Antarctic Command

Ronne, Finne. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961.
  • 1957-58 Operation Deep Freeze I. Ellesworth Station. (Finn Ronne).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Ronne’s self-justifying and self-pitying account of his disastrous command of the IGY expedition at Ellsworth Station in the Weddell Sea in 1956-58, mainly acknowledging the extreme tensions between military and civilian scientists.

Search for John Franklin. (From the private journal of an officer of the Fox.

Young, Allen William. Cornhill Magazine. Vol. I, no. 1. (London: Smith Elder, 1860) p. 96-121, with folding map and engraving.
  • 1857-59 British Private Expedition of Franklin Search (commanded by Frederick McClintock aboard Fox).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

This is an account of the wintering of the Fox in 1857-58 in the Davis Strait, by the second officer:

Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

Abel, Kerry and Ken S. Coates, eds. Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 2001.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Canadian nationalists in the nineteenth century argued that the North, with its extremes of winter, distance, and isolation, defined the country's essential character and gave its population the resolve and determination necessary to create a prosperous nation. Promoters lauded its enormous economic potential while cursing its vast expanses and dangerous winters. Novelists, poets, and painters were awestruck by its boundless reaches and environmental diversity. Today, the North retains its complex place within the Canadian psyche, at once celebrated as the very essence of the nation, while being largely ignored by a population that clings to the Canada-USA border. Many have debated its significance in Canada's history, and have attempted to bring the region to the attention of the rest of the country by carving out a niche for northern history within the academic curriculum. The current generation of historians has a more ambitious and complex agenda. While they are interested in the North for its own sake, they also firmly believe that the study and teaching of Canadian history as a whole does not currently recognize the North's importance to the development of the nation.

The Humorous Side of Arctic Exploration: Laughable Incidents that Break the Monotony of the Hard and Dangerous Work above the Arctic Circle, the Eskimos’ Sense of Humor, and Some Amusing Anecdotes of Northern Life.

MacMillan, Donald Baxter. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1923.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 1, on departures for the North Pole: Some one of the crew inadvertently mentioned the fact to one of these scribes (reporters) that we had no reading matter on board for the long Arctic nights…. In the next morning’s issue the fact was called to the attention of the kind people of New York. That afternoon a stream of books was flowing down East 23 Street to the Recreation Pier, carried by young, middle aged, and old, and even trucks. It was the most cosmopolitan library ever assembled, for there was everything, with one exception…and that exception a Bible—not a one. Peary wondered where they all came from & intended to throw them overboard when out to sea.

A Voyage Round the World, in His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop, Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5.

Forster, Johann Reinhold. Two volumes. London: B. White, J. Robson, P. Elmsly, and G. Robison, 1777.
  • 1772-75 British Naval Expedition–Second Voyage (Captain James Cook aboard the Resolution).
  • “Discovery” of Antarctica.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This is the first appearance of Forster’s volumes. For a modern edition and further transcripts, see the Hakluyt Society edition below.

The Last Voyage of the Schooner Rosamond

Chevalier, Haakon. London: Andre Deutsch, 1970.
  • 1920 Cargo Voyage of Schooner Rosamond.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

A delightful book about two Stanford sophomores who in the spring of 1920, looking for adventure, decided to ship aboard a schooner scheduled to deliver timber from Seattle to Cape Town. Haakon and Don Snedden had no experience as sailors and their assignment turned out to be a ten-month circumnavigation of the world as apprentice seamen. It was an adventure and their story is told with grace, excitement, and candor. For a time they tried to conceal their academic affiliation but it became obvious to the officers and small crew soon enough. Chevalier, even at 18 years at the outset, is among the most intelligent and sensitive readers encountered in my long search for maritime readers.

Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius August, Count de Benyowsky. Consisting of his Military Operations in Poland, His Exile into Kamchatka….

Beniowsky, Moriz August, graf von. In Two Volumes.London: G.G.J. & J. Robinson, 1790.
  • 1768-70 Beniowsky Journey and Exile in Kamchatka.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

Exciting story of exile in Kamchatka and the conspiracy to escape. [See also August von Kotzebue’s dramatization of this story: Count Benyowsky; Or, the Conspiracy of Kamschatka, a Tragic-Comedy, in Five Acts.Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. Translated from the German by R. W. Render. London: New York: Naphtali Judah, 1799.

Antarctica. By A. S. Helm and J. H. Miller. The Story of the New Zealand Party of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Helm, A. S. Wellington, NZ: R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1964.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

The official account of the New Zealand part of the Fuchs/Hillary expedition, the one based at Scott Base near McMurdo which in addition to its Trans-Antarctic work sponsored some sledge journey surveys of the Darwin Glacier and other areas.

Writing the New World: Imaginary Voyages….

Fausset, David. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1993).
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 3: the exotic literature of Europe “was most clearly manifested in fiction about the regions that remained unknown the longest….their works, too, would finally be overtaken by history and supplanted by scientific descriptions of the material and social worlds.” (his examples are Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver, Poe, Lovecraft)

Russians in the Arctic: Aspects of Soviet Exploration and Exploitation of the Far North, 1937-57

Armstrong, Terence. London: Methuen, 1958, p. 17-50.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Includes the remarkable story of the drift of the Sedov , 3800 miles and 800 days, covering some of the Fram route. In addition to schooling in engineering and navigation, there were also classes of ideological indoctrination. In its third year adrift members of the crew were nominated for political positions in Murmansk, and presumably as the only candidates were elected.

With Byrd at the Bottom of the World: The South Pole Expedition of 1928-1930.

Vaughan, Norman D. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1990.
  • 1928-30 First U.S. Antarctic Expedition (Byrd on City of New York).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This is an adulatory, almost pandering book of Vaughan’s participation in the first Byrd Antarctic expedition (1928-30), by Byrd’s principal dog handler. It reads as compellingly as the Boy Scout accounts. His chapter on life in camp was mostly about the dogs, but also on some psychological troubles, nothing about coping other than card-playing and purloined alcohol.

Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Arctic Islands and the Hudson Strait on Board the C.G.S. “Arctic” 1906-1907.

Bernier, J. E. By Captain J. E. Bernier, Canada. Dept. of Marine and Fisheries. Ottawa, CAN: Govt. Printed by C. H. Parmelee…, 1909.
  • 1906-07 Canadian Expedition to Arctic Islands and the Hudson Strait (aboard Arctic commanded by J. E. Bernier).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Part of the purpose of this expedition was to make territorial land claims for Canada “asserting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic regions which are territory of this Dominion by right of cession made to Canada by the imperial government” (p. 3). It also restored a memorial tablet in honour of Sir John Franklin on Beechey Island.