Americans in Antarctica, 1775-1948.

Bertrand, Kenneth J. New York: American Geographical Society, 1971.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

With some anomalies, this is a remarkably sound guide to American exploration in the Antarctic.

Diary, 1881 July 7—l883 Aug 2.

Rice, George W. Stefansson MSS. 186, Dartmouth College Library.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A record of Rice’s experiences as photographer on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, 1881-1884. Unpaged but carefully dated throughout.

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).

Under the Pole Star: The Oxford University Expedition, 1935-6.

Glen, Alexander Richard. London: Methuen, 1937.
  • 1935-36 Oxford University North East Land Spitzbergen Expedition (led by Alexander Glen).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

A British expedition to North East Land of Spitsbergen, with a mixture of English and Norwegian crew, scientists and sailors. Glen was the expedition leader and wrote this account with a debonair and detached style. The assignment was to survey the north east region of the archipelago. Obviously this was a bookish group who did a good deal of reading but seldom reporting on what they were reading. The author himself seems prone to boredom and speaks of it fairly often.

Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole.

Nielsen, Jerri. New York: Hyperion, 2001.
  • 1998-99 South Pole Winterover (NSF) at Amundsen-Scott Base.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This book created considerable controversy by the author going public with her medical condition, despite commitments not to call for special services in case of serious illness. Her cancer was the cause.

The Frozen Deep.

Collins, Wilkie. In The Works of Wilkie Collins. Vol. 4. (New York: Collier, 1900?). p. 495-614.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

Short novella which first appeared as an amateur theatrical drama produced and acted by Dickens in 1857, and this version in prose in 1875. It combines arctic exploration (Franklin search vintage) with a love conflict between two explorers on the same expedition, one accepted and another rejected by the same young woman. The woman claims Second Sight to know the outcome of the conflict (she’s wrong), probably reflecting Kane’s experience with the Fox sisters and telepathy.

Soviets in the Arctic: An Historical, Economic and Political Study of the Soviet Advance into the Arctic

Taracouzio, T. A. . New York: Macmillan Co., 1938.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Chapter III (p. 73ff) spells out quite explicitly the purpose of this book: The Russian government must be completely Sovietized…. Politically, within the territory geographically located within the boundaries of the U.S.S.R., no tolerance can be shown toward any other form of government than that which was established by Lenin in 1917. The portion of the Arctic to be studied here is part of the Soviet Union.

“The North West Passage” Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship “Gjoa” 1903-1907 by Roald Amundsen with a Supplement by First Lieutenant Hansen Vice-Commander of the Expedition.

Amundsen, Roald. Two Volumes. (New York: Dutton, 1908).
  • 1903-07 Norwegian Northwest Passage Expedition (Roald Amundsen aboard Gjoa).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

A strangely colorless, almost vacuous account of a long expedition, at least in this translated prose. Volume I has only a few bookish references, a picture on p. 119 of a shelf of scientific books in the Villa ‘Magnet”, the small base building for magnetic observations. And a description of an Eskimo visit to the ship:

Pacific and Indian Oceans; or the South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition.

Reynolds, Jeremiah N. New York: Harper, 1841.
  • 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This volume includes a couple of Reynold’s works commenting on the preparation for the ExEx, from which he was eventually excluded. The volume includes reprints of two works previously published by the author: Address on the subject of a surveying and exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South seas -- New York, 1836, and, Exploring expedition. Correspondance between J. N. Reynolds and the Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, under the respective signatures of "Citizen" and "Friend to the navy", touching the South sea surveying and exploring expedition -- [New York, 1838?] He never went to the Antarctic but his comments in preparation have peculiar interest.