[From WorldCat] Having served on expeditions under John Franklin, the British naval officer Sir George Back (17961878) had already gained first-hand experience of Arctic peril and survival by the time he was appointed in 1836 to command HMS Terror. His mission was to survey uncharted coastline in the Canadian Arctic, yet Back's ship became trapped in ice near Frozen Strait and was unable to escape for ten months. In this account, first published in 1838, Back lucidly documents the developing crisis, noting the numerous preparations to abandon ship, the deaths of three of his men from scurvy, and the further damage caused by an iceberg after the Terror was freed. Against the odds, the ship managed to reach Ireland in 1837. Naturally, Back gives much credit to the durability of the Terror, originally a bomb vessel from the War of 1812, it had been further strengthened for Arctic service.
Narrative of an Expedition in HMS Terror: Undertaken with a View to Geographical Discovery on the Arctic Shores, in the Years 1836-7.
- 1836-37 British Voyage of Discovery in HMS Terror (commanded by George Back).
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration.
- 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
A straightforward rehash of the Mawson story, at somewhat greater length than others, but competently done. He doesn’t neglect the books and reading which is fairly well documented for this expedition. He makes the mistake of taking Huntford as gospel truth, assuming for example Kathleen Scott’s affair with Nansen. He also disparages Bickel’s Mawson’s Will, though that book is a much more dramatic telling of Mawson’s story.
Innocents on the Ice: A Memoir of Antarctic Exploration, 1957.
- 1957-58 Operation Deep Freeze I. Ellesworth Station. (Finn Ronne).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
An account of the International Geophysical Year expedition to the Weddell Sea with Captain Finn Ronne, 1956-58, with emphasis on the stresses and conflicts between the military captain and the civilian scientists. Behrendt is unusual in noting, mostly from his daily journal, a substantial amount of reading during the winter at Ellsworth Station. These readings included Ronne’s own Antarctic Conquest (p. 24); War and Peace (p. 58); The Rebel (Camus) and Stefansson’s Arctic Manual (p. 114); Gods Graves and Scholars (Ceram: p. 122); Thurber (p. 136); Cold (Gould: p. 140); thesaurus (p. 153); The White Desert (Giaever: p. 158 with a long quote); Mrs Warren’s Profession (Shaw) and Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck: p. 170); The Rain Cave: p. 189); Of Whales and Men (R.B. Robertson: p. 201); Life on the Mississippi (Twain: p. 214); The Life of Greece (Durant: p. 223); Scott’s Last Expedition (p. 320); Time magazine (p. 323); Merck Manual (p. 346); Human Destiny (LeComte de Nouilly: p. 371); The Wall (Hersey: p. 374).
“The Mirny Diary” 12 February 1958–7 February 1959
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
This detailed diary was contributed by Morton Rubin's brother Harry. He gives credit to Mr. and Mrs. Martin Sponholz for painstakingly deciphering and transcribing Morton's original hand-written manuscript. It is a fascinating glimpse of winterover life at an IGY Russian station.
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.]
The Race.
- 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
A fictional account of the Scott-Amundsen race for the South Pole, which mentions Scott’s use of the Bible twice: p. 144-6: “His desk was a couple of old crates which he had covered with oilcloth. A Bible lay on the desk, and two other books, paper and pens…. He held a service every Sunday. It was the only time the other ranks also congregated in the officers’ room. It wasn’t a matter of choice. No one was allowed to absent himself. Every man clasped his hands, even though some fingers were covered in frostbite sores. A meeting with God prescribed a sanctity here as back home in England. He read from the Bible in a clear, well-modulated voice, and prayed using ordinary familiar words. Outside the blizzard raged.”
The Ice Child.
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
Fictional account of the Franklin search and an obsessive Franklin searcher.
Life on the Ocean, Or Thirty-Five Years at Sea, Being the Personal Adventures of the Author.
- Maritime Reading
Captain Paddack from Nantucket spent a long career at sea, first on whaling vessels but mainly on merchant ships sailing throughout the world, including around Cape Horn.
Sailors’ Life and Sailors’ Yarns
- Whalemen's Reading
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.
American Explorations in the Ice Zones…Prepared Chiefly from Official Sources.
- Arctic Reading: United States
A comprehensive and readable account of American expeditions up to the rescue of Greely, with reference to Great Britain only where necessary, e.g. to explain the Franklin search voyages.
Second in Command: A Biography of Captain Francis Crozier.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
A short biography, probably the first, of Crozier, with some useful information but hardly profound treatment.
Alaska, the Golden Land of the Midnight Sun.
- Arctic Reading: United States
Chicago: Published by the Author, 1901.
Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The Story of the Square-Rigged Merchant Marine of British North America, the Ships, Their Builders and Owners, and the Men Who Sailed Them.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Largely an encomium to the British men and ships operating in what is now known as Canada, with emphasis on the maritime provinces. There is a great deal of information about the building and history of Canadian, particularly those of Nova Scotia, but nothing I could find on the provision of reading matter. Probably the officers and men were too busy setting speed records.
Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, A Keen Reader of Travel Books?
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
This article is taken complete from the online version: Rare Book Monthly (August 2019):
Cold Comfort: My Love Affair with the Arctic.
- Arctic Reading: General
This is a rather dry account of a mid-1930s expedition to map the coastline of Baffin Island and the Foxe Basin and also some archaeological work on Thule and Dorset cultures. There are scattered reading references: