A juvenile account of Bartlett’s life up to his late 20s. Chapters include introduction on Bartlett’s own skepticism about books in general and on him in particular; his abortive Methodist College divinity studies in St. John’s at age 15; his first command of a fishing boat; sealing; his maritime certification; Peary’s Windward in 1898; Ootark and building snow igloos; the first and nearly disastrous Roosevelt trip when they had to cannibalize the ship for fuel returning to Newfoundland; the polar sledging trip; Dr. Cook, the “faker”; Karluk; Morissey; and a final tribute to the natives: I feel that men like Ootark, Seegloo, and Inughitag should have their pictures and stories go into permanent form…. If he [Ootark] can’t go into the Hall of Fame, he at least ought to have his name on the vestibule list. (p. 208-09).
Bob Bartlett: Master Mariner.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
The Journal of Jacob Roggeveen.
- 1721-22 Dutch West Indies Company Expedition to the South Seas (commanded by Jacob Roggeveen aboard).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
p. 9: Jan Roggeveen (brother?): referred to a book of charts shown by him previously by Jacob in Vere, saying that he had put such a book in Jacob’s chest for the voyage. The charts studied by them no doubt contained representations of islands…, and were mere spots of land separated by vast tracks of ocean….
Voyage of Visitation in the Church Ship to the Labrador and East Coast of Newfoundland.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Autograph manuscript diary (in the hand of Alan Broderick) of the journey of Edward Feild, the Bishop of Newfoundland of the Church of England, on the church ship Hawk. Includes lists of correspondents written to during the voyage and places visited. The ship sailed to various communities to conduct divine service and holy communion, often to very small audiences (exc. On Sunday July 2nd with an audience of 40, 25 of them children, at Red Bay).
A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772.
- Hudson's Bay Company.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Didn’t find much though a fascinating book, especially on the Indian slaughter of Eskimaux. He does mention that there were books in his baggage but never talks in this work about any of them.
South Polar Times
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Only copy, owned by Cherry-Garrard and largely produced by him. Introduction written later by Frank Debenham. No mention of Scott’s Polar party. “Ed., typed & illus. largely by me”—ACG. Drawings by Cherry have a remarkable delicacy.
Reminiscences of a Voyage Around the World.
- 1849-51 American Circumnavigation (aboard Hampton).
- Maritime Reading
Written by an Assistant Librarian of the University of Michigan and son of the captain, who says he wrote it to increase an “insufficient salary.” First published in a weekly newspaper, readers he claims called for book publication. The author was early on a cabin boy, a job from which he was “ignominiously dismissed” for his greater interest in the world, than the world around him.
Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, Through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; In the Years 1789 and 1793. With a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country.
- 1789-93 Overland Voyages of Mackenzie Exploring the Far North.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Mackenzie was the first white man to cross the Rockies, discover the river named for him, following it to the Arctic Ocean, and to write the early history of the fur trade.
Incidents of a Whaling Voyage. To which are Added Observations on the…Sandwich and Society Islands.
- Whalemen's Reading
Olmsted was a passenger aboard the whaler North American [a temperance ship] in 1839, a trip taken as a kind of rest cure for his chronic nervous debility. He returned to Yale for medical school and in fact graduated but died in 1844 after a second voyage.
With the ‘Aurora’ in the Antarctic 1911-1914.
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
First published in 1919. One of three books based on Davis’s journals, this one of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition is primarily about navigation and seamanship, and very little about other human activities or amusements for diversion. The concluding paragraphs of his “L’Avenir” have the most human touch:
Lines in the Ice: Exploring the Roof of the World.
- Arctic Reading: General
[What follows here is a review I wrote for the journal Historian, included here not as related to reading by polar explorers, but relevant to current reading about them. As far as I know this review was never published, due to some confusion between the US and UK book review editors of Historian.]
Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822, & 1823. Commanded by Lieutenant, Now Admiral, Ferdinand von Wrangell…
- 1820-23 Russian Journey Exploring Siberia and the Northeast Passage (led by Baron Wrangell).
- Arctic Reading: Russia
Gives introductory summary of prior expeditions to Northeast and Siberia, before describing Wrangell’s expedition across the entire Northern coast of Siberia, as based on Wrangell’s journals, edited by Sabine, and translated from German by Mrs. Sabine. This journey takes place at the same time as Franklin’s land journey. The travel route was St Petersburgh, Moscow, the Urals, Irkutsk, to the Lena and then by river both to the north, Siberia & Jakuzk, with a view to studying the inland fur trade. The work is a combination of geography, anthropology, and adventure.
The Arctic Whalers.
- Whalemen's Reading
An engaging history of Arctic whaling.
Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen: Ambition and Tragedy in the Antarctic.
- Antarctic Reading: General
A revision of a pre-Huntford critical work on Scott, though he says he didn’t know he was writing a “debunking” biography in 1977. Doesn’t have the acerbic bite of Huntford, but has something critical to say about all three explorers.
Report on Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1883.
- 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
- Arctic Reading: United States
p. 25, among supplies provided for the expedition: 45. 150 blank books. 46. 12 blank daily journals. 47. 280 star charts for auroras. 48. 750 forms No. 102 for self register. 53. 4 boxes pens. 54. 2 reams legal cap. 55. 4 reams letter paper. 57. 2 reams foolscap. 58. 4 quarts Arnold’s ink. 60. 1 reading glass. 69. 1 ream computing paper. 70-82. multiple copies of forms and instructions. 100-12. Various titles: Treatise on Aneroid Barometers; Admirlty Manual of Scientific Inquiry; Arctic Manual,1875; Vega’s Logarithms; Nautical Almnac, 1883 (2 copies); Nautical Almanac, 1884 (2); Chauvenet’s Astronomy; Chauvenet’s Trigonometry; Loomis’ Meteorology (2); Guyot’s Tables (2); Everett’s Deschanel; Bowditch Useful Tables; Negur on Chronometers (2). 135. Webster’s dictionary.
Melville in the South Seas.
- Arctic Reading: General
Melville joined the navy in August 1843, and joined the United States in Honolulu in 1844, spending fourteen months on U.S. naval duty between Honolulu and Boston, arriving there in October 1844.