Report of the Cruise of the U. S. Revenue Cutter Bear and the Overland Expedition for the Relief of the Whalers in the Arctic Ocean, from November 27, 1897 to September 13, 1898.

Tuttle, Francis, Capt. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1899.
  • 1897-98 US Revenue Service Cruise and Overland Rescue Expedition in Relief of Whalers (Tuttle aboard Bear).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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p. 22, on the murder of a native by other natives: About 11 o'clock in the forenoon on the 17th of November, 1807, Mr. Rustan Nelson was sitting in his house reading, and Messrs. Charles Sandbourne and George F. Tilton were working in one of the other rooms, when they all heard two rifle shots fired in quick succession, followed shortly after by four others. Nelson thrust his revolver in his pocket, rushed out of the house, and there saw, close to the house, two natives, Avulik and Shukurana, each with a smoking rifle in his hand, standing over the body of Washok, which was lying on the snow close to his sled, pierced with six bullet holes. Washok's wife was close by, and several other natives were running to the scene of the firing. Sandbourne and Tilton ran out soon after Nelson, and after ascertaining that Washok was dead and beyond all help, they all returned to the house. Soon after the body was carried out into the country and put up on sticks, after the native fashion, the murderers aiding in the ceremony.

How the “Mastiffs” Went to Iceland.

Trollope, Anthony. Introduction by Coral Lansbury. (New York: Arno Press, 1981). [First published London, 1878].
  • 1878 British Voyage to Iceland (aboard Mastiff).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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The Mastiff was a yacht owned by John Burns (Lord Inverclyde) who took a group of men aboard his yacht on a trip to the Faroes and Iceland in 1878. Trollope wrote this story of the voyage and published it privately in the same year. Although hardly Polar, Iceland is certainly an interesting exemplar of the print culture of the North. Rather sardonic account of summer trip to Iceland in 1878 aboard the Mastiff, Trollope calling the passengers the Mastiffs.

A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World… Performed in the Years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, in the Discovery Sloop of War, and Armed Tender Chatham.

Vancouver, George, Captain. A New Edition… in Six Volumes. (London: John Stockdale, 1801).
  • 1791-95 English Exploring Expedition to North Pacific and Round the World (George Vancouver commanding aboard Discovery with Chatham).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
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Heald Sale Catalog of December 2017 lists this copy: "One of the most important [voyages] ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge" (Hill). This copy from the on-board library of the USS John Hancock during its mid-19th century exploration of the Pacific.”

Fighting the Icebergs.

Bullen, Frank (Franklin) Thomas. London: James Nesbet & Co., 1910.
  • Maritime Reading
    Whalemen's Reading
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A novel about a whaleman and his foundling ‘son’ who learns everything about whaling from his ‘father’: the book is a good fictional introduction to whaling, a teetotaler tract (the father becomes sober as soon as he has responsibility for the boy), and a tearjerker. Towards the end of the book the author says that the boy was inculcated at an early age in the habit of reading. But there is a little bit of everything here: a happy crew converted from alcoholism, the mendacity of the owners, the death of the captain/father, the nip and sinking of their vessel, the success of the son, and his final marriage to a petticoat sailor.

Obituary: Vilhjalmur Stefansson 1879-1962.

Sullivan, Walter. Geographical Review 53 2 April 1963, p. 291.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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The polar collection that Stef assembled in his later years was initiated by a gift to him of three hundred books by the American Geographical Society. By now the collection, the property of Dartmouth College, numbers some twenty-five thousand bound volumes and forty-five thousand manuscripts, pamphlets, and the like. His widow, the former Evelyn Schwartz Baird, is still its able librarian, and until the end Stef could be seen quietly at work in a corner of the stacks that hold this vast assemblage of polar information.

The Cruise of the ‘Antarctic’ to the South Polar Regions.

Bull, Henrik Johan. London, New York: Edward Arnold, 1896.
  • 1893-95 Norwegian Whaling Expedition (Henrik Bull aboard Antarctic).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Essentially a Norwegian/English whaling and sealing expedition in which the crew suffered no major deprivations or hardships other than hurricanes around the Kerguélens where the ship chiefly spent the ‘summer’ of 1893-94 before returning to Melbourne. The first part of the expedition made catches of £3000 pounds in value, but an intermediate voyage during the winter to the Campbell Islands almost wrecked the ship [Bull was back in Australia] and repairs ate up all the profits.

Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS

Henderson, Bruce. Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole. New York: New American Library, 2001.
  • 1870-73 US North Pole Expedition of Charles Hall (aboard USS Polaris).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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A mediocre recounting of the Polaris expedition, the poisoning of Captain Hall, the Tyson trip on the ice floe. Nothing about reading except one note on the presence of books.

Explorers Club Archives II

  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, EC2007-07 [Not all of these files have been carefully reviewed and some await further inspection.]

The Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin, Charles. Introduction by Catherine A. Henze. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. xv-xvi, Introduction: During this eventual circumnavigation of the globe, most of the time was spent first on the east, and secondarily on the west coasts of South America. With Darwin signed on as the captain’s companion, the vessel’s senior surgeon, Robert McCormick, was its naturalist. However, after only four months at sea, McCormick returned to England, because it was obvious that Darwin, nicked named “Philos,” short for “Ship’s Philosopher,” was FitzRoy’s preferred naturalist. Darwin brought with him the works of Shakespeare and Milton (taking Paradise Lost with him on his land excursions), and, more importantly, numerous scientific texts, including Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology. (As subsequent volumes were published, Darwin had them sent from England). The tiny cabin FitzRoy and Darwin shared contained a library of some 245 volumes. Even though Darwin missed England, he was not cut off from it; newspapers and journals arrived regularly, and as much as possible, letters from home.