p. 5-6: On the 22nd [1801], a set of astronomical and surveying instruments, for the use of myself and officers, was sent down by direction of the Navy Board, as also various articles for presents to, and barter with, the native inhabitants of the countries to be visited, and many for our own use and convenience. Amongst the latter were most of the books of voyages to the South Seas, which, with our own individual collections, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, presented by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, formed a library in my cabin for all the offices. Every chart at the Admiralty, which related to Terra Australis and the neighbouring islands, was copied for us under the direction of the late hydrographer, Alexander Dalrymple, Esq.; who also enriched our stock of information by communicating all such parts of his works as were appropriate to the voyage.
A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty’s Ship the Investigator….
- 1801-03 British Exploring Expedition to Terra Australis (Captain Matthew Flinders aboard Investigator).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Maritime Reading
Newfoundland Discovered: English Attempts at Colonisation, 1610-1630.
- 1610-30 British Exploration of Newfoundland.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Diverse and interesting materials on colonizing Newfoundland.
“Arctic Explorers at Work and Play, 1824-1854: Six Rare broadsides recently acquired for the rare book Collection”
- Arctic Reading: General
p. 3, Parry’s Hecla while wintering in the Arctic in December 1824: It was Parry who had recognized that the Arctic expeditions of his predecessors had often been jeopardized, not by the dangers of the journey itself, but by the long inactive winter layover, with its monotonous diet, unvaried company, restricted physical activity, lack of light and warmth, and simple boredom. In response, Parry instituted a highly successful wintering regime that included shipboard theatricals, concerts and masquerades among its many elements. Broadside advertisements were a natural adjunct to these activities.
Diaries. 3 vols. Typescript
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Vol. I July-Dec 1914:
The Horizontal Everest: Extreme Journeys on Ellesmere Island.
- Arctic Reading: General
An autobiographical/historical account of his and various explorer’s travels in Ellesmere.
Personal communication from David H. W. Wilson, Emeritus Fellow, British Antarctic Survey, January 20, 2014.
- 2013-14 Antarctic Study Cruises to Patagonia and Antarctica aboard Seabourn Quest.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
The late David Walton was a lecturer on this cruise and his description of library facilities on the cruise tells a good deal about changes in book and information provision aboard expeditionary ships, including commercial trips, in the 21st century.
An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia…. Performed By command of Her Imperial Majesty Catherine the Second, Empress of All the Russias, by Commodore Joseph Billings, In the Years 1785,&c. to 1794.
- Arctic Reading: Russia
p. 1: …the Admiralty confirmed the officers chosen by the commander, and supplied astronomical and nautical instruments, the charts and journals of all former navigators from the year 1724, and every other article considered as necessary.
Alone.
- 1933-35 Byrd Second Antarctic Expedition.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
After several expeditions Byrd, trying to justify his solo wintering at Advance Base, felt restless:
Scott’s Last Expedition. In Two Volumes. Vol. I Being the Journals of Captain R. F. Scott, R.N., C.V.O. Vol. II. Being the Reports of the Journeys and the Scientific Work Undertaken by Dr. E. A. Wilson, and the Surviving Members of the Expedition,
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
[There is a considerable difference in the lengths of the British and American first editions of these diaries which I’ve been unable to unravel or understand. Paginations below are from the London edition.]
Redburn: His First Voyage, being the Sailor-boy Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, in the Merchant Service
- Whalemen's Reading
p. 47-8: And I remembered reading in a magazine, called the Sailors’ Magazine, with a sea-blue cover, and a ship painted on the back, about pious seamen who never swore, and paid over all their wages to the poor heathen in India; and how that when they were too old to go to sea, these pious old sailors found a delightful home for life in the Hospital, where they had nothing to do, but prepare themselves for their latter end. And I wondered whether there were any such good sailors among my ship-mates; and observing that one of them laid on deck apart from the rest, I thought to be sure that he was one of them: so I did not disturb his devotions: but I was afterwards shocked at discovering that he was only fast asleep, with one of the brown jugs by his side.
Narratives of Voyages towards the North-West, in Search of A Passage to Cathay and India. 1496 to 1631.
- Arctic Reading: General
This very early volume from the Society contains “Selections from the Early Records of the Honourable the East India Company and from Mss. In the British Museum.
Through the Frozen Frontier: The Exploration of Antarctica.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Dufek, George. US Navy Admiral and leader of Operation Deep Freeze, 1956-60
Peter Fidler, Trader and Surveyor, 1769 to 1822.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
p. 127: Fidler himself was a hard worker, but was of an irascible disposition with comparatively little consideration for the weaknesses and failings of others. He was a diligent student and fond of reading. In the Library at York is a manuscript book of mathematical problems worked out by him, and a large number of printed books in the Library are inscribed with his name and have evidently been contributed to the Library by him. Most of these are on mathematical subjects of some kind, many of them being such books as “The Nautical Almanac,” “The Diary Companion, being a supplement to the Ladies’ Diary,” “The Gentleman’s Diary, or the Mathematical Repository.” Others are on Biblical chronology. In addition to which there is the “Monthly Magazine for a number of years.
Dr. Kane’s Voyage to the Polar Lands.
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
p. 23: Amos Bonsall, the last living survivor of the Kane expedition, was the officer of the brig ‘Advance’ who was in charge of making daguerreotypes for the expedition. Although the U.S. Navy had provided the ‘Advance’ with the apparatus for taking daguerreotypes of the arctic scenes which Bonsall and his companions were to encounter at unprecedented latitudes, the labors of Bonsall as the ship’s photographic chronicler came to a disastrous end in the year 1855. As Bonsall says…, the results of his work ‘were lost on our return. The box containing the daguerreotypes was put upon a sledge on the ice, and was carried away, together with the whole collection of Arctic birds, which had been prepared with great care for the Academy of Natural Science. This was an irreparable loss, and one to this day I have never ceased to regret.’ [See Rudolf Kersting, The White World, “After Fifty Years.”]
The Strange and Dangerovs Voyage of Captaine Thomas Iames, in His Intended Discovery of the Northwest Passage into the South Sea….
- Arctic Reading: General
p. 606, in a list of instruments provided for his voyage are a number of books: A Chest full of the best and choicest Mathematicall bookes that could be got for money in England; as likewise Master Hackluite and Master Purchase, and other books of Journals and Histories.