The Alaska Frontier.

Balch, Thomas Willing. Philadelphia, PA: Allen, Lane and Scott, 1903.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A treatise in defense of the United States claim to Alaska against later claims of Canada.

The Diaries of Frank Hurley, 1912-1941.

Hurley, Frank. Edited by Robert Dixon and Christopher Lee. London: Anthem Press, 2011. P. 1-58.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

These diaries cover most of Hurley’s life, but the following notes are only from his Antarctic experience with Shackleton.

The Voyage of the Discovery.

Scott, Robert Falcon. First published London: Smith Elder, 1905.
  • 1901-04 British National Antarctic Expedition (Scott aboard Discovery).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

[A new edition with introduction by E.C. Coleman was published in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2005.]

The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen

Bown, Stephen R. . Boston: Da Capo Press, 2012.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
 Preview 

Poorly documented, totally derivative (mainly from NY Times), this book is riddled with errors, but generally an engaging and respectful biography. Repeats story of Amundsen’s teenage reading of everything he could find on polar exploration, but adds something about a voyage from Spain to Florida. He is careful to emphasize Amundsen’s careful reading of fellow explorers and his use of that information to give himself an extra edge. For that Amundsen probably gets insufficient credit.

Deep Freeze: the United States, the International Geophysical Year, and the Origins of Antarctica’s Age of Science.

Belanger, Dian. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Pass, 2006.
  • 1957- Operation Deep Freeze.
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
 Preview 

A comprehensive historical account of the development of Operation Deep Freeze and the IGY, dense but well-written. The first eight chapters give the historical development of the American stations: McMurdo, Little America V, the South Pole, and the three more remote gap stations. Chapters 9 to 11 the major scientific areas of research: meteorology, the physics of the atmosphere, and geology/glaciology, making the scientific details clear to the lay non-scientist. The final chapter is about the experience of life on the ice, an evocative account for anyone who was there.

Salt Water Bubbles; Or, Life on the Wave.

Sleeper, John Sherburne. [Hawser Martingale, pseud.]. Boston, MA: W.M.J. Reynolds, 1854.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Stories which originally appeared in the Boston Journal, all dealing with all aspects of nautical life in the American merchant service in the early part of the nineteenth century

International Polar Expedition. Report on the Proceedings of the United States Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land.

Greely, Adolphus Washington. Two volumes.Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888. [U.S. House of Representatives. 49 Congress, 1 Session. Misc. Doc. No. 393].
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Greely’s official report is only 93 pages and records, mostly in monthly segments, the chief events of the expedition. It does not amplify what he already had published more expansively in his Three Years of Arctic Service (1886), but continues the defensiveness over some disputed actions. He is always concerned about the safety of the scientific records and other journals prepared by the expedition.

Typescript Diary, Apr. 24, 1923.

Blackjack, Ada.
  • 1921-23 Canadian Wrangel Island Expedition (Organized by Vilhjalmur Stefansson).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
 Preview 

Blackjack was the only survivor of the Wrangel expedition organized by Stefansson. Diary original and typescript is in STEF MSS. 8

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.

Relics of the Franklin Expedition: Discovering Artifacts from the Doomed Arctic Voyage of 1845.

Walpole, Garth. Edited by Russell Potter. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2017.
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 98-99, relics found at Terror Bay, in boxes found near the sunken ship, with Gilder’s account most focused on the books: Tuktoocheeah said a box containing the bones was outside [the boat] but that a tin box of full of books was in the boat (Stackpole 1965: 74, 75). Gilder recorded that Ogzeuckjeuwock “saw books in the boat place” and confirmed that they were “in the boat,” as was the box of bones (Gilder 2006: 72)…. All of the writers recorded that there were three separate boxes: the first, a metal (tin) box held a number of books; the second, of similar size, contained bones; and the third box, of tin with a red cover held tobacco (Stackpole 1965: 75; Barr 1987: 73; Gilder 2006:73). The box holding the books was variously measured as “about one and half feet wide, one foot deep and nearly two feet long,” (Stackpole 1965:75), “one foot wide and two foot long” (Barr 1987: 73) and “two feet long and a foot square” (Gilder 2006: 72), and was the same size as the box holding the bones, which Schwatka incidentally recorded as two feet long. The different lengths were derived by hand signs from the Inuit (Stackpole 1965: 75). [Has anyone noted that these sizes sound suspiciously similar to the size of ASFS loan libraries. The tin doesn’t sound right however, but these would have been British products.]

Of Whales and Men.

Robertson, R. B. (New York: Knopf, 1954).
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

A delightful account of a ship’s doctor on an 8-month cruise of a whaling factory ship, with something of a psychological emphasis on the men he was with.