Elephant Island: An Antarctic Expedition.

Furse, Chris. Shrewsbury, UK: Anthony Nelson, 1979.
  • 1976-77 British Elephant Island Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This was a BAS sponsored survey of the birdlife of the Elephant Island group of islands of the South Shetlands. Despite a detailed listing of all supplies and equipment for the expedition, there is no mention of books or reading.

Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, from the Frontiers of China to the Frozen Sea and Kamchatka.

Cochrane, John Dundas. Fourth Edition. London: Charles Knight, 1825.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

p. 64-65, walking towards St. Petersburgh: A sigh escaped me as I ejaculated a last farewell, till, startling at the expression of my weakness, I resumed my journey with slow and melancholy steps. It was ten o'clock (for I had now a watch), and I had reached six miles. The night was beautifully clear, though rather cold from the effects of a northern breeze; while the moon was near her full. I looked at the beautiful luminary, and actually asked myself whether I were, as had been asserted, under the baneful influence of that planet. Smiling that I received no reply, I then considered my projects and intentions, and the conduct I ought to follow; and, sitting down at a fountain on the Poulkousky hill, I read to myself a few lessons, which the time and the occasion seemed to inspire. “Go,” said I, “and wander with the illiterate and almost brutal savage—go and be the companion of the ferocious beast!—go and contemplate the human being in every element

South with Mawson

Laseron, Charles F. in Antarctic Witness, introduced by Tim Bowden. Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson, 2000. (With Frank Hurley’s Shackleton’s Argonauts.).
  • 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

First published in 1947, Laseron’s account of Mawson’s AAE is a gentle and generally optimistic account, even when describing Mawson’s perilous journey.

South: A Memoir of theEndurance Voyage.

Shackleton, Ernest, Sir. New York: Carroll & Graff, 1998.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 93, [after abandoning the Endurance]: In addition to the daily hunt for food, our time was passed in reading the few books that we had managed to save from the ship. The greatest treasure in the library was a portion of the Encyclopædia Britannica. This was being continually used to settle the inevitable arguments that would arise. The sailors were discovered one day engaged in a very heated discussion of the subject of Money and Exchange. They finally came to the conclusion that the Encyclopædia, since it did not coincide with their views, must be wrong. ‘For descriptions of every American town that ever has been, is, or ever will be, and for full and complete biographies of every American statesman since the time of George Washington and long before, the Encyclopædia would be hard to beat. Owing to our shortage of matches we have been driven to use it for purposes other than the purely literary ones, though; and one genius having discovered that the paper used for its pages had been impregnated with saltpeter, we can now thoroughly recommend it as a very efficient pipe-lighter.’ [Unclear why this paragraph is in Shackleton’s quotes; could these passages be quoted from Worsley’s diary?]

Daily Journal. Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (primarily temperature, animal, auroral, and magnetic observations). Explorer’s Club Inventory 2003-007. Each page bears stamp reading: “Recovered by Robert E. Peary, C. E., U.S.N., from Fort Conger, May, 1899, under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club, and by it restored to the United States, December, 1899.

Greely, Adolphus W. These volumes are in good condition and show none of the wear seen in other Fort Conger books.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

The official records of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84) at the Explorers Club include the Daily Journal, copies of Letters sent, and the Sledge Journal.

What books were taken to the Antarctic 100 years ago?

Kerley, Paul. BBC News Magazine 2/24/16 Found on the Internet at https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35633374.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

The BBC News Magazine of 24 February 2016 has an article by Paul Kerley which lists the books found in a photograph of the book shelves in Shackleton’s cabin aboard Endurance. The titles were deciphered from a digitized image of the shelves in Shackleton’s cabin. The list consists primarily of mostly undistinguished light fiction, about a dozen reference works, and a smattering of books of Arctic (not Antarctic) exploration

Roughing It in the Bush; Or, Life in Canada.

Moodie, Susanna. Two volumes. New York: George P. Putnam, 1852.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Mrs. Moodie (nee Strickland) sailed on an immigrant ship of mainly Scots headed to Canada in 1832. She writes with a refreshing candour about the trials and tribulations of life in the Canadian bush, direct enough to warrant a Norton Critical Edition in 2007, with extensive supporting material about her life and work.

Ice Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram.

Johnson, Charles W. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2014.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

This is a workmanlike biography of a ship, Fridthof Nansen's Fram, and its major voyages: Nansen's attempt to drift to the North Pole in 1893-96; Otto Sverdrup's journey to Ellesmere Land and Alex Heiberg Island, 1898-1902; and Amundsen's Expedition to the South Pole in 1911-12. It is a good retelling of the major adventures of these three motivated if depressing explorers, though there is little new here and some mistakes and questionable emphases. Although the ship is well-known for its well-stocked library, and that is recognized here, there is little about what was in the library, only some general comments about books in certain fields such as botany and other sciences, and a reading from Corinthians for a burial at sea.

A Black Explorer at the North Pole

Henson, Matthew A. Foreword by Robert E. Peary, Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. Introduction to Bison Book Edition by Susan A. Kaplan. (Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska Press, 1989). [First published as A Negro Explorer at the North Pole in 1912; There are many other editions, often with variant titles.].
  • 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole; 1908-09 US North Pole Expeditions under Robert E. Peary (aboard Roosevelt).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Mostly from Hensen’s diary with connecting narrative of Peary’s North Pole expedition of 1908-9.

Silas: The Antarctic Diaries and Memoir of Charles S. Wright.

Wright, Charles S. (Silas). Edited by Colin Bull and Pat F. Wright. Illustrated by Pat F. Wright. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1996.
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This is a rather thin diary of the Terra Nova expedition, fleshed out by the Editor’s commentary, and diary entries from other diaries for the corresponding dates, and illustrated by charming drawings of hundreds of topical subjects, mostly animals. We know that Wright was a very serious scientist as well as a reader; little of the reading is cited here but there are a few examples:

Letterbooks.

Bryant, Henry. APS Mss. Collection 38, Vol. 1.
  • 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

January 15, 1903, Bryant to Commander Robert Peary, stating his skepticism toward the Smith Sound route to the North Pole: The chances of failure are too great to warrant further endeavor on the old lines. Suggests repeating the Fram experiment of forcing a ship north of Spitzbergen or better routes. Pledges $2000 to the Peary Arctic Club for this alternate proposal.

Antarctic Hazard.

Cockrill, Ross. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957.
  • 1950-51 British Whaling Expedition (aboard Southern Venturer).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Cockrill applied for the job of veterinarian on the British whaling expedition aboard the Southern Venturer in 1950-51, to evaluate the Antarctic whaling population, its health and welfare and the likely survival of the whaling industry in its postwar rebound. Cockrill has a charming style displaying admirable equanimity amidst fanatic whalemen. His ship was part of a large fleet of vessels making annual expeditions which typically killed 34,000 whales.