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.
Peter Fidler, Trader and Surveyor, 1769 to 1822.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Across Arctic America: Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition.
- 1921-24 Danish Fifth Thule Expedition to Eastern Siberia (led by Knud Rassmussen).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
From ABEBooks, 9/4/17: Between 1921 and 1924, Knud Rasmussen led a small band of colleagues in a journey of investigation across the top of North America. The full scientific report of that 20,000-mile trek by dog sled from Greenland to Siberia, known to history as the Firth Thule Expedition, fills ten volumes. This single volume, Across Arctic America, is Rasmussen’s own reworking and condensation of his two-volume popular account written in Danish, and gives the essence of his experience of the Arctic and its people. It was the people who most captivated the Greenland-born Rasmussen, who had become a virtual adopted son to the Eskimos of the far northern district still known by the name of the trading post he established there, Thule. His first four Thule Expeditions extended the limits of the known world in Greenland solely, but Rasmussen s Fifth Thule Expedition demonstrated the unity of the Eskimo world from the Atlantic Ocean to the Chukchi Sea, proving the people all shared the same basic language and culture.
Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery Ships under Command of Sir John Franklin.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Volume I: p. 49-50: the equipment which Richardson and John Rae landed in New York on April 10, 1848 included astronomical and meteorological instruments and: An ample supply of paper for botanical purposes, a quantity of paper, a small selection of books, a medicine chest, a canteen, a compendious cooking apparatus, and a few tines of pemican, completed our baggage, which weighed in the aggregate, above 4000 pounds.
The Mystery of the Erik.
- Arctic Reading: United States
An engaging juvenile fiction account of a mutiny aboard a Northwest Passage expeditionary ship, with a reasonable plot concerning an insurance claim for a sunken ship. Like many Arctic juvenile tales, this is a very good vehicle for instructing boys in almost all aspects of expeditionary life: sailing, sealing, natives, walrus, magnetism, you name it.
“Congering” the Past: The Books of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84), Before and After.
- 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
- Arctic Reading: United States
An account of the library at Lady Franklin Bay, its planning under Henry Howgate, its active use under Adolphus Greely, and its disposition under Robert Peary.
The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe.
- 1878-80 Swedish Northeast Passage Expedition (Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld aboard Vega).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
Adolf Nordenskiöld was a Finnish aristocrat, Finland then being a part of the Russian empire, who led the first expedition through the entire Northeast Passage in 1878-79. He was a dedicated bibliophile who built a magnificent collection of maps and atlases, now at the University of Helsinki Library, and was a published expert on the early history of cartography. As shown in the notes below, he was even able to use the Vega expedition for his collecting needs.
Ancestral Voices.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
p. 31-32, describes a visit to Lord & Lady Kennet's home in 1942: Lord Kennet was luckily in bed with bronchitis so we were alone. K [Scott’s widow] as outgiving as ever. The first glimpse of her showed how she is ageing. Her figure is noticeably spread, and not mitigated by the shapeless, sacklike garments she always wears. She is the worst-dressed woman I know; and rejoices in a sort of aggressive no-taste in clothes and house.
Rejoice My Heart: The Making of H. R. Mill’s “The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton”: The Private Correspondence of Dr. Hugh Robert Mill and Lady Shackleton, 1922-33
- Antarctic Reading: General
This is a collection of collaborative correspondence that led to the publication of Mill’s Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1923) with a great deal of help from Emily Shackleton (Shackleton’s second wife).
Among the Magi
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
This memoir by Society member Martin Sponholz recounts his experiences at Plateau Station and the Japanese Showa Station in the 1960's. It has never been published, but has appeared on other websites in the past. We thought it deserved a home with the Antarctican Society, with Marty's permission.
Tom Cringle’s Log.
- Arctic Reading: General
Early maritime fiction, sometimes compared to Marryat’s work. There is a good deal of material, not very respectful, about black sailors. Not much reading amidst the swashbuckling, except for burials. An example:
Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine.
- Arctic Reading: United States
p. 149, on scattering of ashes of Hubert Wilkins at North Pole from the submarine Skate: While two men held red flares, Calvert [commander of Skate] read from the Book of Common Prayer, then paid a personal tribute to Wilkins….
On the “Polar Star” in the Arctic Sea.
- 1899-1900 Italian North Polar Expedition (aboard Polar Star commanded by the Duke of Abruzzi and Umberto Cagni).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
Volume. I.
Nelson.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
p. xii: Meanwhile, The Times of October 10, 1843, reported the presence in Exeter of a rather unusual survival from Trafalgar. Mrs Sara Frank Pitt, the widow of a marine, had been on board Victory, and during the battle had been employed with other sailors’ wives in the customary duty of carrying powder up from the magazines to the guns. Hearing a false report of her husband’s death, she had rushed on deck to be reassured by his presence, but to see Nelson fall, mortally wounded. She subsequently buried a boy of hers at Alexandria and another near Sicily, and now in her old age, without child or husband, she I left totally destitute, without kin or associate, with no consolation but the recollection of the glorious bloody scenes in which she spent the early portion of her married life.’ Naturally enough, perhaps, Mrs Pitt was not anxious to join the procession of 200 Trafalgar veterans now being collected together for the unveiling ceremony [in Trafalgar Square], but she wished it to be known that if there should be ‘any distribution in largesse in commemoration of the victory’ she would ‘be thankful to receive a portion’.
Arctic Voyages of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, 1858-1879.
- 1872-73 etc. Swedish Arctic Expeditions led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld.
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
This volume covers all of Nordenskiöld’s polar exploration including the Vega voyage, but is notable for its coverage of the hygiene issues encountered in 1872-73. It should be noted that Adolf Nordenskiöld was an important collector of maps and atlases, and that references to maps and charts occur throughout this volume.
Etchings of a Whaling Cruise, with Notes of a Sojourn on the Island of Zanzibar. To which is Appended a Brief History of the Whale Fishery, its Past and Present Condition.
- Whalemen's Reading
p. 43-4: about the Portuguese sailors in the forecastle: