Birdie Bowers: Captain Scott’s Marvel.

Strathie, Anne. Stroud, UK: History Press, 2012.
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Biography of the sailor who went to the South Pole and then died with Scott in 1912. Brought up an evangelical whose father was a Freemason, the biography shows a gradual ebbing of his faith through the early part of his career until he was summoned by Scott from the Royal Indian Marines.

Arctic Rovings; Or, The Adventures of a New Bedford Boy on Sea and Land.

Hall, Daniel Weston. (Boston: A Tompkins, 1861).
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

A youthful autobiographical account of the cruelty of unjust captains in exercising their power. The whaler was the Condor and the Captain a Mr. Whiteside. Records various incidents that “relieve the monotony of sea life”: a man overboard; a suicide under delirium tremens; beatings for no apparent reason by a vindictive captain; the thrill of “There she blows!”

Arctic Justice: On Trial for Murder, Pond Inlet, 1923.

Grant, Shelagh D. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002.
  • 1923 Canadian Murder Trial at Pond Inlet.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Fascinating book on the introduction of European-based law into a culture that had no reason to understand it, in its communitarian consensual approach to justice. Well-written and badly proofed, but worth the read.

Tom Cringle’s Log.

Scott, Michael. Two Volumes. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1833.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Early maritime fiction, sometimes compared to Marryat’s work. There is a good deal of material, not very respectful, about black sailors. Not much reading amidst the swashbuckling, except for burials. An example:

The Polar Rosses: John and James Clark Ross and their Explorations.

Dodge, Ernest S. (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

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.

The Tragedy of the Italia, with the Rescuers to the Red Tent.

Giudici, Davide. New York: Appleton, 1929.
  • 1928 Italian North Pole Flight of Umberto Nobile (aboard the airship Italia).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

An account by an Italian reporter aboard a Russian icebreaker looking for Nobile after the airship had crashed.

The Krassin.

Parijourire, Maurice. Trans. by Lawrence Brown. New York: Macaulay Co., 1929.
  • 1928 Russian Rescue Operation for Nobile.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

Russian ice-breaker involved in Nobile rescue in 1928. A romanticized and heavily pro-Soviet account.

Arctic Exploration.

Hoare, J. Douglas. . London: Methuen & Co., 1906.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 89: Very little that is worthy of note occurred during the first winter. The monotony of the excessively dull season was, however, relieved by the appearance of a party of Eskimos, who proved to be thoroughly friendly, except on one occasion when they nearly assassinated half the party because they imagined that they had caused the death of one of the members of their tribe by witchcraft.

Explorers Club Archives II

  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, EC2007-07 [Not all of these files have been carefully reviewed and some await further inspection.]

Voices in Stone; A Personal Journey into the Arctic Past.

Schledermann, Peter. Calgary, AL: Arctic Institute of North America, 1996.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Voices in Stone is a personal journey of discovery, a portrait and a history of the human presence in the far northern regions of Canada. Archaeological investigations have provided us with a window into the world of the Palaeo- and Neo- eskimos who occupied the High Arctic intermittently for more than 4000 years. The book tells the story of the search for evidence of ancient human settlements on the central east coast of Ellesmere Island and the exciting discovery of Norse artifacts in thirteenth-century Neoeskimo winter houses. In 1818, Sir John Ross made the first recorded Western contact with descendants of the Neoeskimos, the Polar Eskimos or Inughuit of North Greenland. His entry into Baffin Bay led the way for Western whalers, explorers, and North Pole seekers, whose presence turned out to have dramatic consequences for the Inughuit. Voices in Stone is not only an account of the discovery of archaeological materials in the High Arctic, but a story of life in remote, isolated research camps occasionally threatened by sudden, violent storms or curious polar bears.

To the South Polar Regions: Expedition of 1898-1900.

Bernacchi, Louis Charles. Bluntisham, UK: Bluntisham Books, 1991. [Facsimile of London 1901 edition.].
  • 1898–1900 British Antarctic Expedition (Carsten Borchgrevink on Southern Cross).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Hardly the most scintillating of Antarctic narratives, but fascinating for the way in which Bernacchi ignores the presence of Borchgrevink, referring to him only as the commander (almost never by name), never giving him any role in the expedition. See Janet Crawford’s edition above for a more candid account of the expedition. Bernacchi’s emphasis was always on science and much of this account is a description of what he and his colleagues found, indicating other avenues of exploration. There are many literary allusions and quotations, but little indication of what he read aboard ship or while wintering at Cape Adare.

Life Aboard: The Journals of William N. and George F. Smith.

Smith, William N. and George F. Edited by Alan D. McNairn. (Saint John, CAN: NBM Publications, 1988.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Diaries of typical 19th-century voyages by New Brunswick ships to all over the world, usually carrying timber. Nothing polar about it (mostly St John to Liverpool), but an interesting example of a seaman’s journals.