Safe Return Doubtful: The Heroic Age of Polar Exploration.

Maxtone-Graham, John. New York: Scribner’s, 1988.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

p. 1: On the night of January 30, 1916, a frail, white-haired gentleman retired to the bedroom of his house in London’s Eccleston Square. Once undressed, he swung expertly into a hammock and, as he had done for more than seven decades, read himself to sleep in traditional Royal Navy fashion: One hand held his book, the other a candle, exactly as he had learned as a midshipman in 1844.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Ethiopic and South Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Chinese Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, in the Yeas 1829, 1830, 1831.

Morrell, Abby Jane. New-York: Published by J. & J. Harper, 1833.
  • 1822-31 Four US Voyages to South and North Pacific Seas and Antarctica (Capt. Benjamin Morrell aboard Various Ships).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Mrs. Morrell followed her husband’s larger and multi-voyage 1832 narrative by only one year, and was considerably more successful with her account of the last of her husband’s voyages. No doubt its greater appeal lay in the unusual phenomenon of a woman’s account of such a voyage. The pair deserve a dual biography.

The White Betrayal.

Unger, Hellmuth. Translated by Derick Wulff. New York: Brentano’s, 1928.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Translation of Eisland, a romanticized juvenile novel about the Greely expedition, concentrating on the last year, what he calls “the greatest tragedy in the annals of the Arctic” (pace Franklin, etc).

The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909

Berton, Pierre. New York, Viking, 1988. [Penguin Books ed., 1989].
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

The late Pierre Berton (d. 2016) was a Canadian writer on northern affairs combining a lyrical capacity to capture the history of the North with a critical sympathy and perhaps undue haste. Here he covers a century of exploration, ending in the middle of the “Heroic Age” with Peary’s last expedition.

Report on Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1883.

Garlington, Ernest A. Washington, DC: Signal Office, 1883. [Signal Service Notes No. X.].
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

p. 25, among supplies provided for the expedition: 45. 150 blank books. 46. 12 blank daily journals. 47. 280 star charts for auroras. 48. 750 forms No. 102 for self register. 53. 4 boxes pens. 54. 2 reams legal cap. 55. 4 reams letter paper. 57. 2 reams foolscap. 58. 4 quarts Arnold’s ink. 60. 1 reading glass. 69. 1 ream computing paper. 70-82. multiple copies of forms and instructions. 100-12. Various titles: Treatise on Aneroid Barometers; Admirlty Manual of Scientific Inquiry; Arctic Manual,1875; Vega’s Logarithms; Nautical Almnac, 1883 (2 copies); Nautical Almanac, 1884 (2); Chauvenet’s Astronomy; Chauvenet’s Trigonometry; Loomis’ Meteorology (2); Guyot’s Tables (2); Everett’s Deschanel; Bowditch Useful Tables; Negur on Chronometers (2). 135. Webster’s dictionary.

Cruises in the Bering Sea: Being Records of Further Sport and Travel

Niedieck, Paul. Camden, SC: John Culler, 1995. [First published in 1909.].
  • 1906 British Hunting Trip to Alaska and Siberia.
  • Arctic Reading: Russia
 Preview 

The author hunted bear and sheep in Alaska and Siberia and his book is now especially current as he hunted on the fabled Kamchaka Peninsula where hunting had just opened. The author bagged many brown bears and snow sheep.

Old Whaling Days.

Barron, William. Hull, UK: William Andrews & Co., 1895.
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

p. 59: Conclusion—Advice to Apprentices. NOW if any youth, who is intending going to sea, should read this rough sketch of the life of an apprentice, I would advise him to be very careful how he enters upon his duties. He should be civil to everybody and dutiful to his officers, doing his best to gain their good-will by performing what he is told, cheerfully. When he is set to do anything, do it quickly with a good grace. Nobody gains ill-will so soon as a sulky, grumbling boy. I will vouchsafe to say at the end of a long voyage a civil boy will be respected. Do not listen to the yarns of some men. When they wish you to stay, leave at once, and begin some trifling job, also improve your mind with reading, and your spare time in learning navigation. When the men see you are superior in education to them, they will treat you with respect. If a poor fellow cannot write, proffer to write his letters for him. It will cost nothing, and he will send a letter to his friends, otherwise he would neglect doing so, and I can assure you that he will befriend you in some way or other. Help those who are not so well educated as yourself, and do not taunt them because they are not so, although there are not so many now as formerly who cannot write.

Polar Colonization: The Preliminary Arctic Expedition of 1877.

Howgate, H. W. Washington: Beresford Printer, 1877?.
  • 1877-78 US Preliminary Arctic Expedition for IPY 1881-84 (led by Howard Howgate).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Describes a preliminary plan of exploration, useful for another main expedition of 1878, but involving both meteorological and naturalist research. The expedition had George Tyson as choosing a suitable ship, the Florence, and captain of the expedition which sailed on August 3 from New London for a year-long venture. Howgate was a flawed character who nonetheless was a consummate bookman, none better to prepare for the book needs of the IPY expedition in 1881.

Newspaper clipping

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

The Third Reich in Antarctica: The German Antarctic Expedition 1938-39.

Lüdecke, Cornelia and Colin Summerhayes. Bluntisham, Hunts. UK. Bluntisham Books, 2012.
  • 1938-39 German Antarctic Expedition (aboard Schwabenland).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Ignoring the potential onset of war, this German exploration involved study of whaling possibilities, the study of the usual scientific subjects, the search for raw materials and strategic military advantages, and land claims over what Norwegians had already claimed as Dronning Maud Land. It was a short trip during the Antarctic summer, and plans for subsequent expeditions were abandoned when WWII began. Its ship was the Schwabenland with Alfred Ritscher as leader of the expedition and Alfred Kottas as Captain of the ship. The book examines the accomplishments of the trip and debunks the various myths that had grown around this German initiative (secret bases, submarines, and UFOs) and dismisses them as fantasy.

The Wicked Mate: the Antarctic Diary of Victor Campbell. An Account of the Northern Party….

Campbell, Victor. Edited by H. G. R. King. Bluntisham, UK: Bluntisham books, 1988.
  • 1910-14 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott on Terra Nova).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Campbell’s chief Antarctic activity was as first officer to Robert Falcon Scott on the Terra Nova expedition. As leader of the Northern Party (earlier called the Eastern Party), he led his team of six men while stranded for a winter in an ice cave on Inexpressible Island. On returning finally to Cape Evans and learning of Scott’s death, Campbell took command of the Terra Nova expedition.

The Voyages of Captain Scott….

Scott, Robert Falcon. Edited by Charles Turley, with an introduction by J. M. Barrie. London: Smith, Elder, 1914.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

A completely adulatory semi-biography, much from Scott’s writings. Ex:

Shackleton Discovery Diaries. Vol. 1 Dec. 1901-1902.

Shackleton, Ernest. SPRI Ms 1537/3/4/1 and 2.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

p. 5, Thursday [Dec] 26th: One of the officers of the “Ringarooraa” sent me Swinburne’s “Songs before Sunrise” and two volumes of the Poems and Ballads, but I don’t think there will be much time to read these during the summer; during the long winter far away from the teeming life of the great world one may calmly criticize his rather erotic lines.