The British Arctic Expedition sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875. It left amid considerable public enthusiasm and with a telegram from the Queen. A contemporary journal had this to say: As we hope, so we believe that they will end their northward advance only at the northernmost meeting of the meridians; that they will return in safety to receive well-won applause and reward for their achievements; and that they will have very much to tell of the circum-polar region, as well as of their hoisting the Union Jack upon the Pole, (The Navy, 1875). The tone of the same journal was very different when reporting the return of the expedition in 1876, one year earlier than expected. One of the milder statements in a highly derogatory article read: Verily the expedition of 18756 has but little of which to boast. It went out like a rocket, and has come back like the stick. The validity of such a judgement needs careful examination against the aims and logistics of the expedition, the attitudes of the officers and men, and, most importantly, the actual achievementsand shortcomingsof the voyage.

During the so-called ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration (c.1897–1922), various parties of men invented songs to aid the act of sledging and to provide a mental diversion from the monotony of the task and the physical demands it made on the human body. Songs composed in this uniquely polar musical genre typically included rhyming lyrics that were highly motivational and expressed a united identity. The lyrics were usually set to the melodies of popular songs of the day. When voiced in unison by men out ‘on the march,’ sledging songs could help to promote team synchronisation and cohesion, and give the act of sledging (as well as the expeditions as a whole) a stronger sense of purpose and meaning. The singing of such songs, therefore, contributed in a very practical way to the overall success of many Antarctic expeditions of the ‘heroic age’. This article examines three sledging songs dating from this period of Antarctic exploration and investigates the historical context in which they were created and performed. It also considers what these songs reveal about the experiences of the men who participated in the sledging journeys and their earliest perceptions of the Antarctic environment.

Summary:In a recent study (Weeks and Campbell, in press), we made a rather complete examination of the idea that icebergs could advantageously be used as a source of fresh water. The origin of the general idea of transporting icebergs is obscure; it may date from the 1850's when ice was transported from Alaska to California as a commercial venture. The current revival of the idea, in particular as applied to the water problems of southern California, can be credited to John Issacs of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (Burt, 1956). However no critical evaluation was ever published. We initially undertook the present study because our intuition “told” us that the idea was untenable and we thought that we could easily prove that this was the case, thereby laying the idea to rest. Our intuition proved to be wrong and we now believe that the idea is, indeed, highly attractive when applied to certain locations in the Southern Hemisphere. This note briefly outlines our approach to analyzing the problem and our results

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.

The article describes investigations that highlight snow-avalanche events that have not been reported in historical records. While historical sources are most often the basis for all natural hazard and risk research, alternative methods based on geomorphic investigations are often neglected. Here, we emphasise the use of geomorphic evidence to improve our knowledge of the maximum runout distance reached by snow avalanches as well as the frequency of the events. Investigations were carried out in remote, avalanche-prone areas, where the geomorphic evidence has not been disturbed or removed. Dendrogeomorphic investigations supply annual resolved records of avalanche winters up to the age of the investigated tree stand: over 120 years in northern Iceland. The study of snow-avalanche transported debris may be used to map the extent of the potential snow-avalanche deposition zone, and offer relative dating on a secular scale; stratigraphic profiles do provide results on long timescales, but only provide relative dating. The article discusses the relevance of each method, and concludes that the combination of the three methods can improve the common risk-mitigation approach based on historical records.

Many indigenous minorities throughout the Arctic are presently enduring severe social and economic adversity. Although residents of the Arctic are fewer in number than most other minority ethnic groups, their difficulties are not. This article is a review of one aspect of those difficulties, in one sector of the north: education among the native residents of rural Alaska.

There is a long record of medical research and observation in the Antarctic, almost as long as the record of exploration. The early expeditions usually had a medical officer who described the medical hazards of the Antarctic. In this article, an account will be given of the research undertaken by medical officers of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) and, subsequently, of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). A more detailed report will be found in the chapter entitled “Man and the environment” in Antarctic research (Priestley et al. eds, 1964).

Very high precision satellite altimeter measurements from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System onboard NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) have allowed a method of feature tracking to be developed for floating ice which relies on recording the movement of large surface undulations. This method is applied to a section of the Ross Ice Shelf downstream of the grounding line of the Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica. The altimetry method has benefits over established optical and interferometric remote sensing techniques due to high pointing accuracy for geo-location, ability to deal with tidal fluctuations and to measure velocity where visible surface features are absent. Initial processing of a single sequence of ICESat tracks gives encouraging results for unidirectional ice flow with correlations between surface profiles in consecutive years exceeding 90% and producing high internal consistency in velocity between independent tracks. Velocities of 331 ± 28 m a−1 near to the grounding line are also consistent with available ground measurements for the area.

The twelfth successive UN session on the ‘Question of Antarctica,’ held at the close of 1994, saw a major change of direction. One brief session of the First Committee, followed by the General Assembly's adoption of resolution A49/80 without a vote, signified the restoration of a consensus approach towards the ‘Question of Antarctica’ for the first time since 1985. Resolution A49/80 stressed the need for Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs) to meet commitments undertaken at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and particularly to continue providing the wider international community with information about Antarctic developments. The ‘Question of Antarctica’ will not be placed on the UN agenda again until 1996, thereby breaking the sequence of annual UN discussions started in 1983. On the surface, consensus was restored, but it is debatable how far the outcome represented merely a papering over of the cracks rather than the basis for an enduring solution to the problems dividing ATPs and their critics. The key point at issue remains the nature and extent of the UN's future role in Antarctic affairs, particularly as ATPs will only accept a limited UN role performed within the context of the Antarctic Treaty System.

This article concludes an account of the Prince AIbert expedition of 1850, which began in Polar Record 29 (169): 127–142 (1993); see Part 1 formaps. In 1850 Lady Franklin sent out the first other private expeditions in search of her husband and the crews of HMS Erebus and Terror, lost in the islands of the Canadian Arctic. The expedition sailed in Prince Albert, a vessel Lady Franklin acquired for the purpose. Its aim was to winter in Prince Regent Inlet and explore the area to the west, using two separate boat parties. These parties were to be under Commander Charles Codrington Forsyth, RN, the captain of the ship, and William Parker Snow. After passage to Prince Regent Inlet, Forsyth turned back because he was prevented from penetrating the inlet further than Fury Beach by what was regarded as unbreachable ice. Prince Albert then passed near Cape Riley, where Snow obtained information concerning relics that had been found by another expedition and that indicated that Franklin had wintered in that vicinity. News of this and further relics were brought back to Britain by Forsyth. The return caused much disappointment to Lady Franklin. She determined to send Prince Albert out again with a different commander. Snow wished to have that post, but it was allocated to William Kennedy.

This study is an analysis of the events surrounding the expedition, with reference to the light they throw on the personalities involved. It is suggested that the main reason for the failure was that the preparation was mismanaged. No efforts were made to secure the appointment of people who had sufficient similarity of interests or background to be an effective team. Forsyth found the situation on board such that he decided to conclude the voyage as soon as a reasonable excuse for returning presented itself.

The Antarctic Treaty, which entered into force on 23 June 1961, has been widely welcomed. It marked the beginning of a new era in Antarctic politics and provided a basis for the further development of scientific co-operation. Article IX provides for the holding of meetings (generally known as “Consultative Meetings”) for the purposes of exchanging information, of consultation and of formulating measures in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”. The four Consultative Meetings held since the entry into force of the Treaty have adopted over twenty Recommendations on the conservation of wildlife, and in the short space of six years the Antarctic has been made subject to conservation measures which are more comprehensive than those in any other major region in the world. The seed sown in the Treaty has borne fruit in a remarkably short time. It is the purpose of this article to describe and comment, from the legal standpoint, upon these internationally agreed conservation measures.

This paper addresses the transformation that has occurred in livelihoods in the Nordic Arctic, showing how it affects gender equality among the region's older people. The region's population includes the Sámi, an indigenous people, who have traditionally relied for their livelihood on activities such as reindeer herding, making handicrafts, farming, fishing, hunting, trapping and gathering. In recent years these have faced enormous challenges because of the rapid transformation of the region in the wake of climate change and globalisation. Overall, these and other processes have precipitated socio-economic, cultural, environmental and infrastructural changes that are transforming the local economies and severely impacting older people in particular. The main research question examined in this article is whether gender inequality has arisen among older people because of the ongoing transformation of livelihoods. To this end, the paper provides an empirical analysis based on experiences gathered from field studies conducted by the author in Finnish and Swedish Lapland. The research also presents the experiences of older persons in light of the standard set by General Recommendation 27 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which oversees the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Recommendation sets out the right of older women to equality and non-discrimination. The findings of the present research contribute to filling a gap in the literature on the topic.

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.

Archaeological investigations formed part of the conservation work of Project Blizzard in 1985–86 at the site of Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) huts, Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay. The extent and nature of the archaeological resources are described, and the results of excavations inside the main hut in 1985 are summarized. Excavation stratigraphy is interpreted in the light of the documented post-abandonment history of the site, and used to measure the extent to which human activity inside the hut may be contributing to its deterioration.

Lloyd's Register of Shipping has published losses of all ocean-going merchant ships over 100 tonnes since 1890, including those resulting from encounters with ice. The list presented here gives details of where and how a loss due to ice occurred and provides the nationality of the ship and, where known, its route and cargo. Some place-names have changed since the ship loss, and where these have been found the present-day names follow in square brackets; place-names which have not been located are given in quotes. Changes have also occurred with respect to countries and flags, but in order to avoid confusion the entries in the flag column have been left as recorded at the time of the loss.

Arctic Norway is a region with a shortage of highly skilled professionals and international expertise, in many work sectors. Fast growing cites attract people from other regions and also high skilled migrants. It is a paradox that skilled migrants often fail to get qualified work in the local labour market. To understand this and to capture the complexity of labour market participation, this article draws on interviews with recruitment agencies and highly skilled migrants, attending a recruitment programme initiated by the ‘Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry in Norway’. This paper draws on recent literature on highly skilled migration and analyses the complex and relational sides of labour market integration for skilled migrants in an urban Arctic town.

A list of the provisions for the second expedition led by Martin Frobisher was produced on 26 March 1577, for 115 men and 18 months. These plans contain an extraordinarily detailed food procurement list: the quantity of each food, the cost of each item, and how the rations were to be allocated. The subject of this paper is a nutritional analysis of the rations on this list. It is assumed that the March list is simply an 18-month version of what was put in place for the eventual seven-month expedition.

The individual foods for the expedition were grouped into four basic meal plans, rotated throughout the journey at four ‘meat days’ and three ‘fast days’ per week. Since the amount of each food allocated per person per day was indicated, the quantities of each were able to be converted into modern measures, based on foods thought to be near equivalents to those in Frobisher's time, and the caloric and nutrient intake calculated. The results show a fairly monotonous diet of about 4000 calories on fast days to 5000 calories on meat days. Except for a virtual absence of vitamin C, the diet seems nutritionally adequate over short runs. Inadequacies could occur quickly if some foodstuffs went bad, or if members of the crew were depleted of crucial nutrients, such as ascorbic acid, before the voyage began. On longer journeys this diet would have been inadequate, as it is doubtful if beer (29% of the calories) or butter and cheese (most of the vitamin A) could have lasted for more than six months. An examination of 18 Arctic voyages between Frobisher's first (1576) and that of James (1631–1632) demonstrates that they had similar foodstuffs on board, and that few suffered appreciable dietary problems unless they were gone for more than six months.

This paper attempts to describe Consultative Parties’ (CPs) patterns of participation at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) during the 1998–2011 period. The results of this work show that a subset of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty exert the greatest political influence on ATCMs, and can therefore be seen as the main ‘propellers’ of the ATCM system. Although the performance of some of the non-original signatories is becoming increasingly consistent, the system still offers the appearance of being rather asymmetric and endogamic. In addition, a number of factors that might explain the patterns of participation observed are presented and discussed, as a contribution that may allow for achieving a more comprehensive picture of how the work of the ATCMs unfolds through time. The article concludes by presenting likely directions towards which future research on behavioural aspects of Antarctic policy making can be orientated.