Master of Desolation: The Reminiscences of Capt. Joseph J. Fuller.

Fuller, Joseph J. Edited with introduction and notes by Briton Cooper Busch. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1980.
  • 1873-75 American Kerguélen Sealing Expeditions.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

An informal account of a whaleman and two of his sealing voyages to the Kerguélen Islands, the first fairly routine [aboard Roswell King, 1873-75], the second a shipwreck [Pilot’s Bride, 1880-83] and a difficult period of survival there. He clearly was not a great reader but there are a few references.

Sailors’ Life and Sailors’ Yarns

Codman, John . By Captain Ringbolt [pseud.] New-York: C. S. Francis, 1847.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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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.

The Life of Sir Clements R. Markham.

Markham, Albert Hastings. London: John Murray, 1917.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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Pure hagiography by his cousin, also a naval officer. Clements had a short but early naval career which included service as the only midshipman on the Assistance on its 1850-51 search for John Franklin. He contributed to the Aurora Borealis and other papers of the voyage.

The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe.

Nordenskiöld, Adolf Erik. Translated by Alexander Leslie. London: Macmillan and Co., 1886.
  • 1878-80 Swedish Northeast Passage Expedition (Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld aboard Vega).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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Adolf Nordenskiöld was a Finnish aristocrat, Finland then being a part of the Russian empire, who led the first expedition through the entire Northeast Passage in 1878-79. He was a dedicated bibliophile who built a magnificent collection of maps and atlases, now at the University of Helsinki Library, and was a published expert on the early history of cartography. As shown in the notes below, he was even able to use the Vega expedition for his collecting needs.

The Seaman’s Library Manual.

Howe, Herbert L. Prepared by Herbert L. Howe, Librarian. (New York: American Merchant Marine Library Association, 1939). unpaged.
  • Maritime Reading
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Intro. By Christopher Morley: I have seen the Green Box [American Seamen’s Friend Society library boxes] in use aboard American ships at sea, and I know what it means…to the reader off duty.

A Story of British Whaling in Antarctica

McLaughlin, W R D. London: White Lion Publications, 1962.
  • 1962 Pelagic Whaling Voyage to South Georgia.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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By a ship’s doctor, participant on a pelagic whaling expedition to South Georgia, etc. in 1962.

Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor.

Winton, John. London: Michael Joseph, 1977.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 25-26: In July 1838 the Admiralty sanctioned the supply of libraries to sea-going ships. Large ships were issued with 276 books, small ships with 156. The books were mostly religious or of an ‘improving’ nature. Various societies and private individuals also contributed. As early as 1816 a Lieutenant Baker and a Dr Quarrier supplied the Leander frigate, fitting out from Woolwich, with a library of several hundred books. Mrs Elizabeth Fry later persuaded the Admiralty to issue libraries to naval hospitals and to the coastguard.

I Sailed with Rasmussen

Freuchen, Peter. [Freuchen’s Own Story of the Great Explorer].New York: Messner, 1958.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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Primarily a biographical work on Knud Rasmussen. Neat stories on p. 149-51 on making a rotten piece sound enticing to an unsuspecting visitor, and p. 172 about a small boy and a ferocious bear.

Voyages of a Modern Viking.

Hanssen, Helmer. London: George Routledge, 1936.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

For someone who participated in Amundsen’s three major expeditions, went to the South Pole with him in 1910, and was captain of Maud on the later Northeast Passage expedition, Hanssen sounds generally as boring as extreme weather reports, at least in this version. There is no indication of a translator, nor any indication that Hanssen and Amundsen may have had a falling out on the 1918-1920 Northeast Passage trip. So the Fram Museum suggests on its website, citing the journals of other participants as claiming Amundsen fired Hanssen because the designation of Hanssen as captain went to his head. If so, even that excitement is concealed in this book.

Hunting with the Eskimos: The Unique Record of a Sportsman’s Year among the Northernmost Tribe….

Whitney, Harry. New York: Century Co., 1910.
  • Arctic Reading: Inuit and other indigenous people
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Whitney traveled with Peary to Greenland in 1908 and spent the year only with Eskimos north of Etah at Annootok, while Peary was making his north pole attempt. Whitney is the complete hunter, rich and well-provided, and demonstrates some intellectual curiosity about the natives and about the natural resources, and does try to master their language, but he evidently reads little except under the duress of prolonged inactivity.

Danish Greenland: Its People and Its Products

Rink, Henry. Edited by Dr. Robert Brown. London: Henry S. King, 1877.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

p. 168: on training of indigenous boys: The author cannot omit adding one instance to illustrate this. Once he took such a boy with him to Denmark, where he stayed only one winter as apprentice in a printing-office, and acquired a skill in book-printing, lithography, and bookbinding, of which he has afterwards given proofs by managing, all by himself, without the least assistance, a small office in Greenland, the productions of which will be mentioned by and by. This young man is by no means a rare exception; perhaps one out of ten may be found to be equally highly gifted. It cannot be denied that the half-breeds seem to surpass the original race as regards such perfectibility.