Lines in the Ice: Exploring the Roof of the World.

Hatfield, Philip J. London: British Library, 2016.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

[What follows here is a review I wrote for the journal Historian, included here not as related to reading by polar explorers, but relevant to current reading about them. As far as I know this review was never published, due to some confusion between the US and UK book review editors of Historian.]

Douglas Mawson Book List 1907–09

Mawson, Douglas. from Mawson’s Antarctic Diaries.
  • 1907-09 British Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Nimrod).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Included in Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Diaries is a list of books included in the equipment of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1908-09, led by Shackleton aboard Nimrod 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) p. 6 under the entry for 12 January 1908. The original pencil ms. 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 In the following transcripts of this list, the original text appears in boldface, followed by imprints for the likely editions, transferred from the international data bases of RLIN, WorldCat, or COPAC. In trying to identify probable editions included we have favored the British editions most likely available in Australia, and editions closest in time to the outset of the expedition. Some editions cannot be identified (e.g. the Koran or “several scientific pamphlets”) and are so noted. Some physical volumes are still extant and where known that has been indicated as well.

On Floating Ice: Two Years on Antarctic Ice-Shelf South of 75°S.

MacDowall, Joseph. Edinburgh: Pentland Press, 1999.
  • 1955-59 Royal Society IGY Antarctic Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

For one year MacDowall was the leader of this expedition and base at Halley Bay in the Weddell Sea, one of Britain’s contributions to IGY. It is quite a prosaic account, with little drama, but notable for its citations to the base newspaper, the Halley Comet.

Newspaper clipping

New Zealand Press. SPRI MS 7354/1 BPC leaf 13.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Clipping from this newspaper in SPRI speaking of the “pretentious library” aboard Discovery, and noting that Shackleton had organized it. Probably from the period when Discovery was in Lyttleton, NZ November 1901. See above under Discovery.

Shackleton’s Dream: Fuchs, Hillary and the Crossing of Antarctica.

Haddelsey, Stephen. Stroud, UK: The History Press, 2012.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A solid, workmanlike account of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) which for a time pitted Fuchs and Hillary in a race to the pole. The author calls it “the greatest polar expedition ever forgotten” (p. 251). He alludes to men reading occasionally, but never with any helpful details of which books or how read. General tone at times seems “a pox on both your houses” re the stubbornness of both Fuchs and Hillary.

The Gateways to the Pole,

[Maury, J. B.]. Putnam’s Magazine N.s. IV No. 23 (Nov. 1869) 521-537; “The Dumb Guides to the Pole” N.s. IV No. 24 (Dec. 1869) 727-40.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

An extended and approving study of Silas Bent’s theories of the open polar sea and thermal currents, saying that previous explorers have ignored the natural paths of warm currents & that Bent’s purpose is the humane one of saving lives in fruitless attempts on the North Pole.

Battle for the Soul: Métis Children Encounter evangelical Protestants at Mackinaw Mission, 1823-1837.

Widder, Keith R. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1999.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

This deals mainly with a US phenomenon of attempted religious colonialism with relevance to Métis in Canada (Mackinaw Mission, 1823-37). It seems a good example of indoctrination requiring a degree of literacy devoid of independent thinking. An Anglo-Métis at Lake Leech in 1833 describes the house he built, with its old straw Hat, a violin with all its appendages; a small shelf upon which are the few books we possess…” etc. (p. 12). Unlike their Chippewa cousins, Métis children at times slept on beds off the ground, listened to their fathers read from books illuminated by candlelight, and danced to fiddle music. Under the same roof, they observed their fathers transact business with their Chippewa relatives and neighbors, who did not utilize amenities such as books and coffee mills…. Boys watched their fathers, some of whom were illiterate, keep records in ledgers of each transaction, often using symbols or pictures to identify each Chippewa customer’s account. Fathers recognized the advantage of written language as a tool to improve the operation of their businesses” (p. 13). Métis boys learned to speak French and/or English from their fathers and Chippewa from their mothers. Métis males could thus communicate with all members of the fur-trade society. Métis boys possessed skills that Chippewa youth did not. (p. 14).

Redburn: His First Voyage, being the Sailor-boy Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, in the Merchant Service

Melville, Herman. . (Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern-Newberry, 1969).
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 47-8: And I remembered reading in a magazine, called the Sailors’ Magazine, with a sea-blue cover, and a ship painted on the back, about pious seamen who never swore, and paid over all their wages to the poor heathen in India; and how that when they were too old to go to sea, these pious old sailors found a delightful home for life in the Hospital, where they had nothing to do, but prepare themselves for their latter end. And I wondered whether there were any such good sailors among my ship-mates; and observing that one of them laid on deck apart from the rest, I thought to be sure that he was one of them: so I did not disturb his devotions: but I was afterwards shocked at discovering that he was only fast asleep, with one of the brown jugs by his side.

The Voyage of the ‘Fox’ in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions.

McClintock, Frederick M. With maps and illustrations. (Philadelphia: J. T. Lloyd, 1860).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

Two reading-related matters stand out in this account: the dependence on whalers for annual delivery of newspapers and other reading (see p. 111, 119), and the availability of an arctic library aboard the Fox, provided by the Admiralty, allowing M’Clintock to make regular references to past occurrences in polar exploration, including specific dates and places, and to verify later native accounts.

A True Description of Three Voyages by the North-East towards Cathay and China, Undertaken by the Dutch in the Years 1594, 1595, and 1596. …

Veer, Gerrit de. Translated into English by William Phillip. Edited by Charles T. Beke. London: Hakluyt Society, 1853.[1ser, no. 13; a second edition appeared in 1876 as 1series, no. 54].
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. lix-lxii: The introduction has an inventory of the many relics found at the final site of Barents fatal expedition. No 75 includes the following items: A great number of prints from copper engravings, completely frozen together, including some of Goltzius; Pallas, Juno, and Venus, with Bosscher excudit; scenes from the Bible. “The manner of engraving the names of the engravers proves that all these must have been the work of the sixteenth century. It may seem strange that Arctic navigators had prints or engravings on board, but it is not at all so, for Heemskerck and Barendsz intended to go as far as China, when they sailed to the North-East. For that purpose they had merchandise on board, and prints or engravings were often used as such.

Icebound in the Siberian Arctic: The Story of the Last Cruise of the Fur Schooner

Gleason, Robert J. Nanuk and the International Search for Famous Arctic Pilot Carl Ben Eielson . Anchorage, AK: Alaska Northwest Pub. Co., 1982.
  • 1928-29 Soviet Trading Voyage in Northwest Passage (aboard Nanuk).
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

The story of a fur trading vessel that wintered over at North Cape near the Bering Straits among Chukchi Eskimos, together with an account of the rescue attempt by air of Carl Ben Eielson, founder of Alaskan Airlines. In 1929, Eielson died alongside his mechanic Earl Borland in an air crash while attempting to evacuate furs and personnel from the Nanuk , then trapped at North Cape.

The Rescue of Captain Scott.

Aldridge, Don. East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1999.
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A judicious debunking of the Scott myths which had in turn rescued him from mediocrity. Draws on Huntford and many others to show Scott as inept, petulant, and egomaniacal.