Prior to the 1875 British Arctic Expedition to Greenland led by Nares, the RGS reissued articles published in its own Journal and Proceedings "for the use of the expedition". (Preface). Contents include: (1). On the Physical Structure of Greenland, by Robert Brown. (2). On the Best Means of Reaching the Pole, by Admiral Baron Von Wrangell. (3). On the Discoveries of Dr. Kane, U.S.A. (1853-55). by Dr. Rink. (4). The Arctic Current around Greenland, by Admiral C. Irminger. (5). Notes on the State of the Ice, and on the Indications of Open Water from Behring Strait to Bellot Strait, along the Coasts of the Arctic America and Siberia, including the Accounts of Anjou and Wrangell. by Vice-Admiral R. Collinson. - Ethnology - (1). Papers on the Greenland Eskimos. by Clements R. Markham. (2). On the Descent of the Eskimo. By Dr. Rink. (3). The Western Eskimo. by Dr. Simpson. (4). Report on the Anthropological Institute. Questions for Arctic Explorers.
A Selection of Papers on Arctic Geography and Ethnology/ Reprinted, and Presented to The Arctic Expedition of 1875….
- 1875-76 British Naval Expedition in Search of North Pole (Captain George Nares aboard Alert and Discovery).
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean:.., Performed in his Majesty’s Sloop Providence and Her Tender, in the Years 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798.
- 1795-98 British Naval Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean (aboard HMS Providence).
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Like so many 18th-century accounts, this one shows little indication of reading during the voyage, though there are a few scraps:
Melville’s Reading: A Check-List of Books Owned and Borrowed.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Nantucket Whalemen in the Deep-sea Fishery: the Changing Anatomy of an Early American Labor Force,
- Maritime Reading
On the whaling journey of the brig Polley to West Africa in 1774, and in particular one of its crew, Samuel Atkins, who wrote some poetry about the journey: Steadily the nerves of unlucky whalemen were worn down by loneliness, boredom, and the knowledge that the vessel would have to remain at sea until a reasonable haul of oil had been taken in (p. 278).
Ending in Ice: the Revolutionary Idea and Tragic Expedition of Alfred Wegener.
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
Alfred Wegener is most famous for his proposed theory of continental draft, published in 1912. At first denied and scorned, then dismissed as unimportant, followed by eventual acceptance. His other fame relates to his several research expeditions seeking to understand the climatic influence of Greenland weather. He died on the ice trying to rescue his scientific colleagues isolated at Eismitte in 1930. Unlike so many explorers he was dedicated to his scientific endeavors.
Antarctica. By A. S. Helm and J. H. Miller. The Story of the New Zealand Party of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
- 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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.
Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook’s Voyages Changed the World.
- 1768–79 British Naval Expeditions of Captain James Cook.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
In a daring, almost reckless shift, Richardson moves the discussion of what Cook may have read to who may have read Cook’s voyages and how the reading of Cook’s voyages changed the Western view of the world. Cites library statistics from late 18th-century Bristol to show Hawkesworth the most circulated book, with its description of Cook’s first voyage, as the most circulated book in the decade of 1773-1784. By its very organization, he sees the library as a statement about the world and the places in it. As Captain Cook had authority over his ships just as his printed voyages took on the authority of the printed word. He thus sees Cook as an important point of origin for empire as a collection of places as well as a sovereign authority over them (p. 200).
The Voyage of the “Scotia” Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration in Antarctic Seas. By Three of the Staff.
- 1902-04 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (Bruce on Scotia).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
An account by various authors of the Scotia Expedition of 1902-04, led by Robert Speirs Bruce. The Preface, signed by the three authors [Brown, R.C. Mossman, and J.H. Pirie], gives some flavor of one unusual aspect of the Scotia voyage, a Scottish expedition in direct scientific competition with Scott: “There is still a lurking tendency to judge an expedition of exploration largely by the sensational character of its adventures, and to crown with plaudits of approval men who can lay claim to have escaped half a dozen times from a near and overshadowing death. Every expedition—particularly those to such unknown and inhospitabl regions as the Antarctic—must of course meet with its full quota of adventure, but Polar seas are not the place to court it, and to play with death a such close quarter’s is but a fool’s game…, but the fewer adventures the more content must the really earnest explorer be, and it may be very truly said that the less sensation a traveller has to recount the better and more far-seen were his preparations. And this is the only apology that the authors would offer should the reader regret that they were not more frequently at death’s door during the two years of the Scotia’s voyage.” That could appear a self-serving way of explaining the less dramatic but very solid scientific accomplishments of this expedition when compared with those of Scott, Mawson, and Shackleton.
Among Unknown Eskimo: An Account of Twelve Years Intimate Relations with the Primitive Eskimo of Ice-bound Baffin Land: with a Description of Their Way of Living, Hunting Customs & Beliefs.
- Arctic Reading: Inuit and other indigenous people
A detailed description of Baffin Island and the Inuit way of life, with an appendix of Eskimo deities, including the vampiric Aipalookvik who 'Has a large head and face, human in appearance but ugly like a cod's. Is a destroyer by desire and tries to bite and eat the kyakers.' (p.266). His account is also notable for descriptions of euthanasia: a blind man is willingly led to an ice hole where 'He went right under, then and there under the ice and was immediately drowned and frozen. A handy piece of ice served to seal the death trap, and all was over. Nandla had died on the hunt, and had entered the Eskimo heaven like the other valiant men of his tribe, and taken his place with the doughtiest of them, where there would be joy and plenty for evermore.' (p. 153) [From John Bockstoce collection catalogue, item 10, from McGahern Books, 2019.]
My Life as an Explorer.
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
A fairly straightforward autobiography of his life, from childhood adventures on the ice, the Belgica expedition and its problems with scurvy, his secret departure for the NW Passage to avoid his creditors, the two years on King William Island, another year near Herschel Island, and completion in 1906. Next he planned a North Pole expedition, but Peary’s claim there clandestinely shifted his focus to the South Pole. He passes over the SP trip quickly, before moving on to his attempt to drift across the North Pole, his interest in aerial exploration (1922), his business difficulties with H.J. Hammer as well as his brother Leon, his dirigible work with Lincoln Ellsworth, and the flight of the Norge in 1926. Throughout he claims he has been misrepresented and sometimes his apologia is convincing, sometimes not; either way it is a lengthy (over 100 pages) exercise in self-justification. He is particularly incensed at Nobile for claiming the Norge expedition was his idea (later attributed to Mussolini), and for any number of contractual difficulties. The work concludes with miscellaneous chapters on Stefansson, on Amundsen’s views on the business of exploration, on food and equipment, and finally an appendix of notes by Riiser-Larsen further refuting Nobile’s claims; these are more dispassionate than Amundsen and therefore more convincing.
She Went a-whaling: the Journal of Martha Smith Brewer Brown.
- 1847-48 Whaling Voyage to South Pacific (aboard Lucy Ann).
- Maritime Reading
An example of a whaling captain’s wife going to sea with him. Whaling wives were usually known for their New England piety amidst the rough-hewn crews of 19th-century whaling ships. This is the diary of one of them, Martha Brown, who sailed from Orient NY aboard the Lucy Ann on August 31, 1847, on an eastward voyage round the world that eventually passed Cape Horn:
Alaska, the Golden Land of the Midnight Sun.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Chicago: Published by the Author, 1901.
New Light on Herman Melville’s Cruise in the Charles and Henry,
- Whalemen's Reading
Second section is on books aboard the ship Charles and Henry on which Melville shipped in 1840 for five years.
The Polar Rosses: John and James Clark Ross and their Explorations.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
These two Rosses, respectively uncle and nephew, were arguably the major forces in Polar exploration from Barrow’s initial enthusiasm in the 1810s through to the successful findings of the Franklin Search, that despite Barrow’s loathing for Sir John after the failure of Ross’s first search for the North West Passage. This is an excellent and well-written biography of the two men and their era of discovery.
Letters Written During the Late Voyage of Discovery in the Western Arctic Sea.
- 1819-20 British Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic Regions (Edward Parry aboard Hecla and Griper).
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Letters from the Parry Expedition, 1819-1820, describing the voyage and the wintering at Winter Harbour, Melville Island, the Canadian Arctic waters and their ice, the Arctic night, the activities of the crews. Although anonymous, internal evidence shows the officer to have been one of the midshipmen on the Griper; either A.M. Skene or William Nelson Griffth.