The Whale and His Captors, Or, The Whaleman’s Adventures, and the Whale’s Biography, as Gathered on the Homeward Cruise of the "Commodore Preble."

Cheever, Henry Theodore. New York: Harper, 1850 [Reprinted Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1991.].
  • 1849 Return Whaling Voyage South Seas to Boston (aboard Commodore Preble).
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Author is a pious, anti-papist clergyman travelling in a whaler from South Seas to Boston, observing whaling practices and especially critical of Sabbath breaking customs of whalers.

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:

Twenty Years before the Mast, Or Life in the Forecastle. … Contain an Account of His Escapes from Wild Beasts; from the Dangers of War; from British Press-Gangs; from Frequent Shipwrecks; Together with Several Remarkable Dreams… and His Conversion to God.

Isaacs, Nicholas Peter. Written by Himself, and Revised by the Editor of “Thirty Years from Home.” New York: J. P. Beckwith, 1845.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Memoir of a sailor born in Norway, removed to England after his father’s death, and shipped as cabin boy at age ten. Sailed the world on sealers and New Bedford ships. He became one of many nineteenth-century sailors turned pious proselytizer in the name of the Holy Spirit and Providence. His rather elaborate dream sequences are redolent of John Bunyan, but apart from his dogged spiritual views there is little evidence of education or reading here. There are a few interesting passages:

Greenland Journey: The Story of Wegener’s German Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31 as Told by Members of the Expedition and the Leader’s Diary.

Wegener, Alfred. Edited by Else Wegener, with the Assistance of Dr. Fritz Loewe. London: Blackie & son, 1939.
  • 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

p. 140, Karl Weiken on the relief journey: During the excessive exertions and nerve-racking hustle of the summer we had often looked forward to the long restful winter night. First we would rest awhile and collect ourselves, and then we would be able to enjoy a good book again.

Across the Sub-Arctics [sic] of Canada. A Journey of 3,200 Miles by Canoe and Snowshoe through the Hudson Bay Region.

Tyrrell, James W. Third Edition. Toronto: William Briggs, 1908. [First published in 1897].
  • 1893 Canadian Overland Expedition through Hudson Bay Region (James W. Tyrell).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Tyrrell was accompanied by his brother, J. B. Tyrrell, on this 1893 excursion. He was responsible for most of the photographs, and this book is dedicated to him. Not very much on reading during this short expedition.

Literacy, Literature and Libraries in the Fur Trade,

Payne, Michael. by Michael Payne and Gregory Thomas. The Beaver 45 (Spring 1983) p. 44-53.
  • Hudson's Bay Company.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

p. 44: However fortunately for me I have dead Friends (my Books) who will never abandon me, till I first neglect them. [Daniel Williams Harmon at Fort Alexandria in 1803.]

The Natural History of the Sperm Whale…, to which is Added, a Sketch of a South-Sea Whaling Voyage.

Beale, Thomas. London: John van Voorst, 1839.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

Part I is a scientific and fairly analytic description of the sperm whale, from physiology to diet to reproductive systems. Part II on the voyage begins in October 1830, observing no land between England and Cape Horn, where the Fuegians despite the gloomy terrain and wretched conditions “seem to possess a considerable share of that inestimable blessing—happiness” (p. 200). It is both charming and frightening in its description of certain adventures, and very good at describing the extremes of ennui and excitement.

Blizzard and Fire: A Year at Mawson, Antarctica.

Béchervaise, John. London: Angus and Robertson, 1964.
  • 1959-60 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

This book concerns the ANARE trip to Mawson in 1959. A somehwat odd book in that it is an epistolary account of a year at an Australian base by letters to a variety of friends and relatives, interspersed with a series of newsletters ostensibly for a public audience. He does tell some exciting stories as the base commander, but his references to reading are more utiitarian than inspirational, for example the use of The Australian Pilot to find repair facilities in various places (p. 24). A discussion of Plato and death is more speculative and a rarity for this book (p. 135). However, there are some quietly meditative passages that make the book valuable and are reproduced here even though unrelated to Antarctic reading.

Ice: The Antarctic Diary of Charles F. Passell.

Passell, Charles F. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 1995.
  • 1939-41 Third Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Passell was a paleontologist and geologist at the West Base of Byrd’s 3rd Antarctic expedition in 1939-41. Passell’s style is rather naïve (e.g., “Boy was it ever hot last night”), but he does mention a good deal of his reading:

Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt: Only Survivor of the Crew of the Ship Boston, During a Captivity of Nearly Three Years among the Savages of Nootka Sound… .

Jewett, John R. New York: Printed for the Publisher [1840].
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

Jewett’s first voyage in 1803 involved some whaling and sealing in the Pacific Northwest, but it was a short time before the ship was captured by the Nootka people and most of the crew killed. Most of the book is devoted to his 28 months of captivity, and his analysis of the Nootka natives.

Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands.

Péron, François, continued by Louis de Freycinet. Second Edition 1824. Translated from the French by Christine Cornell. Introduction by Anthony J. Brown. [Two volumes, plus Atlas]. (Adelaide, Australia: Friends of the State Library of South Australia, 1824).
  • 1801-03 French Exploring Expedition to South Seas and Terra Australis (Captain Nicolas Baudin aboard Géographe).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

To coin a phrase, this could be called a French semi-circumnavigation, from France and back via the Cape of Good Hope. Originally commanded by Nicolas Baudin who died during the expedition, he was replaced by Louis de Freycinet. Curiously Baudin is never mentioned by name in the book (illustrating Péron’s contempt) and his role was widely regarded by the men as a negative one. These volumes are less an official record of the voyage than Péron’s personal account of his naturalist studies framed by the places which they visited.