This article examines the evolution of Canadian Arctic policy during Sir Wilfrid Laurier's years as prime minister (1896–1911). Explorer Joseph Elzéar Bernier, who commanded three government expeditions in this period, vigorously promoted the idea that he himself had roused the sluggish government to action. He also alleged that Laurier had promised to sponsor a Canadian voyage to the North Pole, a promise that was later broken. However, archival documents show that neither of these claims is true. Instead, Laurier and other members of his government first showed their determination to assert Canada's northern sovereignty in 1897, a year before Bernier came on the scene. Although Bernier hoped that his first northern voyage might be turned towards the pole, there was no promise from Laurier. Subsequent policy developments were often haphazard due to interdepartmental conflicts and personality clashes, but by the end of the Laurier years a reasonably effective Arctic programme had been created. Though Bernier played an important part in carrying out the government's agenda, many of his actions (most notably his famous July 1909 sector claim) were aimed more at enhancing his own fame than at securing Canada's title to the Arctic. The article places Bernier's Arctic career in its proper context, and at the same time highlights the contributions of other men who lacked his flair for publicity. It thus provides a more accurate factual basis for future work on the period.

In 1860 and 1861 Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury USN, (1806–1873), put forward the first ever proposal for international cooperation in polar research. Maury's initiative also prompted the first ever international correspondence about polar cooperation, fourteen years before Carl Weyprecht launched his better known proposal. For several reasons however, including the outbreak of the American Civil War, Maury's Antarctic project did not succeed. Maury's proposal was published in three languages, but the better known of its two English versions was prepared from text that had already been copied once or twice by hand. It suffered numerous minor errors and extensive editorial changes. To mark its 150th anniversary, Maury's autograph manuscript, now in the British National Archives, has been transcribed as accurately as possible, with his original wording, spellings and (lack of) punctuation. A commentary explains the origins and outcome of the project.

Many analysts argue that responding effectively to the transformative changes occurring in the Arctic will require the creation of an Arctic Ocean treaty or even a more comprehensive treaty covering the whole Arctic. This article explores this line of thinking critically. In doing so, it addresses three distinct but related questions: 1) Is there a need for an Arctic Ocean framework agreement? 2) Where should we focus our attention along the integration-fragmentation spectrum? 3) Would it help to make arrangements for Arctic governance legally binding? The conclusion is that the case for spending political capital on an effort to negotiate the terms of an Arctic Ocean treaty is weak. But this need not be regarded as a cause for pessimism. A more multidimensional Arctic governance complex is emerging and is likely to continue to develop during the coming years.

The tourism industry, research activities, and governing institutions are often seen as three very different, independent, and partly antagonistic activities and sectors – tourism as pure profit-pursuing, research as indifferent to business, and governing as controlling both. In this paper, it is argued that this is not the case on Svalbard, where a symbiotic relationship exists between the three sectors. Tourism to the islands emerged in the wake of the exploration of the Arctic in the late 1800s, but for a long period tourism rates were low, mostly due to a strict environmental regime supported by researchers in the natural sciences as well as the government. However, tourism has increased over the past 20 years, partly due to changes in the relationships between the tourism industry, researchers, and governing bodies. The involvement of research in different types of governance and its influence on tourism development will be demonstrated using theories of modern governance as points of departure for an analysis of the current situation; how tourism has provided governors with activities to govern and researchers with a rationale for comprehensive research activity. This case study shows how a symbiosis between tourism, research, and governance can be seen to emerge.

The mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet has been one of the main interests of the scientific community because of its impact on sea level rise. Blue ice areas are areas of exposed ice where the surface mass balance is negative by sublimation. The relationship between surface mass balance and temporal variations of Antarctic blue ice extent is not clear. This study investigates the temporal variations of 33 sites of blue ice extent with regard to the rate of surface elevation change by employing Landsat TM/ETM+ as well as radar altimetry-based rates of elevation change. The correlations between extent of blue ice areas and surface mass balance are analysed. The correlation generally is not systematic (r = −0.245). It may not be appropriate to use temporal variations in extent of blue ice areas as indicators of mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet because of large interannual variations in the extent of blue ice areas caused by short term events of accumulation/ablation. Blue ice areas that are located at low elevations (r = −0.120) and far from nearby nunataks (r = −0.194) show low correlations while blue ice areas located in stable environments, such as high elevations (r = −0.516) and close to nearby nunataks (r = −0.783) may be useful as mass balance indicators showing high correlations. Monitoring the expansion of blue ice areas with regard to negative change in elevation (r = −0.510) rather than monitoring the decrease of the extent of blue ice areas with regard to positive change in elevation (r = 0.108) is more useful as a mass balance indicator. There is probably a systematic linkage between temporal variations in extent of blue ice areas and changes of surface elevation for blue ice areas that are at high elevations, close to nearby nunataks, and experiencing expansion.

John King Davis captained S.Y. Aurora on three voyages to Antarctica and on other sub-Antarctic cruises for Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) 1911–1914. Between the first and second Antarctic trips, he made a short return cruise in 1912 from Melbourne to Eden in southeastern Australia with the Director of Commonwealth Fisheries, on the fisheries investigation steamship, F.I.S. Endeavour. This cruise was a milestone in his continuing training for the AAE's oceanographic work. Davis went not as captain, but as an observer. His aim was to gain greater knowledge of operating techniques when using oceanographic research equipment and to apply that knowledge to observations on forthcoming voyages with Aurora. He kept abbreviated notes of the research conducted on Endeavour, and of his visit to Eden, in a small pocket notebook. These informal observations, apparently made just for his own future reference, give us a glimpse of the 28 year old Davis. He has often been portrayed in a negative light, but here his personal notes reveal an experienced seaman, temporarily freed from responsibilities of captaincy and navigation, hard working, keen to acquire new skills on board and sociable when ashore. His subsequent work on Aurora, using the skills he acquired on this trip, resulted in significant contributions to the scientific reports of the AAE, including the discovery of an extensive elevation in the sea floor south of Tasmania, now known as the South Tasman Rise.

Two Canadian Speeches from the Throne (2007, 2010) form the centrepiece of this brief analysis of Stephen Harper and his government's approach towards the Arctic. In essence, it is argued that a form of actionism prevails; a preference for being seen to be taking action in the face of apparent uncertainly regarding the Arctic and the activities of other stakeholders. Unpinned by what Michael Billig termed ‘habit of language’, this note considers how Prime Minister Harper mobilises domestic political support for this proposals. However, it is a risky strategy. As the 2010 meeting of the five Arctic Ocean coastal states revealed, other stakeholders such as the United States in the form of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly rebuked Canada for attempting to limit participation in talks about the future of the Arctic.

The construction and history of meridian transit beacons erected by members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition at King Edward Cove, South Georgia, in 1914 are described.

A photograph of the crew of HMS Superb taken in 1912 or 1913 is presented. Amongst the ship's officers is believed to be E.R.G.R. Evans, whose 1912 return to England is described. The authors suggest that Evans may have visited HMS Superb to meet Reginald Skelton who served aboard between 1912 and 1914. Further information is requested.

Earlier research (Lloyd-Jones 2004, 2005) based on Admiralty records in the National Archives (TNA) at Kew revealed much previously undiscovered history of the marines and ratings who sailed with Sir John Franklin on his disastrous 1845 northwest passage expedition. These records, mostly derived from muster and pay books, can often be followed up using other contemporary documents such as parish registers. Now that much more, notably 19th century census information, is available online, further interesting details of many of those men's lives have come to light.