Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Library Collection - Polar Exploration

Son of an Arctic whaler, William Scoresby (1789-1857) made the first of many voyages to northern latitudes when he was just ten years old. Later a scientist and clergyman, he wrote on a wide range of topics, and his observations on the Arctic prompted further exploration of the region. The two works reissued here together draw on his experience of seafaring in difficult conditions. First published in 1835, Memorials of the Sea is coloured by Scoresby's belief in divine providence. He discusses the observance of the Sabbath at sea, and considers the Mary Russell murders of 1828, where a ship's captain killed his crew. Scoresby interviewed the perpetrator himself and draws his own conclusions as to the meaning of the incident. The second work included in this reissue is The Franklin Expedition (1850), drawing together considerations relating to the fate and whereabouts of the missing explorers.

In 1828 a Danish expedition was sent out from Copenhagen under the command of the naval officer and explorer Wilhelm August Graah (1793-1863). Its goal was to locate lost Norse settlements on the coast of Greenland, which had existed in certain places from around the turn of the millennium until their collapse some centuries later. The Danes did not find any settlement where they searched on the eastern coast, and the men endured harrowing conditions and near starvation during three winters. First published in Danish in 1832 and reissued here in its 1837 English translation, Graah's work opens with a brief history of the exploration and colonisation of Greenland before recounting his own expedition. Observations on the Greenlandic Inuit are incorporated as well. Addressing what was known about the Norse settlements at that time, the appendix also contains the expedition's scientific observations.

This biography of polar explorer Sir Leopold McClintock (his name is also spelled M'Clintock) was published in 1909 by his 'old messmate' Sir Clements Markham (1830-1916), later more famous as a historian. (Several works by both men have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) McClintock (1819-1907) gained experience of Arctic voyages on the expeditions of James Clark Ross and Edward Belcher, during which he undertook several arduous sledge journeys over the ice. In 1854, he took leave from the navy to command the Fox, a ship paid for by Lady Franklin to investigate the fate of her husband's expedition. He found the memorandum, written by his second-in-command, which confirmed Franklin's death in June 1847. McClintock was knighted for his services on his return, and he stayed in the navy, serving on different stations around the world, until his retirement with the rank of admiral in 1884.

In 1881, Adolphus Greely led a US Arctic expedition to gather meteorological, astronomical and magnetic data. It was poorly supported by the US Army, neither Greely nor his men had experience of Arctic conditions, and their ship, the Proteus, sailed home once they had landed in Greenland. An inadequately planned relief mission failed to reach them in 1882, and a second expedition in 1883, including the Proteus (which was crushed by ice), also failed to locate the men or to land sufficient supplies. This official report was published in 1884, and proposes a further rescue mission, much more carefully planned and equipped. It includes, as an appendix, detailed information about Arctic conditions and means of survival from the British naval explorers George Nares and Albert H. Markham. When eventually found, only seven of Greely's original team of twenty-five were still alive. Other accounts of the expeditions are also reissued in this series.

Following distinguished naval service during the Napoleonic Wars, Edward Chappell (1792-1861) took part in two voyages patrolling British fisheries in North America. The second of these, in 1814, is recounted in this journal, first published in 1817. Illustrated with several engravings, Chappell's narrative dwells in particular upon the Inuit, who were little understood by Europeans at the time. Knowing only a few Inuit words, Chappell traded with them and was admitted to their homes. Though somewhat superficial and patronising, his descriptions revised previous accounts and brought new information to English readers. The rest of the journal brims with evocative anecdotes from the journey - a polar bear sighting, a thunderstorm on an ice-ridden sea, a meeting with a renowned Native American chieftain. The appendices provide such additional information as navigational data, details of Inuit dress, and a short vocabulary of the Cree language.

The historian William Coxe (1748-1828) was also an Anglican priest, and had travelled widely in Europe as tutor to various young noblemen on the Grand Tour. (His Anecdotes of George Frederick Handel, and John Christopher Smith is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) This work originated on a visit to St Petersburg, where Coxe had obtained sight of journals by Russian explorers, and also found an anonymous German work on Russian Arctic voyages between 1745 and 1770. Having checked its authenticity with the Russian authorities, he translated it to form part of this book, first published in 1780 and reissued here in its revised third edition of 1787. He also provides various journals and accounts of exploration in Siberia, Kamchatka and the American Arctic, together with information on trade between Russia and China. Readers will gain insights into a rarely considered aspect of Arctic exploration and economic exploitation.

Alexander Fisher (d.1838), ship's surgeon on the Arctic exploration ship H.M.S. Hecla, was the probable author of the anonymous 1819 Journal of a Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic Regions, also reissued in this series. The voyage of the Hecla and Griper began in 1819, and Fisher's account was published in 1821, going rapidly into further editions (of which this reissue is the third). The intention of the expedition, under William Edward Parry, was to find the North-West Passage. It was unsuccessful in this respect (an account by Captain G. F. Lyon of Parry's expedition of 1821-3 is also available in this series), but Fisher's detailed and lively account claims that the existence of the passage has been so far proved that it cannot be doubted. He describes the people and wildlife seen during the voyage, as well as providing technical details of latitude, weather and currents.

A cavalry officer in the US Army, with training in law and medicine, Frederick Schwatka (1849-92) became interested in the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin following the search attempts led by the American explorer Charles Francis Hall. Supported by the American Geographical Society, Schwatka sailed in 1878 with five others in search of written records, believed to be deposited in cairns. A soldier turned journalist, William Henry Gilder (1838-1900) accompanied Schwatka and published this illustrated account in 1882. Their sledge journey with a party of twelve Inuit was at that time the longest on record. No documents were found, but the expedition did discover artefacts and graves of Franklin's men. Schwatka concluded that no scientific results from Franklin existed. In his adoption of Inuit techniques for safe travel in the Arctic, he preceded Vilhjalmur Stefansson by many decades.

After the expedition of Sir John Franklin went missing in the Arctic, a series of search missions were sent out in an attempt to discover its fate. Two of these were funded by, and named after, the American shipping magnate Henry Grinnell (1799-1874), the second of which was launched in 1853. With the brig Advance trapped in ice off the coast of northern Greenland, the expedition's surgeon Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-81) set out in August 1854 with a party of men towards Upernavik. This 1860 publication traces nearly four months spent struggling against horrendous Arctic conditions. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are The Open Polar Sea (1867) and The Land of Desolation (1871), Hayes's account of a more leisurely cruise along the coast of Greenland. Also available is Arctic Explorations (1856), a two-volume account of the second Grinnell expedition by its leader, Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57).

The Challenger Expedition of 1872-6 was conceived to examine the deep sea floor worldwide and disprove the theory of a 'dead zone' in the oceans below a certain depth. Using a modified Royal Navy ship, the expedition sailed nearly 70,000 nautical miles across the globe, collecting oceanographic data and marine specimens, and laying the foundations for the science of oceanography by later publishing fifty volumes of reports. The naturalist Henry Moseley (1844-91) recounts the voyage in this 1879 work, covering visits to many remote islands and the taking of samples at hundreds of locations. The voyage's achievements included the collection of over 4,000 new marine species and the discovery of the world's deepest ocean trench (Challenger Deep). Moseley's observations on native peoples also proved important as traditional cultures were changing rapidly at the time. Illustrated with numerous woodcuts, this narrative illuminates an adventure of great scientific significance.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the northern coastline of North America was of particular interest to the Hudson's Bay Company as it was believed to hold the key to the elusive North-West Passage, a trade route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Recruited to lead a team to survey part of this forbidding region, the Scottish explorer John Rae (1813-93) undertook his first expedition during 1846-7. It was remarkable not only for its success, but also because Rae's was the first crew to overwinter in the Arctic. Unlike other Victorian explorers, Rae embraced the culture of the Inuit and learnt to live off the land like them, which enabled him to complete his survey. First published in 1850, this journal relates the details of his journey as well as how he and his men survived the extreme conditions. It remains a valuable document in the history of Arctic exploration.

In this illustrated 1900 publication, Frederick Cook (1865-1940) gives a detailed account of his experiences on the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, the first to endure the harsh winter of the Antarctic. The goal of the expedition was scientific discovery, and Cook, the ship's doctor, tells an engaging story of 'new human experience in a new, inhuman world of ice'. Boarding the Belgica in Rio de Janeiro, he joined a crew that included Roald Amundsen, who would later lead a Norwegian expedition to the South Pole. Cook describes the challenging conditions in the Antarctic Circle, where the ship became ice-bound for almost a year, with over two months of total darkness. When crew members developed scurvy, Cook took over command from the Belgian naval officer Adrien de Gerlache. Notably, he helped save lives by promoting the consumption of penguin and seal meat at a time when Vitamin C had yet to be discovered.

Having served on expeditions under John Franklin, the British naval officer Sir George Back (1796-1878) had already gained first-hand experience of Arctic peril and survival by the time he was appointed in 1836 to command HMS Terror. His mission was to survey uncharted coastline in the Canadian Arctic, yet Back's ship became trapped in ice near Frozen Strait and was unable to escape for ten months. In this account, first published in 1838, Back lucidly documents the developing crisis, noting the numerous preparations to abandon ship, the deaths of three of his men from scurvy, and the further damage caused by an iceberg after the Terror was freed. Against the odds, the ship managed to reach Ireland in 1837. Naturally, Back gives much credit to the durability of the Terror - originally a bomb vessel from the War of 1812, it had been further strengthened for Arctic service.

The explorer, soldier and geophysicist Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883) served as astronomer on John Ross's 1818 expedition in search of the North-West Passage. His return to the Arctic, under William Parry in 1819-20, compounded a keen interest in geomagnetism and his publications earned him the Copley Medal of the Royal Society (whose presidency he would later hold). His experience and expertise made him a natural editor, therefore, of this Arctic narrative, translated into English from German by his wife, Elizabeth Juliana Leeves (1807-79), and published in 1840. It is the account by Ferdinand von Wrangell (1797-1870), a Russian explorer of Baltic German ancestry, regarding his expedition to survey Siberia's north-eastern coastline. Compiled from the notes of the scientists on board, this work offers a valuable and wide-ranging insight into an inaccessible and little-known portion of the globe.

In May 1824, the British explorer William Edward Parry (1790-1855) took to the seas on his third attempt to discover the North-West Passage, the legendary route to the Pacific along the northern coast of North America. It was a perilous voyage that he abandoned after the wreck of his ship, the Fury; however, during it he made some pioneering discoveries about the route's climate, meteorology, wildlife and nautical conditions, which influenced his successors and remain of interest to scientists and seafarers today. In these fascinating memoirs, first published in 1826, Parry documents his journey, revealing the difficulties he encountered and the phenomena he observed. Through extensive illustrations and vivid descriptions, he recalls the tumultuous weather and treacherous terrain that characterised - and finally defeated - the expedition, and expresses his gratitude to his fellow voyagers, for their bravery and determination in adversity, and their united efforts to save the doomed vessel.

Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was Second Secretary to the Admiralty for forty years. He was responsible for promoting polar exploration, and published two books on the subject for general readers. A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions appeared in 1818, and this 1846 publication continues the story. Drawing on the explorers' own accounts, Barrow describes twelve voyages connected with the search for the North-West Passage. These include two voyages by Sir John Ross, four by Sir William Parry, and two by Sir John Franklin (whose last, fatal expedition was under way when the book was published). Barrow documents the Arctic landscape, fauna and climate, the explorers' clothes and provisions, scurvy (cured by preserved gooseberries and freshly grown mustard and cress), frostbite (necessitating amputations), on-board entertainments, and encounters with 'Esquimaux', providing fascinating insights into the realities of polar expeditions in the mid-nineteenth century.

One of the leading Arctic navigators of his age, William Edward Parry (1790-1855) led three expeditions in search of the North-West Passage (accounts of which are also reissued in this series). Parry's early career had been spent protecting the whaling fleet of Spitsbergen and this experience led him in 1826 to propose to the Admiralty an expedition to the North Pole. In order to reach further north than earlier attempts, Parry used sledge-boats that could be towed over the ice on runners, and then take to any open sea that the crew encountered. In 1827 the expedition attained a record latitude that stood for nearly fifty years. This illustrated account, published in 1828, was described by the Quarterly Review as a record of 'the patient, persevering, energetic, and undaunted conduct which British seamen are capable of displaying, in the most difficult, discouraging, and dangerous circumstances'.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, British Arctic exploration became defined by the search for the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin, who had in fact perished in desperate circumstances in 1847. As a newly qualified naval officer, William Hulme Hooper (1827-54) took part in one of the many expeditions which sought to find Franklin. Embarking in 1848, the crew of HMS Plover spent three winters in the Arctic, with tragic consequences for Hooper's health. On his return, perhaps realising time was short, he wrote this illustrated account of his travels, and saw it published the year before he died at the age of only twenty-seven. The work is of particular interest because of its detailed descriptions of the Bering Sea region, Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Especially noteworthy are the observations on the way of life of the indigenous Chukchi people, whom Hooper called 'Tuski'.

This 1898 English translation of a popular 1895 Norwegian work provides a valuable first-hand account of Arctic exploration in Greenland. Elvind Astrup (1871-95) took part in the expeditions led by the American explorer Robert Peary (1856-1920) between 1891 and 1894. Another of Astrup's shipmates during this time was Frederick Cook (1865-1940), who would later claim to be the first man to have reached the North Pole. Astrup gives here a short narrative of the expeditions, yet the real appeal of his work lies in its vivid descriptions of life on the ice - not merely that of the explorers, but crucially that of the Inuit, whose survival skills and techniques were later to prove invaluable during Peary's own drive towards the Pole. Numerous illustrations are spread throughout the text, based on sketches and photographs taken during the expeditions.

The Danish geologist and geographer Hinrich Rink (1819-93) amassed decades of experience in exploring Greenland, becoming well versed in the language and customs of the Inuit. The present work is a condensed version of his investigations into indigenous culture, first published in two volumes in 1866 and 1871. Rink revised and translated the work from Danish into English for this 1875 publication, and the text was emended by the Scottish scientist and explorer Robert Brown (1842-95). In the book's first part, Rink describes succinctly the Inuit mode of life in Greenland. The second part, which is significantly longer, recounts the legends and folk tales that Rink had recorded on his travels. The book also includes a number of illustrations drawn and engraved by the Inuit people themselves. This work will appeal to those interested in the history of Inuit culture and nineteenth-century ethnography.

First published in 1878, this English translation of the memoirs of Hans Hendrik (c.1834-89), a native Greenlander, provides a valuable alternative perspective on polar exploration in the nineteenth century. Inuit were often employed on Arctic expeditions of the period. Hendrik is remarkable, however, not only because his skills as a guide and hunter were called on repeatedly during several expeditions - notably those led by Elisha Kent Kane, Isaac Israel Hayes, Charles Francis Hall and George Strong Nares - but also because he wrote his own account of these experiences. The memoirs show that Hendrik distinguished himself through his application of survival skills and that he dealt with numerous challenges, including the forced abandonment of ship and drifting for months on an ice floe. Instances of sickness and malnutrition are also recorded, as is the poor treatment that Hendrik and other Inuit sometimes experienced from their employers.

This short work, featuring a number of attractive engravings, traces an abortive expedition to the Canadian Arctic. George Francis Lyon (1795-1832), naval officer and explorer, had accompanied William Parry on a previous expedition in search of the North-West Passage. In 1824 Lyon was instructed to return to Repulse Bay and to explore the mainland. Unfavourable weather conditions forced Lyon to turn back after a few months, and he published this account of the experience the following year. Lyon's text is notable for his descriptions of encounters with Inuit, with whom he spent a great deal of time. The book also includes the text of the official instructions issued by the Admiralty. Chronicling the 1821-3 expedition with Parry, The Private Journal of Captain G. F. Lyon (1824) is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, along with his Journal of a Residence and Tour in the Republic of Mexico (1828).

John Ross had disappeared while exploring the Northwest Passage in 1829. A lieutenant in the Royal Navy, George Back (1796-1878) had already served with John Franklin on two Arctic expeditions in 1819-22 and 1824-26. He volunteered to lead an expedition to find Ross, setting out in 1833. When Ross returned safely in 1834, Back continued his explorations down the unknown Great Fish River and mapped the Arctic coast westwards, travelling some 7,500 miles in total. Valuable observations on weather, geology, entomology, magnetics and aurora are included as appendices in this 1836 publication. Engravings of Back's own illustrations further enhance the narrative. Although described by some as an opportunist and a weak leader, Back was greeted as a hero on his return and awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. The success of this expedition enabled him to head back to the Arctic in 1836.

Prior to his disappearance in the Arctic during an airborne rescue mission, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) had reflected in writing on his extraordinary career. First published in 1927 and reissued here in the English translation of that year, his autobiography discusses in straightforward style the numerous difficulties of his many expeditions, ranging from problems of finance and planning through to dealing with life-threatening danger and inevitable controversy. Generously acknowledging an 'old gentleman in Grimsby' for providing materials that helped him plan the first navigation of the North-West Passage, Amundsen credits painstaking preparation as the cornerstone of his success, especially in the conquest of the South Pole. His fuller accounts of these two expeditions are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Frank and focused like its author, the present work will reveal to readers the outlook and approach of a remarkable figure in the history of polar exploration.

Originally published in 1879, this illustrated work by Albert Hastings Markham (1841-1918) opens with accounts of Arctic exploration from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries, including the expeditions led by Constantine John Phipps (1744-92), William Edward Parry (1790-1855) and George Nares (1831-1915). The journal of Thomas Floyd (c.1754-78), who served as midshipman under Phipps in 1773, comprises the most significant part of the work. Outlining the difficulties faced by an eighteenth-century expedition, ranging from encounters with wildlife to adverse weather conditions, Floyd's narrative is notable also for its inclusion of some early episodes in the career of Horatio Nelson, also a midshipman on the voyage. More than a dozen engravings enhance the work. Other publications by Markham, including A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay (1874) and The Great Frozen Sea (1878), are also reissued in this series.

The American explorer Charles Francis Hall (1821-71) made two voyages to the Arctic to determine the fate of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. While there, he lived with Inuit, learning their language and adopting their way of life. Edited after his death and published in 1879, this account of his second expedition, from 1864 to 1869, brings the conditions he endured vividly to life. Two punishing sledge journeys to King William Island revealed evidence of Franklin's encampment there, but also the stark fact that rumours of survivors were unfounded. The work, which contains a number of fine engravings and maps, also includes appendices presenting Hall's detailed scientific observations and notes of his conversations with the Inuit, which disclosed evidence of cannibalism among Franklin's crew. Based on his earlier expedition, Hall's Life with the Esquimaux (1864) is also reissued in this series.

Despite the fact that his previous trip to the Arctic had left him gravely ill and with a permanently injured foot, the explorer and physician Isaac Israel Hayes (1832-81) immediately proclaimed his desire to return north. In 1869, aboard the steamer Panther, he was granted his wish. The trip was financed by the artist William Bradford (1823-92), who planned to use it as an opportunity to paint and photograph Greenland. First published in 1871, this account gives the reader the opportunity to survey the landscape, touching also on the history of polar exploration. It is illustrated with a number of engravings. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are An Arctic Boat-Journey in the Autumn of 1854 (1860), Hayes's account of a gruelling episode during the ill-fated second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, and The Open Polar Sea (1867).

In August 1913, the explorer and scientist Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work, set off from Norway to find a sea route across the north of the Eurasian continent. This 'north-east passage' had been the goal of explorers since the sixteenth century, but Nansen's object, as he puts it, was 'to open up a regular trade connexion with the interior of Siberia, via the Kara Sea and the mouth of the Yenisei'. By the time the book was published in English translation in 1914, the First World War had begun, and the need for ways to keep supplies and troops moving between Russia and her western allies made it even more timely. Nansen's delightfully written account of 'the land of the future' remains of value to anyone seeking to find out more about the geography, resources, and native peoples of Siberia.

Thomas M'Keevor served as the physician for the second group of Selkirk settlers that set out in 1812 for the Red River Colony in Canada. This short account of what he witnessed, particularly the crossing of Hudson Bay, appeared in 1819. Greatly interested in icebergs, M'Keevor discusses these 'sea mountains' in detail. He also describes the Inuit peoples encountered, giving a short glossary of Inuit words. Presenting a vivid account of the scene, he was clearly moved by seeing a polar bear protecting her cubs from a hunting party sent out from the ship. Also published in this volume is a brief account in English of the 1806 voyage of the Sirene by the French naval officer Freminville. Initially tasked with attacking British whalers off Spitsbergen, the frigate came close to the coast of Greenland, yet most of the time on land was spent in Iceland, where observations were made of the Icelandic people, fauna and geology.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the goal of the North-West Passage had claimed the lives of many explorers, yet the disappearance of the expedition led by Sir John Franklin occasioned the greatest response. Naval officer Sherard Osborn (1822-75) took part in the search mission of 1850-1 under Horatio Thomas Austin. Osborn was appointed to command the Pioneer, one of two steam tenders on the voyage. This was the first time such vessels had been deployed in the punishing conditions of the Arctic. Such was their success in cutting through ice and navigating the treacherous waters that similar models were later adopted by the whaling fleet. The present work, first published in 1852, gives a compelling account of the hardships of the expedition, which was successful in its surveying work and confirmed that Franklin had not been lost in Baffin Bay.