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.
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.
- 1897-98 US Revenue Service Cruise and Overland Rescue Expedition in Relief of Whalers (Tuttle aboard Bear).
- Arctic Reading: United States
Scientific American Handbook of Travel. With Hints for the Ocean Voyage, for European Tours and a Practical Guide to London and Paris.
- Maritime Reading
A compendium of shipboard needs including recommendations for desirable reading on lengthy ocean voyages.
Master Mariner: Capt. James Cook and the Peoples of the Pacific.
- 1768–79 British Naval Expeditions of Captain James Cook.
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
p. 51: On all three voyages, Cook carried with him the Earl of Morton’s Hints offered to the consideration of Captain Cook…on what to make note of when encountering new nations. Religion, morals, order, government, distinctions of power, police and tokens for commerce were prominent subjects for inquiry. [Footnote on p. 162 identifies this as: Douglas, James, 14th Earl of Morton. Hints Offered to the Consideration of Captain Cooke, Mr Banke, Doctor Solander and the other Gentlemen who go upon the Expedition on Board the Endeavour. Manuscript. Commonwealth National Library, Canberra, dated Chiswick Wednesday 10th August 1768.]
To the Arctic: The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times to the Present.
- Arctic Reading: General
p. 103, on Parry’s 1819-20 expedition: A school was formed to teach the men to read and write. Captain Sabine edited a weekly, the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, for the amusement of the officers, and they in turn amused the men. Fortnightly a farce that had had a successful run in London was given. Christmas was celebrated by a special dinner and an operetta, Northwest Passage. [A facsimile page of the gazette is on p. 102.]
History of the American Whale Fishery from Its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876.
- Whalemen's Reading
One of the classics of early whaling literature, though with little material about whaling life at sea or ways to occupy time.
Miscellaneous notes, etc. from diaries.
- 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Includes a list of books that seems to serve as something of a circulation record as well, indicating the person who had the book and in some cases gives a date of Jan 31which may have indicated a loan period. It does not include everything known to have made it to Elephant Island, such as 5 vols. of the Britannica. In fact few of the items on this list did make it beyond Dump Camp.
Greenland Journey: The Story of Wegener’s German Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31 as Told by Members of the Expedition and the Leader’s Diary.
- 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
- Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
p. 140, Karl Weiken on the relief journey: During the excessive exertions and nerve-racking hustle of the summer we had often looked forward to the long restful winter night. First we would rest awhile and collect ourselves, and then we would be able to enjoy a good book again.
Man the Ropes.
- 1930-31 British Greenland Air Route Expedition.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
A short autobiography that covers his early Greenland trip with Gino Watkins, the British Arctic Air Route Expedition of 1930.
A History of the Whale Fisheries, from the Basque Fisheries of the Tenth Century to the Hunting of the Finner Whale at the Present Date.
- Maritime Reading
p. 178, [don’t know that this is relevant but worth checking—books here may refer to account books ]: … as they claim to know the procedure of the former company having their books in their possession, they are first in the field and " that the design manifestly tending to the increase of navjgation, and the benefit of all His Majesty's subjects, it is humbly hoped, will receive countenance and encouragement."
Adventurous Life.
- Antarctic Reading: General
Mountevans was involved in relief expeditions for both of the Scott journeys. He writes with good humor and amusing anecdotes. He tells one involving a salvage expert, Commodore Sir Frederick Young, about the Magellan Straits and a salvage ship on which the Commodore happened to see a notice from the Independent Press Association offering a £500 reward for anyone who could “discover and forward to them the Bible of the explorer Louis de Rougemont which was lost in the steamer, Ananias, wrecked in Magellan Straits. The Bible can well be identified, since the explorer’s name is written on the fly-leaf in his own blood.” The Commodore and fellow sailors decided to create one, found a Bible, soaked it in sea water, found de Rougemont’s signature in a signed article in Wide World Magazine, and used the Commodore’s blood (he was chosen by lot) to forge Rougemont’s signature on the fly-leaf. They then sent the Bible off to the Press Association and claimed the reward. After two months they received this reply: …I am also directed to state that although the sea has worked many marvels, the Directors of the Independent Press Association cannot believe that it has succeeded in translating completely a French Bible into English!” (p. 134-36)
[Review]. “Account of the Proceedings of H. M. S. Enterprise from Behring Strait to Cambridge Bay.” By Capt. R. Collinson.
- 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
- Arctic Reading: Great Britain
The Enterprise and the Investigator set sail together in 1850 to establish the North Pacific arm of the Franklin Search, hoping to meet the by-then missing Franklin as he emerged from the Northwest Passage. It was not to be: the ships were separated after successfully navigating the straights of Magellan only to be met by high seas that separated them forever. This paper was communicated to the RGS by Sir George Back, from Captain Collinson of the Enterprise.
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
The letters are ostensibly addressed to a Brother of the officer-author named Thomas, giving in the first paragraph the conclusion “that a practical communication by sea, round the northern coasts of North America, is not to be attained. The letters recount an officer’s view of the second Parry voyage of 1819, which wintered in Winter Harbour, produced work of the Royal Arctic Theatre, and started a ship’s newspaper. This account gives ample evidence of Parry’s benevolent rule over the men and his religious dedication. Possible authors of these letters were officers Matthew Liddon, Edward Sabine, Henry Hoppner, and Frederick Beechey. [Find the author??]
Notes from Discovery Journal & Sledging Diaries of R W Skelton
- 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Ms Skelton subsequently published her grandfather’s diaries as The Antarctic Journals of Reginald W. Skelton: “Another Job for the Tinker. (Cheltenham, UK: Reardon Publishing, 2004):
Arctic Justice: On Trial for Murder, Pond Inlet, 1923.
- Arctic Reading: Inuit and other indigenous people
Fascinating book on the introduction of European-based law into a culture that had no reason to understand it, given its communitarian consensual approach to justice. Well-written and badly proofed, but worth the read.
Still No Mawson: Frank Stillwell’s Antarctic Diaries 1911-1913.
- 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Frank Stillwell was geologist on Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14. His diaries present him as a mild-mannered somewhat recessive personality, but they are candid enough to include several critical comments about the leader as moody, irascible, inconsistent, and arbitrary. Most of his comments on reading are confined to the period of the austral night of May to August 1912, and are mostly notes of what other people were reading, including Mawson reading aloud from Aurora Australis and South Polar Times (p. 49), Mawson reading his lectures on Polar exploration (p. 80), Mawson reading Robert Lewis Stevenson (p. 83-84), Madegan reading ‘Lady Betty across the water’ (p. 85), Mawson reading Kipling on the Flag (p. 86), and Mawson reading Robert Service’s The Trail of ‘98 over a few days (p. 89-92). These reading references generally cease with the gradual return of light in August/September.