islands, implying that copies were on the ship. And the obligatory prayer-books on British ships were certainly present.
Innocents in the Arctic: The 1951 Spitsbergen Expedition.
Bull, Colin. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 2005.
- 1951 British Spitsbergen Expedition.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Preview
p. 115: Otherwise, when confined to the tent, they talked and, when all subjects had been exhausted, either slept or read. In addition to a few books they had newspapers galore, generously supplied by a Birmingham dealer for safely wrapping the fossils and rock samples. The newspapers were used for extra insulation and to mop up penetrating precipitation. When the level of water in the tent exceeded the mopping capabilities of the newspapers, the occupants encouraged the water into a sump and made a suitable drain hole in the sewn-in ground sheet. They, and we three in the other inland party, were all much disappointed to find that all of the copies of the newspaper were of the same date and the same edition. Consequently we all learned some of the text by heart.
The North-West Passage by Land. Being the Narrative of an Expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Undertaken with the View of Exploring a Route across the Continent to British Columbia through British Territory, by One of the Northern Passes in the Rocky Mountains.
Milton, Viscount, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, and W. B. Cheadle. [By] Viscount Milton and W. B. Cheadle. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1865.
- 1862-64? British Private Overland Expedition in Search of North-West Passage by Land.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Preview
A very curious, almost quixotic account of a couple of aristocratic travelers seeking an overland route to the gold fields of British Columbia.
My Arctic Journal: A Year among Ice-fields and Eskimos….
Peary, Josephine Diebitsch. New York: Contemporary Publishing Company, 1894.
- 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole; 1891-97 and 1898 US Northern Greenland and North Pole Expeditions (Commanded by Robert E. Peary).
- Arctic Reading: United States
Preview
An account of Mrs. Peary’s Greenland journey accompanying her husband in 1891-92. She comes across as fairly demure but domineering over both Henson and the natives.
The Voyage of the ‘Fox’ in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions.
McClintock, Frederick M. With maps and illustrations. (Philadelphia: J. T. Lloyd, 1860).
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Preview
Two reading-related matters stand out in this account: the dependence on whalers for annual delivery of newspapers and other reading (see p. 111, 119), and the availability of an arctic library aboard the Fox, provided by the Admiralty, allowing M’Clintock to make regular references to past occurrences in polar exploration, including specific dates and places, and to verify later native accounts.
Minutes of Council Northern Department of Rupert Land, 1821-31….
Rupert’s Land. Northern Department. Edited by R. Harvey Fleming. (Toronto: Champlain Society, 1940.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Preview
p. 60, minutes of July 5, 1823, minutes of Council: 153. That for the more effectual civilization and moral improvement of the families attached to the different establishments and the Indians—Every Sunday when circumstances permit, divine Service be publickly read with becoming solemnity…., at which ever man woman and child resident must attend, together with such of the Indians who may be at hand… 154. That for this purpose, the requisite supply of Religious Books be imported by and at the expense of the Company, to consist of Books of Common Prayer of Sermons & Bibles”—also sermons in French for Canadians. [An item in 1824 added the urging of Parents to teach A.B.C. Catechism. Similar entries appeared in the next four years. See also pages 121, 135, 174, 201, and 230-31.]