Four Against the Arctic. Shipwrecked for Six Years at the Top of the World.

Roberts, David. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
  • 1740? Russian Expedition to Svalbard.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

More an account of Roberts’s search for the story of four Russian sailors stranded on Svalberg for six years in the 1740s, ending only with circumstantial speculations that they were likely to have spent almost seven years on small Halfmoon Island in southeast Svalberg. They were probably illiterate Mezeners (Pomori from Mezen, Russia) who had no books with them, and Roberts speculates on how then spent time fighting “cabin fever” and keeping healthy: endless knot tying, mending nets, repairing clothes, carving driftwood, some games, etc. (see p. 208-16 on the phenomenon of cabin fever). The title puns on the four who went to spend two weeks on Halfmoon Island, with the polar bears, etc., looking for the remains of the story.

Zebulon: Or, The Moral Claims of Seamen Stated and Enforced.

Harris, John. First American revised edition. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1837.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

A polemical tract about the neglect of the moral condition of seamen in evangelical work. The proposed solutions include development of safe Christian sailor’s homes in all major ports, banking and credit institutions so sailors will save rather than spend their money on drink and prostitutes, and provision of Bibles and literacy training for all.

Notes from Discovery Journal & Sledging Diaries of R W Skelton

Skelton, Reginald W. Extracts concerning the reading of books. prepared by Judy Skelton, his grand-daughter.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Ms Skelton subsequently published her grandfather’s diaries as The Antarctic Journals of Reginald W. Skelton: “Another Job for the Tinker. (Cheltenham, UK: Reardon Publishing, 2004):

Icebound in the Siberian Arctic: The Story of the Last Cruise of the Fur Schooner Nanuk and the International Search for Famous Arctic Pilot Carl Ben Eielson.

Gleason, Robert J. Anchorage, AK: Alaska Northwest Pub. Co., 1982.
  • 1929 Siberian Journey by Robert Gleason (aboard Nanuk).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A fur trader who wintered over at North Cape when his ship was iced in near the Bering Straits tried to rescue Eielson who died in a Siberian air crash while delivering furs to Chukchi Eskimos in 1929.

Shackleton: By Endurance We Conquer.

Smith, Michael. London: Oneworld Publications, 2014.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This full-scale biography of Shackleton, though not terribly well written is a well-balanced combination of adulation and judicious criticism of Shackleton the man, his psychological difficulties always moderated during times of crisis. The book often lacks the drama of the best Shackleton narratives and yet is well worth reading.

Peace River. A Canoe Voyage from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific.

Simpson, George, Sir. By the Late George Simpson, [Governor, Hon. Hudson’s Bay Company] in 1828. Ottawa: Durie & Son, 1872.
  • 1828 HBC Voyage of George Simpson from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific.
  • Hudson's Bay Company.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

p. iv, Preface, dated May, 1872, and signed M.M.: The Widow and legal representatives of my lamented friend the late Chief Factor A. McDonald have, with a public spirit which commends itself, allowed me the use of his “Notes,” as he calls them—They are now given as called for—That they are so crudely given is my fault; and I have but to trust to the generosity of those who may honor the little work with a reading, pleading as my excuse…that it has only been at snatched moments from engrossing business duties, and at odd hours in the night, that I have been able thus, with running pen, to throw off these hurried pages, to meet what seemed a pressing call and inquiry.

Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska, Formerly Russian America—Now Ceded to the United States—and in Other Parts of the North Pacific.

Whymper, Frederick. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 22: Enroute from England to Vancouver in June 1862 viâ the Horn on a steamer called Tynemouth: On board were some three hundred passengers, two-thirds of whom showed a total loss of dignity and self-respect during these early days, and made our vessel much resemble a floating hospital. But there is an end to all things; and by the time we reached the tropics, our friends had recovered their appetites, and, clad in light attire, lounged, smoking, chatting, and reading under the awnings, giving our decks the appearance of a nautical picnic. Our passengers were a study in themselves. They included a number of young men, much too large a proportion of whom .had apparently no profession, business, or definite aim in life, to auger well for their future career in a new country.

Étoffe du pays: Lower St. Lawrence Sketches.

Simms, Florence Mary. Toronto: Musson, n.d.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

This alleged children’s book is undated but probably describes events and publication of the mid-1920s. A couple of jems are worth recording from this delightful book:

Voyages of a Modern Viking.

Hanssen, Helmer. London: George Routledge, 1936.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

For someone who participated in Amundsen’s three major expeditions, went to the South Pole with him in 1910, and was captain of Maud on the later Northeast Passage expedition, Hanssen sounds generally as boring as extreme weather reports, at least in this version. There is no indication of a translator, nor any indication that Hanssen and Amundsen may have had a falling out on the 1918-1920 Northeast Passage trip. So the Fram Museum suggests on its website, citing the journals of other participants as claiming Amundsen fired Hanssen because the designation of Hanssen as captain went to his head. If so, even that excitement is concealed in this book.

Sailors’ Life and Sailors’ Yarns

Codman, John . By Captain Ringbolt [pseud.] New-York: C. S. Francis, 1847.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

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.

Life on a Whaler; or, Antarctic Adventures in the Isle of Desolation.

Taylor, Nathaniel William. New London, CT: New London County Historical Society, 1929.
  • 1851-53 Kerguélen Whaling Voyage (aboard Julius Caesar).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Narrative of a whaling voyage from New London, Connecticut to the South Indian Ocean aboard the ship Julius Caesar, August 18, 1851 to June 4, 1853. Taylor was a 28-year-old doctor and the medical officer of the voyage. The manuscript had been prepared for publication in long hand by the author in 1858--including a title page, table of contents, foreword, and chapter headings--but had never been published until this edition, limited to 900 copies, was printed by the New London County Historical Society in 1929. Illustrations by William T. Peters of the U. S. Japan Expedition. Bound in tan cloth over boards with dark brown cloth spine, gilt-stamped spine and upper board, illustrated endpapers. (from ABEBOOKS)

Captain Cook’s Journal during his First Voyage round the World Made in H.M. Bark “Endeavour” 1768-71….

Cook, James, Captain. Edited by Captain J. L. Wharton. London: Elliot Stock, 1893.
  • 1768-71 British Voyage to the South Pacific (aboard Endeavour commanded by Captain James Cook).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. x: In reading Cook’s Journal of his First Voyage it must be remembered that it was not prepared for publication. Though no doubt the fair copies we possess were revised with the care that characterizes the man, and which is evidenced by the interlineations and corrections in his own hand with which the pages are dotted, it may be supposed, from the example we have in the published account of his Second Voyage, which was edited by himself, that further alternations and additions would have been made, to make the story more complete, had he contemplated its being printed.

Papers, ca. 1840-1865, ca. 3000 items, photographs.

Foulke, William Parker. American Philosophical Society. APS 1854.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A pillar of Philadelphia society and the APS, Foulke’s papers are quite diverse and include Arctic material related to Kane and Hayes in particular.