Master Mariner and Arctic Explorer: A Narrative of Sixty Years at Sea from the Logs and Yarns of Captain J. E. Bernier.

Bernier, J. E. Ottawa, Ont.: Le Droit, 1939.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Autobiographical collage by the well-known Canadian mariner, with emphasis on his obsession with the North. Introduction by E.T. [?] is dedicated to Bernier’s wife and gives a succinct summary of Bernier’s life including his four Canadian government expeditions to the North. He was a dedicated Catholic, a lifelong teetotaler, and put his faith in divine Providence.

Trial by Ice: The Antarctic Journals.

Davis, John King. Edited by Louise Crossley. Bluntisham, UK: Bluntisham Books, 19.
  • 1929-31 BANZARE Expedition (aboard Discovery II).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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This is one of three volumes based on the Davis journals, and some of the Davis journals printed here also appear in his earlier autobiographical work, High Latitude. Davis was the complete sea master, but not an explorer. For the most part his journal entries, written while in command, tend to be short simply because he is very busy, and appears to have no time for reading except as it might be work related. What stands out in this volume is the section on the MawsonDavis BANZARE expedition of 1929-30 where Davis constantly laments the problems of divided command, where Mawson constantly asks Davis to take risks which, according to Davis, Mawson would not take responsibility for if things went wrong. Mawson on the other hand found Davis far too conservative and timid in his concern for the safety of ship and men. Davis may be a somewhat dull and conservative character, but he does come across as the more sympathetic, at least in his own account.

The Life and Adventure in the South Pacific. By A Roving Printer.

Jones, John, attr. New York: Harper & Bro., 1861.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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The attribution comes from the Nautical Magazine 23 (1864) p. 66, but who it is I haven’t learned. A bit more literate than the average whaleman but not a riveting book—a good overview of whaling but not with the art of a Melville or Bullen.

South with Endurance: Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition 1914-1917, the Photographs of Frank Hurley.

Hurley, Frank. London: Bloomsbury, 2001.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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This book has a wider focus than the title implies, including more material on Hurley’s photographic career than his Antarctic photographs. But it covers the Antarctic work well, from archives of RGS, the State Library of New South Wales, and of SPRI, Cambridge.

Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacific Ocean… in the United States Frigate Essex, in the Years 1812, 1813, and 1814.

Porter, David. Two volumes. Second edition. New York: Wiley & Halsted, 1822. [A modern edition was published in Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986, with an Introduction by R. D. Madison, Edited and with Notes by R. D. Madison and Karen Hamon.].
  • 1812-1814 American Naval Cruise to the Pacific commanded by David Porter (aboard frigate Essex).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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The second edition is the only complete edition and generally regarded as the best one. The 1986 introduction added much information of importance and interest. – Hill. Samuel Eliot Morison called it the best bit of sea literature of the period. (See also Smith II, 1632. Howes P-484 (aa). Hill 1373.)

Seasons with the Seahorses; Or, Sporting Adventures in the Northern Seas.

Lamont, James. New York: Harper, 1861.
  • 1858-59 British Private Journeys of "Sport and Discovery" (James Lamont).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 80, in a description of the cabin: As for reading, it is next to impossible, for I defy any body to read long sitting on a locker nine inches broad; also, the bunks are too dark, and if we try to read in them we generally go to sleep.

Cruising in the Antarctic.

Solyanik, A. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1956.
  • 1952-53 Russian Whaling Voyage.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Recounts a whaling journey from Odessa to Antarctica in 1952-53 in a flotilla of 16 ships. Rather typical Soviet narrative with great harmony, a few problems heroically overcome, and excellent discipline:

Twelve Came Back.

Brown, Peter Lancaster. London: Robert Hale, 1957.
  • 1952-53 Australian Heard Island Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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An account of an Australian expedition (1952-53) to Heard Island between Kerguélen Islands and the Antarctic continent, in which two of fourteen members died (one frozen, another drowned). A rather pedestrian account but there are a few interesting passages:

Narrative of the Overland Journey of Sir John and Lady Franklin and Party from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour 1842.

Burn, David. Edited by George Mackaness. Sydney: D.S. Ford, 1955.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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Burn accompanied the Franklin’s on this apparently epochal journey through what are evidently difficult terrain, weather, and rivers. Burn kept a travel diary of the experience with full respect for the Governor General and his wife. Most interesting is his account of Franklin as preacher: p. 15, Sunday, 3rd May 1842: By 8 A.M., every tent, save Lady Franklin’s, had been struck, most of the knapsacks packed, and breakfast speedily thereafter dispatched. His Excellency very shortly summoned the men, and in a thrilling tone of most impressive earnestness, read the morning service, to which he added a short but very striking sermon on the edict of Darius which consigned Daniel to the den of lions. In many a gorgeous temple have I listed to the soul-reviving promises of the Scriptures, but I much question if ever the language of sacred truth was more generally or attentively heard, than whilst delivered amid drizzling rain in the wild bush, to some who had proved most reckless violators of their country’s laws [20 convicts were on the journey as carriers and palanquin-bearers]. May the truths of that holy hour live in their hearts, and sanctify our own. The weather becoming worse and worse, with every indication of an unfavourable continuance, Lady Franklin, too, remaining considerably indisposed, the tents were once more pitched, and our quarters reoccupied for the dreary uncomfortable day.

The Arctic Whalers.

Lubbock, Basil. (Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1937).
  • Maritime Reading
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An engaging history of Arctic whaling.

The Lure of the Whaling Journal.

Johnson, Barbara. Manuscripts 23 (1971) 158-77.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. 162, Feb. 24, 1859: I am teaching Cooper Orthoepy and definitions for which he has generously offered me the large sum of one dollar.

A Yachting Cruise in the South Seas.

Wood, C. F. London: H. S. King and Co., 1875.
  • 1872- Private British Voyage to Sandwich Islands (Cunard Line).
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 6-7, Chapter I: The weather now was intensely hot and fine, and that feeling of drowsiness and languor came over me, which I have always experienced on first reaching the tropics. Reading becomes a delusion and a snare, and to take up a book means to be asleep in a few minutes. On Sunday, May 11th, we sighted Rotumah. This was the first island I intended visiting, my object here being to ship some of the natives, to strengthen my present crew. No one ought to attempt a voyage through the South Sea Islands without carrying an extra crew of this kind. For in the first place there are so many islands where there is no anchorage or perhaps a very precarious one, that it is better to keep the vessel standing off and on, worked by the white crew, while those who wish to visit the island go away in the boat manned by the South Sea Islanders. A coloured crew, too, are better able to row about all day in the hot sun; they are cheery, light-hearted companions, and are always ready, and enjoy the fun of diving into the water after any shell or piece of coral that one may fancy whilst rowing over the reefs.

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

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

The Daily Journal of an Antarctic Explorer 1956-1958.

Warren, Guyon. Edited by Karen Warren. Nelson, NZ: Copy Press Books, 2014.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Warren was a geologist on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) led by Vivian Fuchs (UK) and Sir Edmund Hillary (NZ). When not on surveying journeys to the Polar Plateau and the Dry Valleys, he was mainly at the Scott Base near McMurdo and he mentions the library at McMurdo a couple of times. His notes about reading occur mainly during the winter period, as outlined here: