Of Whales and Men.

Robertson, R. B. New York: Knopf, 1954.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

A delightful account of a ship’s doctor on an 8-month cruise of a whaling factory ship, with something of a psychological emphasis on the men he was with.

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration.

Roberts, David. New York: Norton, 2013.
  • 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A straightforward rehash of the Mawson story, at somewhat greater length than others, but competently done. He doesn’t neglect the books and reading which is fairly well documented for this expedition. He makes the mistake of taking Huntford as gospel truth, assuming for example Kathleen Scott’s affair with Nansen. He also disparages Bickel’s Mawson’s Will, though that book is a much more dramatic telling of Mawson’s story.

Congress and the North Pole; An Abstract of Arctic Legislation in the Congress of the United States.

Howgate, Henry W. Kansas City, Mo.: Kansas City Review of Science and Industry, 1879.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 22ff, discussion on April 16, 1856, by Congressmen of Kane’s Narrative, Mr Tyson recommending the purchase of “fifteen thousand copies for the use of Congress.”

Voyage of His Majesty’s Ship Rosamond to Newfoundland and the Southern Coast of Labrador.

Chappell, Edward. London: J. Mawman, 1818.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

p. 70-71, recounting Chappell’s conversation with an Indian hunter: whilst with the other he laid down his musket upon the trunk of a fallen tree. We offered him rum, which, to our utter astonishment, he refused; but he accepted of some biscuit and boiled pork. The following conversation then ensued between us. We first inquired, where he was going, and at what he had fired. “Me go get salmon gut, for bait, for catchee cod. Me fire for play, at litteel bird.” Observing the word Tower marked on the lock of his musket, we said, "This is an English gun." "May be. Me no get um "of Ingeles; me get um of Scotchee ship: me "givee de Captain one carabou(deer)for um."—" Do you go to-morrow to catch cod?" "Ees: me go to-morrow catchee cod: next day, catchee cod: next day comeseven day (Sunday); me no catchee cod; "me takee *, look upGOD." [Footnote p. 71: * None of the Indians in St. George's Bay are able to read; but they have been taught almost to adore the Bible, by some French Missionary.] We asked if the savage Red Indians, inhabiting the interior of the country, also looked up toGOD: when, with a sneer of the most ineffable contempt, he replied, "<i>No; no lookee upGOD: killee all men dat dem see, "Red Indian no good."—Do you understand the talk of the Red Indians?" "Oh, no; me no talkee likee dem: dem talkee all same dog, 'Bow, wow, wow!'"This last speech was pronounced with a peculiar degree of acrimony: at the same time, he appeared so much offended at our last question, that we did not think it prudent to renew the dialogue.

Papers Relating to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), Director of Kew Gardens (1865-1885)

Sullivan, C. J. Archives: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. JDH/1/7: Antarctic Expeditions 1842-1903.
  • 1839-42 British Antarctic Expedition (James Clark Ross/Terror and Erebus).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This bound, indexed volume contains the following documents: papers and correspondence dated c.1887-1903 relating the National Antarctic Expedition of the HMS Discovery (1901-04) including a photograph of the ship; correspondence dated c.1842-43 by J. Davies, J. Savage and C. J. Sullivan whilst on HMS Erebus and HMS Terror (1839-1843) including some poetry by Sullivan; and a lecture (original manuscript and typed transcript) given by J.D. Hooker on this expedition at the Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea on 17 June 1846.

Nantucket Whalemen in the Deep-sea Fishery: the Changing Anatomy of an Early American Labor Force,

Vickers, Daniel. Journal of American History 72 (Sept. 1985) 277-296.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

On the whaling journey of the brig Polley to West Africa in 1774, and in particular one of its crew, Samuel Atkins, who wrote some poetry about the journey: Steadily the nerves of unlucky whalemen were worn down by loneliness, boredom, and the knowledge that the vessel would have to remain at sea until a reasonable haul of oil had been taken in (p. 278).

Archives at Georgetown University

Green, Fitzhugh.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Green was ghostwriter for Byrd’s Skyward, participated in MacMillan’s Crocker Land Expedition, and was responsible for killing a native.

Voices in Stone; A Personal Journey into the Arctic Past.

Schledermann, Peter. Calgary, AL: Arctic Institute of North America, 1996.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Voices in Stone is a personal journey of discovery, a portrait and a history of the human presence in the far northern regions of Canada. Archaeological investigations have provided us with a window into the world of the Palaeo- and Neo- eskimos who occupied the High Arctic intermittently for more than 4000 years. The book tells the story of the search for evidence of ancient human settlements on the central east coast of Ellesmere Island and the exciting discovery of Norse artifacts in thirteenth-century Neoeskimo winter houses. In 1818, Sir John Ross made the first recorded Western contact with descendants of the Neoeskimos, the Polar Eskimos or Inughuit of North Greenland. His entry into Baffin Bay led the way for Western whalers, explorers, and North Pole seekers, whose presence turned out to have dramatic consequences for the Inughuit. Voices in Stone is not only an account of the discovery of archaeological materials in the High Arctic, but a story of life in remote, isolated research camps occasionally threatened by sudden, violent storms or curious polar bears.

Archives. Peary Report.

Peary Arctic Club. Peary Report. 1990?.
  • 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole; 1908-09 US North Pole Expeditions under Robert E. Peary (aboard Roosevelt).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

You may also have heard of the controversy about whether or not Robert Peary had in fact made it to the North Pole in 1909 (not everyone has), or had he willfully misrepresented his accomplishment. Even the National Geographic Society, an original supporter of Peary's work, had begun to express doubts. The Navigation Foundation was then commissioned by the National Geographic Society to carry out what is now considered the definitive answer to this question. The conclusion, after much diverse research and analysis, was that Peary did indeed make it to the Pole, and that there was no viable evidence that he had misrepresented his work. The Foundation study under the direction of Admiral Thomas Davies was published as The Peary Report, in 1990. Present directors Douglas R Davies, Roger Jones and Terry Carraway took part in that research. The report will be published again and available to the public in early 2007 in ebook format.

To the Arctic: The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present.

Mirsky, Jeannette. With an Introduction by Vilhjalmur Stefansson. [First published as To the North in 1934.]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 103, on Parry’s 1819-20 expedition: A school was formed to teach the men to read and write. Captain Sabine edited a weekly, the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, for the amusement of the officers, and they in turn amused the men. Fortnightly a farce that had had a successful run in London was given. Christmas was celebrated by a special dinner and an operetta, Northwest Passage. [A facsimile page of the gazette is on p. 102.]

The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham.

Markham, Albert Hastings. London: John Murray, 1917.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

Pure hagiography by his cousin, also a naval officer. Clements had a short but early naval career which included service as the only midshipman on the Assistance on its 1850-51 search for John Franklin. He contributed to the Aurora Borealis and other papers of the voyage.

Three Years of Arctic Service, An Account of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-84 and the Attainment of the Farthest North.

Greely, Adolphus Washington. Two volumes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1886.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

These volumes are Greely’s personal, not official, somewhat sanitized version of his expedition and its aftermath. Much of the work is taken from Greely’s journals, and those passages are given within quotation marks, as in the original publication.