Danish Arctic Expeditions, 1605 to 1620. In Two Books: Book I. The Danish Expeditions to Greenland…; Book II. The Expedition of Captain Jens Munk.

Gosch, C.C.A. Edited, with Notes and Annotations by C.A. Gosch. Two Volumes. London: Hakluyt Society, 1897.
  • 1605-1620 Danish Arctic Expeditions.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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Book I: The Danish Expeditions to Greenland in 1605, 1606, and 1607; to which is Added Captain James Hall’s Voyage to Greenland in 1612.

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

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

A Briefe Historie of Muscovia.

Milton, John. Vol. III. Complete Prose Works. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.
  • Arctic Reading: General
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p. 524: The discovery of Russia by the northern Ocean, made first, of any Nation that we know, by English men, might have seem’d an enterprise almost heroick; if any higher end than the excessive love of Gain and Traffick, had animated the design. Nevertheless that in regard that may things not unprofitable to the knowledge of nature, and other Observations are hereby come to light, as good events ofttimes arise from evil occasions, it will not be the worst labour to relate briefly the beginning, and prosecution of this adventurous Voiage; until it became at last a familiar Passage.

1910-14 Books aboard Fram

As exhibited at the Fram Museum, Oslo, 2015. Contributed by Geir O. Klover, Director of the Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
    Maritime Reading
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Books from the library on the Fram (1910–14).

Bound for Australia: Shipboard Reading in the Nineteenth Century.

Bell, Bill. In Journeys through the Market: Travel, Travellers and the Book Trade. Edited by Robin Myers and Michael Harris. Folkstone, Kent, UK; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1999, p. 119-40. [St Paul’s Bibliographies].
  • Maritime Reading
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A fascinating study of books and reading aboard emigrant ship travelling from Britain to Australia when all sorts of passengers, from gentlemen to convicts, experienced “the longest period of enforced leisure that they would ever again enjoy.

The Charles W. Morgan Ship’s Books, 1841

Leavitt, John F. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 1973.
  • Maritime Reading
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p. 6: The Morgan sailed on her first voyage September 6, 1841, under command of Captain Norton, with twenty-six-year-old James C. Osborn, also of Edgartown, as second mate and keeper of a journal of the voyage. Osborn must have been literarily inclined for he took a library of over seventy volumes with him, including books on history, travel and memoirs as well as twenty-two volumes of Marryatt’s works.

Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS

Henderson, Bruce. Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole. New York: New American Library, 2001.
  • 1870-73 US North Pole Expedition of Charles Hall (aboard USS Polaris).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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A mediocre recounting of the Polaris expedition, the poisoning of Captain Hall, the Tyson trip on the ice floe. Nothing about reading except one note on the presence of books.

Peter Fidler’s Library: Philosophy and Science in Rupert’s Land.

Lindsay, Debra. Readings in Canadian Library History. Edited by Peter F. McNally. (Toronto: Canadian Library Association, 1986). p. 209-29.
  • Hudson's Bay Company.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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p. 209: Peter Fidler, Hudson’s Bay Company servant [surveyor] 1788-1822, was one of the first owners and collectors of books in Rupert’s Land. His penchant for books was not an isolated case of individualism gone berserk, but his permanent acquisition of vast numbers of books was a unique occurrence in Rupert’s Land…. Fidler’s library eventually reached five hundred volumes, a massive collection for a man of modest means.

The Narrative of Captain David Woodard and Four Seamen, who Lost Their Ship while in a Boat at Sea, and Surrendered Themselves up to the Malays, in the Island of Celebes; …Holding Out a Valuable Seaman’s Guide… .

Woodard, David. London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1804.
  • 1793-96 British Officer Voyage. Shipwreck of America and Survival (Captain David Woodard).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
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Introduction by William Vaughan is a veritable guide to reading for seamen. On January 20, 1793, Woodard, an English officer, “sailed as chief-mate in the American ship Enterprise, captain Hubbard, from Batavia, bound to Manila” (p. 2). In seeking provisions, Woodard in a small rowing boat with sail, and with five other sailors, was soon separated from his ship with no water, food, or compass. After other misadventures they fought with some Malays who killed one of their men and then stole the boat, leaving five men stranded and fleeing into the jungle. The Narrative is the rest of the story, plus a series of appendices telling other shipwreck tales.

Voyages of a Modern Viking.

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

The South Pole Expedition 1910-1912.

Amundsen, Roald. Geir O. Kløver (ed.). Oslo, Norway: Fram Museum, 2010.
  • 1910-12 Norwegian National Antarctic Expedition (Amundsen on Fram).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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A heavily illustrated English translation of Amundsen’s diaries from his South Pole expedition. The overwhelming impression of the first 100 pages is Amundsen’s love affair with the dogs, even when he is killing them or sacrificing them for food for the others.

Lieutenant Danenhower’s Narrative of the “Jeannette”

Danenhower, John W. Boston: Osgood, 1882.
  • 1879-81 US North Pole Expedition (commanded by George De Long aboard Jeannette).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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A well-written and sympathetic account by the syphilitic officer who actually served fairly well despite his periodic illnesses, and the opprobrium of having concealed his condition in order to join the expedition.