A Voyage of Discovery, Made under the Orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty’s Ships Isabella and Alexander, for the Purpose of Exploring Baffin’s Bay, and Inquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage.

Ross, Sir John. Second edition. Two volumes.(London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1819).
  • 1818 First British Northwest Passage Expedition (John Ross aboard Isabella with the Alexander).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

The first nineteenth-century attempt to locate a Northwest Passage was commanded by John Ross, a moderately successful expedition that ruined his reputation. John Barrow of the Admiralty was so outraged at Ross’s failure to explore fully Lancaster Sound that he did everything in his power to discredit Ross after this expedition.

A Journal of Voyages & Travels in the Interior of North America, Between the 47th and 58th Degrees of Latitude…

Harmon, Daniel William. Andover, MA: Flagg and Gould, 1820. [See also a later edition called Sixteen Years in the Indian Country,ed. William Kaye Lamb (Toronto: Macmillan, 1957).].
  • Hudson's Bay Company.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

A very long sojourn (1803-1818 or so), by a Christian fundamentalist troubled by sin but trusting in God. Had a common law native wife who is not discussed very much until he finally marries and in reference to children. Tells harrowing tales of native drinking and its consequences, despite the fact that he provided liquor to them. On the death of his son, see p. 238-39.

“Samuel Hearne’s Accounts of the Massacre at Bloody Fall, 17 July 1771”

Maclaren, I. S. Ariel No. 1 (1991) 25-51.
  • Hudson's Bay Company.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

By comparing Hearne’s field notes to the posthumous published vision of Hearne’s Journey, Maclaren calls into question the later Hearne account of the young woman at Bloody Fall. George Back was the first to call it into question. The horrid elaboration comes in the published version, not before, and indicates a good deal of editorial meddling. In his notes Hearne is only a neutral onlooker; in publication he is a reluctant participant.

Mid-Ice: The Story of the Wegener Expedition to Greenland.

Georgi, Johannes. Translation by F. H. Lyon. [Preface by Einar Mikkelsen] London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1934.
  • 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

p. xii: It is a human document of importance, which will show coming generations till remote ages what German scientists will dare that they may follow their scientific vocation and do honour to their country.

The Life of Sir Martin Frobisher.

McFee, William. (New York: Harper & Brothers, MCMXXVIII). 1928).
  • 1576-78 The Baffin Island Voyages of Martin Frobisher.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 37-8: Expense inventory of Frobisher’s first voyage in 1576 include:

The Seaman’s Friend; Containing A Treatise on Practical Seamanship; A Dictionary of Sea Terms; Customs and Usages of the Merchant Service; Laws Relating to the Practical Duties of Master and Mariners.

Dana, Richard Henry. Fifth Edition.Boston, MA: Thomas Groom, 1847.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

A comprehensive manual of most aspects of seamanship at the height of sail, and near the beginning of steam. There are a few rudimentary references to books and reading, rather surprisingly few for a man of Dana’s literary tastes.

1908-14 Douglas Mawson book lists

Mawson, Douglas.
  • 1908-09 British Antarctic Expedition; 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Included in Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Diaries is a list of books considered part of the equipment of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1908-09, led by Shackleton aboard Nimrod, and in which Mawson served as “Physicist” of the expedition. The books are mentioned in Mawson’s Antarctic Diaires, ed. By Fred & Eleanor Jacka (Sydney 1988), on p. 6 under the entry for 12 January 1908. The original pencil mss. diary is Notebook 2 (16 December 1908 – 10 February 1909, entitled “Douglas Mawson, his diary of journey from depot on shore of Ross Sea, N of Drygalski Glacier to South Magnetic Pole” (Jacka, p. xiii). The handwritten list is in most cases quite specific about the edition and these have been relatively easy to identify.

South Polar Times.

London: Smith, Elder, 1907-14. Dartmouth. STEF G850 1901 q. D7. 6 vols.
  • 1907-09 British Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Nimrod).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Vol. III. P. 37:

An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveeries in the Southern Hemisphere, And Successively Performed by Commodore Byron : Captain Carteret, Captain Wallis : And Captain Cook. Drawn Up from the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders, And from the Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq; by John Hawkesworth.

Hawksworth, John. In Three Volumes. London: W. Straham and T. Cadell, 1773.
  • 1768–79 British Naval Expeditions of Captain James Cook.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A very controversial work, Hawksworth being heavily attack by Philip Carteret in particular for distorting the nature, failures, and successes of the Carteret circumnavigation.

Étoffe du pays: Lower St. Lawrence Sketches.

Simms, Florence Mary. Toronto: Musson, n.d.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

This alleged children’s book is undated but probably describes events and publication of the mid-1920s. A couple of jems are worth recording from this delightful book:

That First Antarctic Winter: The Story of the Southern Cross Expedition of 1898-1900, as Told in the Diaries of Louis Charles Bernacchi

Bernacchi, Louis Charles. Written and Edited by Janet Crawford. Christchurch, NZ: South Latitude Research Limited, 1998.
  • 1898–1900 British Antarctic Expedition (Carsten Borchgrevink on Southern Cross).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A rather heavily edited version of Bernacchi’s diaries together with passages from To the South Polar Regions, with connecting commentary of tedious nature, until the end. Most interesting are the feuds between Borchgrevink and Bernacchi, which are well-captured in the text. Not much reference to reading, books, etc., nor the supposedly decent library aboard ship. Here are a few references:

In the Lena Delta: A Narrative of the Search for Lieut.-Commander DeLong and His Companions; Followed by an Account of the Greely Relief Expedition, and a Proposed Method of Reaching the North Pole.

Melville, George Wallace. Edited by Melville Philips. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1885.
  • 1879-81 US North Pole Expedition (commanded by George De Long aboard Jeannette).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

This was the crucial expedition in finding the fate of DeLong and the Jeannette.

Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition.

Beattie, Owen, and John Geiger. Vancouver, B.C., GreyStone Books, 1987.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

A rather lacklustre book about the exhumation of three Franklin sailors in 1984. Spectacular for its pictures of the corpses; less so for a few things about books.

Cape Clay Diary, March 1 – June 21, 1884.

Brainard, David L. Dartmouth Digital Collections. https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/brainard-diary/diplomatic/brainard-2-diary-diplomatic.html.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

To an almost hallucinatory degree, this diary by one of the six survivors is remarkably full of recipes and lists of foods and ingredients. A veritable wish list for foods, and even desirable books, as in entry below: