Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains under Sail

Druett, Joan. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.
  • Maritime Reading
    Whalemen's Reading
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This is a rather delightful book, based on the diaries and journals of women “sailors” accompanying their husbands on sea voyages. The women and the locations of their manuscripts (largely in maritime and historical museums) are listed in an Appendix. One assumes that most of these women were both educate and of a fairly independent streak for their times.

Round the Horn before the Mast

Lubbock, Alfred Basil. New York: E. P. Dutton. 1907.
  • 1899- American Schooner Voyage from San Francisco to Europe and Round the Horn aboard Royalshire.
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 17, after a day of shoveling coal he and his new English friend cleaned up and went to the opera to see “Carmen.”

At Sea with the Scientifics: The Challenger Letters of Joseph Matkin.

Matkin, Joseph. Edited by Philip F. Rehbock. Honolulu, HA: University of Hawaii Press, 1992.
  • 1872-76 Challenger Expedition of Natural History (George Nares and Frank Thompson).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 17, Introduction: Books and newspapers were no doubt available in the ship’s library, which during a portion of the voyage was in the charge of Matkin’s immediate supervisor, the ship’s steward. In addition, a special collection of scientific and travel books was taken aboard explicitly for the expedition (see Appendix E), although these were probably reserved for the use of the scientific staff and may not have been readily available to Matkin. It is also possible that bulletin’s describing the ship’s ports of call were posted for the crew’s edification. Finally, Matkin himself on more than one occasion mentions visiting a library ashore.

Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson’s Bay in His Majesty’s Ship Rosamond Containing some Account of the North-Eastern Coast of America and of the Tribes of That Remote Region.

Chappell, Edward. London: Printed for J. Mawman, Ludgate Street, 1817.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Chappell was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy who published two books on his Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hudson’s Bay voyages. He was one of the first English explorers to spend time with the indigenous peoples, both Indian and Esquimaux. He was rather viciously attacked by William Gifford’s Quarterly Review; his own scathing response is included at the end of some copies of both of his books.

The Lord’s Librarians: The American Seamen’s Friend Society and their Loan Libraries 1837-1967

Stam, David H. Coriolis: Interdisciplinary Journal of Maritime History III no. 1 (2012) 59 p. Online through Mystic Seaport.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. 1 Abstract: "The Lord's Librarians" describes in new detail the activities of the American Seamen's Friend Society in distributing loan libraries to merchant and naval ships for over 130 years. Based on the archives of the Society in the G.W. Blunt White Library at the Mystic Seaport Museum, the study examines the history of the Society in its efforts towards moral improvement of seamen, fostering temperance, reducing licentiousness, encouraging Sabbath worship and observation, countering swearing, and promoting thrift and financial responsibility among sailors. It examines the largely evangelical collection development policies for these compact 40-45 volume library boxes, and attempts to locate the surviving boxes and surviving books from these libraries. It ends with some unanswered questions which deserve further study.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket….

Poe, Edgar Allan. New York: Library of America, 1984. p. 1003-1182.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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Fictional account of mutiny on Grampus, June 1827, followed by rescue by a whaler which sailed nearly to the South Pole. Very little about books, but the cabin of Pym’s friend Augustus contained “a table, a chair, and a set of hanging shelves full of books, chiefly books of voyages and travels” (p. 1021). When Pym, a stowaway, was first hidden before departure he describes his hideaway on p. 1024: “I now looked over the books which had been so thoughtfully provided, and selected the expedition of Lewis and Clarke to the mouth of the Columbia. With this I amused myself for some time, when growing sleepy, I extinguished the light with great care, and soon fell into a sound slumber.” That seems to be the last mention of books in this exciting and inventive tale.

Bellingshausen and the Russian Antarctic Expedition, 1819-21.

Bulkeley, Rip. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014.
  • 1819-21 First Russian Antarctic Expedition commanded by Captain Thaddeus Bellingshausen (aboard Vostok and Mirny).
  • “Discovery” of Antarctica.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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In an excellent overview of the Bellingshausen expedition, comprising both translations of relevant materials and commentary about the journey, Bulkeley’s Chapter 4, “Wanted on Voyage,” begins with an important section on Books and Instruments, telling us more about specific titles available on this trip than any other early voyage, with the possible exception of La Pérouse (q.v.):

Life on an Icefloe.

Papanin, Ivan Dmitrievich. Translated from the Russian by Fanny Smitham. London: Hutchinson, 1947?.
  • 1938 Russian.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
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A Soviet paean to Stalin and the system, claiming Stalin’s great interest in Arctic science. There is a heavy dose of communist Stalinism written by a rather pedestrian author but still there is some interest simply in seeing what they were reading.

Books Afloat & Ashore: a History of Books, Libraries, and Reading among Seamen during the Age of Sail.

Skallerup, Harry Robert. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1974.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. 4: In 1631, when Captain Thomas James fitted out his vessel in Bristol for a voyage in search of the Northwest Passage, he purchased ‘A Chest full of the best and choicest Mathematicall bookes that could be got for money in England; as likewise Master Hackluite and Master Purchase, and other books of Journals and Histories. [see C Miller, ed. Voyages of Captain Luke Fox of Hull, Hakluyt Soc. London 1894, p. 265-67, 606 p.]

Deadly Winter: The Life of Sir John Franklin.

Beardsley, Martyn. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2002.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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A facile and not very original biography of Franklin, sloppily edited and proofread, but a decent enough overview.

Polar Extremes: The World of Lincoln Ellsworth.

Pool, Beekman H. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 2002.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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A sympathetic but not uncritical account of Ellsworth, his problem with his father, his relationship to Amundsen and Nobile on Svalberg, to Alaska flight, etc.

Seamen’s Missions: Their Origin and Early Growth.

Kverndal, Roald. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1986.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 106-7, on the influence of Lieutenant Richard Marks as an evangelical in the Napoleonic Wars who as minister expanded seaboard services on Nelson’s Conquerer including reading of Sunday prayers, a ship’s choir, and on arrival at home ports: Marks obtained Bibles for every mess, and several hundred tracks for distribution. (Henceforth, he seldom went between decks ‘without seeing some of the crew reading them.) He also organized a ship’s library of evangelical books, with over 150 subscribing members.