The Seaman’s Library Manual.

Howe, Herbert L. Prepared by Herbert L. Howe, Librarian. New York: American Merchant Marine Library Association, 1939. No pagination.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

Introduction by Christopher Morley: I have seen the Green Box in use aboard American ships at sea, and I know what it means…to the reader off duty.

Conquering the Arctic Ice.

Mikkelsen, Ejnar. London: William Heinemann, 1909.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

First edition, with folding map and illustrated throughout with photographs. Mikkelsen's 1906 Anglo-American expedition proved that there was no land north of Alaska. In addition to the scientific data gathered in the expedition, it was noteworthy in its contribution to understanding the Eskimo people. Mikkelsen was awarded a Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographic Society for exploration in the Arctic and for his work in Eskimo resettlement in Greenland.

Narrative of the Wreck of the ‘Favorite’ on the Island of Desolation [Kerguélen Island]

Nunn, John. London: William Painter, 1850.
  • 1825-26 British Sealing Voyage (from London, with Royal Sovereign and Favorite).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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p. 22: …according to the captain’s promise [the whalers] received their extra allowance of grog, with which they retired to their cabins and wiled away the evening in happiness and joviality, telling merry tales and drinking to their absent wives and sweethearts, a prosperous season in the whale and seal fishery, and a happy return to old England!” [The traditional officer’s toast to “wives and sweethearts, may they never meet,” dated appropriately enough from Nelson’s era until January 2014 when it was banned by the Royal Navy.]

Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875-6.

Moss, Edward L. (London: Marcus Ward & Co., 1878).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

p. 9: While our two ships steamed northward along the west shores of Greenland, the novel charm of constant daylight was felt by every one. We all had our own ideas of what Arctic summer would be like, but ideas drawn from books rarely remain unchanged when brought face to face with reality. Although the passage into perpetual day was of course gradual, yet it was quite rapid enough to upset all regular habits.

Band of Brothers: Boy Seamen in the Royal Navy.

Phillipson, David. (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2003).
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
 Preview 

This is partly autobiographical, partly historical in its description of the training and service of boys in the Royal Navy, a system which did not end until 1956, amply demonstrating the RN’s vaunted conservatism. He attended the nautical school for boy seaman known as Ganges, and neatly compares its ancient traditions with those of his post-1950s education.

A Strange Discovery. [ How We Found Dirk Peters].

Dake, Charles Romyn. New York: H. Ingalls Kimball, 1899.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

An 1899 novel intended as a sequel to Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pymin which Poe’s character Dirk Peters provides the ending to Poe’s story. The action takes place far from the sea, in Bellevue, Illinois, but is laced with several accounts of reading experiences. The story itself is firmly within the hollow earth tradition.

Around the World: A Narrative of a Voyage in the East India Squadron, under Commodore George C. Read, by an Officer of the Navy.

Read, George Campbell, USN. In Two Volumes. New-York: Charles S. Francis, 1840.
  • 1838-39 American Circumnavigation (aboard Columbia commanded by George Campbell Read).
  • Global Circumnavigations and Cape Horn Transits.
  • Maritime Reading
 Preview 

Rear Admiral George Campbell Read had a distinguished naval career including service on the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) in the War of 1812, in the Barbary Wars, and in this Sumatra expedition as Commodore of the Columbia. I assume this is his book (OCLC catalogues it as his), but it is hard to tell since the author refers to Read in the third person, and to himself as one of the Professors. Whoever the author, he is a thoughtful, even elegant writer with a self-deprecating impulse not common among admirals or explorers.

The Journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-in-Chief of the Corvettes, Géographe and Naturaliste. Assigned by the Order of the Government to a Voyage of Discovery.

Baudin, Nicolas. Translated from the French by Christine Cornell. Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1974.
  • 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 

This is a magnificent edition of Baudin’s expeditionary journal in English translation, including listings of the exploration books on each of the two vessels. There is nothing that I could easily find in this journal about any reading of those books, though there seem to have been no natural occasions for such reading, e.g. a winterover.

Memoirs and Travels of Mauritius August, Count de Benyowsky. Consisting of his Military Operations in Poland, His Exile into Kamchatka….

Beniowsky, Moriz August, graf von. In Two Volumes.London: G.G.J. & J. Robinson, 1790.
  • 1768-70 Beniowsky Journey and Exile in Kamchatka.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
 Preview 

Exciting story of exile in Kamchatka and the conspiracy to escape. [See also August von Kotzebue’s dramatization of this story: Count Benyowsky; Or, the Conspiracy of Kamschatka, a Tragic-Comedy, in Five Acts.Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane. Translated from the German by R. W. Render. London: New York: Naphtali Judah, 1799.

The Great North Pole Fraud.

Lewin, Walter Henry. London: C. W. Daniel Co, 1935.
  • 1891-1920 Robert Peary and the Search for the North Pole; 1908-09 US North Pole Expeditions under Robert E. Peary (aboard Roosevelt).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

An extended case against Peary based on suspicions of fraudulent Peary timings of his polar dash, on previous fabrications, on his probable incitement to the murder of Ross Marvin by the Inuit, all delivered in the guise of pure innocence in search of truth. Fascinating book if overwhelmingly ex parte. Never mentions Cook at all, although a few references imply his name. Crucial to the case is logbooks and observations, or often the lack of them.