A Voyage to Terra Australis, Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country….

Flinders, Matthew. Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1966. [Facsimile of 1814 edition, Two vols. & atlas volume of individual charts.].
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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Vol. I, p. 6: Among the books on this voyage were the “books of voyages to the South Seas, which, with our own individual collections, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, presented by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, formed a library in my cabin for the use of all the officers.” Every Admiralty chart for Australia was copied for them.

The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore.

Hutchinson, John Robert. London: Eveleigh Nash, 1913.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. 42-3, description of life of impressed seaman: With books he was for many years ‘very scantily supplied.’ It was not till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure with such books as the Old Chaplain’s Farewell Letter, Wilson’s Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man, Secker’s Duties of the Sick, and, lest returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his ailments, Gibson’s Advice after Sickness. Thousands of pounds were spent upon this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet in strict accordance with the amount of storage room available at the various dockyards. [Footnote: Ad. Accountant-General, Misc. (Various), No. 106—Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.]

‘Birdie’ Bowers of the Antarctic

Seaver, George. With an Introduction by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. London: John Murray, 1938.
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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Like Seaver’s biography of Wilson, his fellow death-mate, this is a gentle hagiography of a devout Christian and a much-loved mate. On his training ship he would sit on the main deck every evening “before the whole ship’s company,” and read his Bible for a quarter of an hour (p. 22). I found nothing else about his reading during the Terra Nova expedition, but earlier he speaks of reading and thinking a lot in his spiritual quest (p. 40), of his prayer book, and his “violent attack of skepticism” from reading Darwin’s Descent of Man (p. 47), and this in Ceylon in 1909: “I have brought my Wordsworth up here and read it a bit in my room at night, keeping one eye aloft for spiders, one of which fell on me the other night” (p. 119). He was phobic about spiders.

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
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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 Last Place on Earth

Huntford, Roland. New York, Modern Library, 1999. [First published as Scott and Amundsen in 1979.].
  • Heroic Age 1901-1921.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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This tendentious work has split the community of Antarcticans woefully, with attacks on all sides: against Amundsen, particularly against Scott by the Huntford adherents, and fighting malice with malice, against Huntford himself. Few are wholly objective in this war, but it can be said that Huntford does present useful information when he stays away from anti-Scott speculation. Here are excerpts about reading on the various expeditions he covers.

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.

Arctic Adventure: My Life in the Frozen North

Freuchen, Peter. . New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1935.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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One of two or three autobiographies by Freuchen, this mainly of his life and adventures with Rasmussen during the Thule expeditions. A few things stand out: his total admiration for Robert Peary (of course for Rasmussen as well), his growing sensitivity to Inuit culture (thanks to his marriage with Navarana), and his lack of any literary pretentions. He scarcely mentions anything he does during his leisure time.

An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia…. Performed By command of Her Imperial Majesty Catherine the Second, Empress of All the Russias, by Commodore Joseph Billings, In the Years 1785,&c. to 1794.

Sauer, Martin. London: T. Cadell, 1802.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
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p. 1: …the Admiralty confirmed the officers chosen by the commander, and supplied astronomical and nautical instruments, the charts and journals of all former navigators from the year 1724, and every other article considered as necessary.

A Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook. With an Account of His Life, During the Previous and Intervening Periods.

Kippis, Andrew. London: Bickers and Son, 1883.
  • 1768–79 British Naval Expeditions of Captain James Cook.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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p. 223: Soon after our commander had come to this determination [to sail to the Cape of Good Hope], he demanded of the officers and petty officers, in pursuance of his instructions, the log books and journals they had kept; which were delivered to him accordingly, and sealed up for the inspection of the Admiralty. He enjoined them also, and the whole crew, not to divulge where they had been, till they were permitted to do so by their lordships; an injunction, a compliance with which might probably be rendered somewhat difficult from the natural tendency there is in men to relate the extraordinary enterprises and adventures wherein they have been concerned.

The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1971.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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p. 502, on Martin Frobisher’s first voyage: More impressive than the ships was the equipment…. The literature included two works by André Thever: his Cosmographie universelle, just out, and Singularitez de la France antarctique; and Medina’s Arte de Naviguar, one of the best available treatises on navigation. Strangely enough, Frobisher did not carry William Bourne’s more recent Regiment of the Sea (1574). Probably more for amusement than anything else, he had a copy of Sir John Mandeville’s famous book of whoppers. Also, for good measure, a ‘great’ English Bible. This was probably the ‘Bishop’s Bible’ of 1572, whose title page includes a portrait of the Queen, useful to show the natives…. [Can’t tell the source of Morison’s list but he does suggest there was a complete list somewhere—see Stefansson ed. of Best, v. 2, p. 77-78]

A Time to Speak: An Autobiography.

Fuchs, Vivian. Oswestry, UK: Anthony Nelson, 1990.
  • 1955-58 TAE: Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Fuchs and Hillary).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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A comprehensive story of his life with concentration on his Falklands (FIDS) experience, and the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58. He is very judicious in describing his relations with Hillary on the later, but a certain animosity comes through.

The Lure of the Labrador Wild: The Story of the Exploring Expedition Conducted by Leonidas Hubbard, Jr.

Wallace, Dillon. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1905.
  • 1903 US Personal Exploring Expedition to Labrador by Leonidas Hubbard Jr. and Dillon Wallace.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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As a young lawyer Wallace met Hubbard, an editor of Outing magazine, in 1900 and in 1903 they departed New York to explore the wilder and hitherto unexplored parts of Labrador. It was a difficult journey in which Hubbard died of starvation and Wallace managed to survive and go on to further explorations and successful books. Hubbard’s wife Mina felt that Wallace had disparaged her husband by implying that Leonidas caused the failure—she went on to her own career as successful competitor of Wallace as a Labrador explorer in the “great race of 1905.” All the reading that I could find was Scriptural and from The Book of Common Prayer.