The Pacific Journal of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1767-1768.

Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de. Translated and edited by John Dunmore. (London: Hakluyt Society, 2002).
  • 1766-69 French Expedition (Louis-Antoine de Bougainville aboard Boudeuse).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 7, footnote 1: “Bougainville is fond of sprinkling Latin tags in his text, but he does so from memory and at times misquotes or changes the original. He draws his inspiration here and on a number of other occasions from Virgil’s Aeneid and in particular the first book in which a wild storm drives Aeneas and his men off course.” [Editor’s note]

Sitting on Penguins: Australia and the Antarctic.

Murray-Smith, Stephen. Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Mandarin Australia, 1991.
  • 1985-86 Australian Expedition to Antarctic Bases.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

The author went as a highly critical “ministerial observer” to visit Australian bases in Antarctica and as a journalist reporting on his 1985-86 trip, “a testimony to the spectacular beauty of the region and an indictment of our treatment of it.”

The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the KARLUK

Niven, Jennifer. New York, Hyperion, 2000.
  • 1913-16 Canadian Arctic Expedition (Led by Stefansson with Captain Bob Bartlett commanding the Karluk).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

The doomed voyage was the Stefansson Canadian expedition aboard Karluk in 1913-14.. When Stefansson was ashore hunting for fresh meat in Alaska, the ship was caught in the ice with several men aboard and drifted into the Chukchi Sea with Bartlett now in command. Some have charged that Stef deliberately abandoned the ship and men and the evidence seems ambiguous. Niven is anti-Stefansson to an extreme, and gives a fine portrait of Bartlett’s rescue efforts; while she may have some good points it would be difficult to verify them given the inadequacy of the documentation provided. There is no index.

The Big Sea: An Autobiography….

Hughes, Langston. (New York: Hill & Wang, 1963). [First published in 1940.].
  • Whalemen's Reading
 Preview 

p. 3: Melodramatic maybe, it seems to me now. But then it was like throwing a million bricks out of my heart when I threw the book into the water. I leaned over the rail of the S.S. Malone and threw the books as far as I could out into the sea—all the books I had had at Columbia, and all the books I had lately bought to read.

A Voyage Towards the South Pole, Performed in the Years 1822-24 Containing an Examination of the Antarctic Sea (1827).

Weddell, James. A reprint with a new Introduction by Sir Vivian Fuchs. Second edition. London: David & Charles Reprints, 1970.
  • 1822-24 Weddell Whaling Expeditions.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

It’s obvious that Weddell was well-read on the history of the region he explored (cf. his translation and abstracts of earlier Spanish reports, on p. 61-9), but this isn’t evidence of books aboard—he does speak of the credibility of some books inducing him to search certain islands, implying that copies were on the ship. And the obligatory prayer-books on British ships were certainly present.

Ice.

Jones, Tristan. Kansas City, KS: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Narrative of the author's attempt to sail singlehandedly as close as possible to the North Pole.

Glacier Island: The Official Account of the British South Georgia Expedition 1954-1955.

Sutton, George. London: Chatto & Windus, 1957.
  • 1954-55 British South Georgia [Mountaineering] Expedition.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Sutton recounts the 1954-55 mountaineering expedition to South Georgia, its successes with some peaks and failure with others. Definitely a low-budget affair shipped on a whaling vessel and then used the gaol of a disused whaling station when not out climbing. Engagingly written though hardly over-dramatic.

Mawson: a Life.

Ayres, Philip. Melbourne, Aus.: The Miegunyah Press, 1999.
  • 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A balanced biography of Mawson, emphasizing his achievements but not ignoring his sometimes depressive personality and temper.

A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty’s Ship the Investigator….

Flinders, Matthew. In Two Volumes, with an Atlas. (London: Printed by W. Bulmer./.and Published by G. and W. Nicol, 1814).
  • 1801-03 British Exploring Expedition to Terra Australis (Captain Matthew Flinders aboard Investigator).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

p. 5-6: On the 22nd [1801], a set of astronomical and surveying instruments, for the use of myself and officers, was sent down by direction of the Navy Board, as also various articles for presents to, and barter with, the native inhabitants of the countries to be visited, and many for our own use and convenience. Amongst the latter were most of 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 all the offices. Every chart at the Admiralty, which related to Terra Australis and the neighbouring islands, was copied for us under the direction of the late hydrographer, Alexander Dalrymple, Esq.; who also enriched our stock of information by communicating all such parts of his works as were appropriate to the voyage.

“Antarctic” zwei Jahre in Schnee und Eis am Südpol.

Nordenskjöld, Otto. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1904.
  • 1901-04 Swedish Antarctic Expedition (Otto Nordenskjöld).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

The German edition of Nordenskjöld’s book contains several photographs of reading spaces, esp. opp. p. 210, the author at his worktable.

Sir Francis Drake and the Famous Voyage, 1577-1580.

Thrower, Norman J. W., editor. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984).
  • 1577-80 English Expedition around the World (Francis Drake commanding The Golden Hind).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

An handsome volume celebrating the 400th anniversary of Drake’s voyage to New Albion in 1577, a collection of essays by some of the luminaries of geographic and cartographic history in the later 20th century: John Parry, David Waters, David Quinn, Helen Wallis, and Thrower himself, among others. It is full of puzzles, enigmas, speculations, secrets, etc. There is this intriguing passage at the end of Helen Wallis’ substantial and fascinating essay on “The Cartography of Drake’s Voyage”:

The Home of the Blizzard, Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914.

Mawson, Sir Douglas. Philadelphia: Lippincott; London: Heinemann, [1915].
  • 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

Mawson is certainly one of the legendary explorers of the Heroic Age, one who participated in a number of important expeditions, starting with Shackleton’s Nimrod journey. His expeditions were also among those best supplied with books and other reading matter.