p. 42-3, description of life of impressed seaman: With books he was for many years ‘very scantily supplied.’ It was not till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure with such books as the Old Chaplain’s Farewell Letter, Wilson’s Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man, Secker’s Duties of the Sick, and, lest returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his ailments, Gibson’s Advice after Sickness. Thousands of pounds were spent upon this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet in strict accordance with the amount of storage room available at the various dockyards. [Footnote: Ad. Accountant-General, Misc. (Various), No. 106—Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.]
The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore.
- Maritime Reading
The Wilkes Expedition: Tthe First United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842).
- 1838-42 U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
p. 41, Titian Peale quoted from letter to his daughters about his stateroom: I have a little bed over and under which is packed clothes, furs, guns, Books and boxes without number, all of which have to be tied to keep them from rolling and tumbling about, and kept off the floor as it is sometimes covered with water.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750.
- Arctic Reading: General
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Sailors’ Life and Sailors’ Yarns
- Whalemen's Reading
A journalistic kind of composite by a somewhat pious and rather strict naval disciplinarian. The following extracts some may read as the comments of a urbane writer of sound but severe morals; I see them as those of a pompous ass.
Little America: Aerial Exploration in the Antarctic; the Flight to the South Pole.
- 1928-30 First U.S. Antarctic Expedition (Byrd on City of New York).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Byrd’s account of his first Antarctic Expedition (1928-30) and the development of the first Little America. Here and elsewhere Byrd seems obsessed with the possibility of failure, though it also seems that he uses that device to heighten the tension of his narrative. Seems a transparent piece of reader manipulation.
Whaling Wherein are Discussed the First Whalemen of Whom We Have Record
- Whalemen's Reading
p. 320-21, on the decline of the industry, and the sources of its history: Thus dies old-fashioned whaling. There is only one way now to see it, and that is in its records and relics. Of records there are many, beginning away back with the days of Basque and Norseman and coming on down, through the Spitzbergen days—both English and Dutch accounts of them—the later Arctic whaling of the Hull and the Dundee fleet, and the "southern whale fishery" to our own American whaling. Of those earlier days some few first-hand accounts still survive, and of American whaling there are literally hundreds of log books and account books—the one showing life at sea; the other, the counting-house side of the game.
Arctic Smoke and Mirrors.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
A detective story with a human rights impact. Inuit politicians are revealed as manipulators of history and people. This book should cause reporters and concerned citizens alike to think again not just about Inuit relocations but about the dangers of herd journalism and revisionism that ignores historical context. (ABEBOOKS).
Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian Voyages of Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders.
- 1801-03 British Exploring Expedition to Terra Australis (Captain Matthew Flinders aboard Investigator); 1801-03 French Exploring Expedition to South Seas and Terra Australis (Captain Nicolas Baudin aboard Géographe).
- Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
- Maritime Reading
This magnificent and readable book is a joint study of the two expeditions, their scientific developments in natural history and even anthropology, the tensions of command and officers, the conflict and cooperative endeavors of the two national interests, and including stunning illustrations from the two voyages.
Archives.
- 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole; 1905-06 US North Polar Expedition under Robert E. Peary (aboard Roosevelt).
- Arctic Reading: United States
Log book kept by Ross G. Marvin July 1905-Jan 1906, during Peary’s North Pole attempt. Marvin was an Assistant to Peary, and Henson was Peary’s Personal Assistant. Marvin also kept a personal diary from July 15 1905 to Sept. 12, 1905.
Sir John Franklin and the Arctic Regions: With Detailed Notices of the Expeditions in Search of the Missing Vessels under Sir John Franklin. To Which is Added an Account of the American Expedition, under the Patronage of Henry Grinnell… .
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Simmonds’ book is one of a series of reports on the “Progress of Arctic Discovery” that appeared in England and elsewhere from the first thoughts of the North-West Passage until the McClintock discoveries of 1859. As a group they tend to be largely derivative from similar works in the genre, but consistently provide a measure of hope that Franklin and his men survived, or their graves would be discovered.
Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor who Inspired Coleridge’s Masterpiece.
- Hudson's Bay Company.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
A rather jaunty (i.e. unscholarly) account of Hearne’s adventures, with very little on Coleridge other than their meeting.
Mark Well the Whale! Long Island Ships to Distant Seas.
- Arctic Reading: United States
A rather light bit of local history re Cold Spring Harbor and whaling out of Long Island, incl. Sag Harbor, and descriptions of voyages and disasters.
The Franz Josef Land Archipelago. E. B. Baldwin’s Journal of the Wellman Polar Expedition.
- 1905-07 Private US Wellman Polar Expedition to North Pole.
- Arctic Reading: United States
An early attempt to reach the North Pole by airship from Dane’s Island, Svalbard. It failed while the engines were being tested.
The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery 1776-1780.
- 1776-80 British Naval Expedition–Third Voyage (Captain James Cook aboard Discovery and Resolution).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
These volumes cover Cook’s attempt on his third voyage at finding the Northwest Passage as well as ending in his death. Included in the volume are the surviving journals of officers of the expedition, including various descriptions of the death of Cook.
Untitled remarks at the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association convention on May 22, 1952
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Cherry-Garrard, Apsley George Benet (1886-1959), British Explorer on Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition, was an unlikely hero for the Heroic Age, a near-sighted, inexperienced ingénue who paid Scott £1000 to participate in and suffer through the Terra Nova expedition. As such he was an always helpful addition to the expedition staff, but his fame rests on his account of The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctica 1910-1913. Two vols. (London: Constable and Co., 1922), listed under the Terra Nova journey.