Swedish attempts in 1903–04 to rescue Otto Nordenskjöld's expedition to Antarctica are examined in the context of an international competition involving Sweden, Argentina, and France. The Swedish relief expedition, led by Captain Olof Gyldén, is viewed partly as a little-known expedition and partly for its potential as a major national event. The developments and progress of the Swedish and French expeditions are shown alongside those of the Argentine expedition, which ultimately was successful in its attempts to rescue Nordenskjöld. The Swedish relief expedition never produced a significant national collective memory, unlike several other unsuccessful rescue operations. Potential reasons for this are examined, including the role of internal conflicts among individuals both on the expedition and in Sweden, and the failure to make the expedition a national event. The different attempts to make the relief expedition a major nationalist effort included issues concerning choice of vessel, staff, and equipment; media accounts of competing relief expeditions in which Sweden's positive national features were contrasted with those of ‘others;’ and the views on the competition expressed by various participants.

During the last decade, aboriginal peoples in Russia have sought to improve their legal rights, including their rights to their homelands and the resources of these lands. The Russian government initially responded to an aboriginal lobby by including discrete articles addressing aboriginal rights in a number of its laws, including those on forests, sub-surface resources, and protected areas. More comprehensive laws, specifically addressing aboriginal rights to land, were finally adopted at the turn of the twenty-first century, in 1999, 2000, and 2001. This article summarizes the rights of aboriginal peoples regarding land ownership/tenure, access to natural resources (renewable and sub-surface), and protection of ancestral lands, in the light of the new federal legislation. It also notes how the federal laws' provisions concur with international requirements for aboriginal land rights.

In recent years, pioneer photographers in the Arctic have been researched. The last was W.J.A. Grant, who sailed as a photographer with Sir Allen Young in Pandora in 1876. Grant made another seven photographic trips to the Arctic. Four voyages were in the Dutch Arctic schooner Willem Barents, the others in British yachts. Grant's photographic legacy is considerable, but little known. The majority of his work was done for the Dutch and is still preserved in the Netherlands. Recently it has been possible to identify photographs by Grant in British collections. This article examines Grant and his work as an Arctic photographer.

The strenuous and costly measures undertaken by the British Admiralty and others to find the missing expedition of Sir John Franklin during the period 1847–59 were hindered by malicious deceptions, misleading rumours, corrupted translations, unfortunate misunderstandings, and premature conclusions. The false leads included fake messages from Franklin, invented reports of his safety or death in various places, clairvoyant statements that placed him in several widely separated locations, discoveries of objects supposedly associated with his expedition, and distorted reports from Indians and Eskimos. The Admiralty had to investigate all leads, and this took time away from the planning and execution of more important measures.

‘Microbiologist who took part in ten Antarctic expeditions’

‘Biologist who studied the life of the hardy polar microbe and from it evolved theories of life on Mars’

‘Scientist and astronomer fascinated by the possibility of life on Mars’

‘Applying the lessons of Antarctica to the study of the stars’

Each year Polar Record calls upon numerous scholars to assist in the demanding and intensive procedure of reviewing manuscripts submitted for publication by their peers. These individuals give generously of their time and expertise to help insure that a high academic quality is maintained in Polar Record. During the year 2002, some 110 individuals assisted in the review and refereeing process.

Executive Committee: R H Rutford (President); A C Rocha-Campos (Past President); J A Valencia, A D M Walker, R Schlich, C G Rapley (Vice-Presidents); P D Clarkson (Executive Secretary).