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This series includes accounts, by eye-witnesses and contemporaries, of early expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic. Huge resources were invested in such endeavours, particularly the search for the North-West Passage, which, if successful, promised enormous strategic and commercial rewards. Cartographers and scientists travelled with many of the expeditions, and their work made important contributions to earth sciences, climatology, botany and zoology. They also brought back anthropological information about the indigenous peoples of the Arctic region and the southern fringes of the American continent. The series further includes dramatic and poignant accounts of the harsh realities of working in extreme conditions and utter isolation in bygone centuries.

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202 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Polar Exploration

Page 9 of 11

Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 20, 21, and 22
  • John Franklin
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    26 January 2012
    First published in:
    1823
  • First published in 1823, this book narrates the disastrous expedition undertaken by Naval officer and Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin up the Coppermine River in North America. Franklin (1786–1847) and nineteen others set out in 1819, initially with guides from the Hudson Bay Company until the journey continued overland, when they relied on Native Americans as guides. The party ran short of supplies and, lacking adequate knowledge for survival, were reduced to eating lichens. One of the party was suspected of eating the bodies of the nine men who had died of exposure and starvation, and two more were killed in a subsequent skirmish. The book was immediately popular on publication and quickly became a travel literature classic. Franklin undertook a second, more successful Arctic journey (the account of which is also published in this series) before setting out on his final expedition of 1845, which ended in tragedy and enduring mystery.

New Lands within the Arctic Circle
  • Narrative of the Discoveries of the Austrian Ship Tegetthoff in the Years 1872–1874
  • Volume 2
  • Julius von Payer
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1876
  • This two-volume work by the nineteenth-century Arctic explorer and artist Julius von Payer (1841–1915), originally published in German and translated into English almost immediately in 1876, documents his experiences during the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition, which he commanded from 1872 to 1874 with his colleague Karl Weyprecht. Early into the expedition, of which the original aim was to find a north-eastern passage, their ship, the Tegetthoff, became trapped in ice, and its resultant drifting into unknown territories led to the discovery of Franz-Josef Land. Volume 2 describes the crew's exploration of Franz-Josef Land by sledge, and their survival by means of bear-hunting, rationing of food, and making clothes from animal skins, in severe weather conditions, and encountering the challenges posed by icebergs and glaciers, until they were able to make their way to safety. The work contains both maps and paintings, the latter by von Payer himself.

A Thousand Days in the Arctic
  • Volume 2
  • Frederick G. Jackson
  • Preface by F. Leopold McClintock
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1899
  • In 1897, the triumphant return of the Jackson–Harmsworth Arctic expedition revived widespread enthusiasm for Polar exploration. Within days of the expedition's arrival in London, newspapers ranging from the Boy's Own Paper to the Graphic were full of articles relating to the endeavours and findings of this intrepid undertaking. The demand for information did not abate and, in 1899, this two-volume account by Frederick G. Jackson (1860–1938) of his travels in Franz Josef Land was published to wide acclaim. Hailed by The Morning Post as 'a record of solid achievement accomplished by dint of steady perseverance in the face of hardship and difficulty', Jackson's journal describes a forbidding terrain of ice and snow. Richly illustrated, Volume 2 includes accounts of new lands, dark winters, and a famous encounter with Nansen. It is supplemented by a substantial appendix containing geographical and scientific observations.

The Great Frozen Sea
  • A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the Alert during the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6
  • Albert Hastings Markham
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1878
  • Sir Albert Hastings Markham (1841–1918) was a British Admiral and Arctic explorer. He joined the Royal Navy at fifteen and after postings in China, the Mediterranean and Australia he was promoted to Commander in 1872. For the next six years he took part in Arctic exploration, later writing fascinating accounts of his experiences. He was appointed as Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria in 1888, and in 1903 he received a knighthood and was promoted to admiral. Published in 1878, this is the first of several editions of Markham's fascinating first-hand account of the British Arctic expedition of 1875–6. It describes the first passage through Nares Strait, named after the expedition's leader George Nares, and the intrepid dog-sled journey ,led by Markham, that took the party further north than any previous Arctic explorers. Nares' own account of the voyage is also reissued in this series.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875–6 in HM Ships Alert and Discovery
  • With Notes on the Natural History
  • Volume 2
  • George Nares
  • Appendix by H. W. Feilden
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1878
  • The British Vice-Admiral and Arctic explorer Sir George Nares (1831–1915) received several honours for his contributions to science, including a fellowship of the Royal Society. He attended the Royal Naval School, New Cross, before joining the service in 1845. After a varied early career and the successful Challenger scientific expedition in the Atlantic, he took command of the British Arctic expedition of 1875–6. The expedition's attempt, led by second-in-command, Albert Markham, to reach the North Pole by dog-sled set a new record for farthest distance north achieved. This book, the second of Nares' popular two-volume account of the journey, published in 1878, describes the perilous return journey. It includes extensive appendices written by H. W. Feilden, giving details of the expedition's scientific discoveries, and features a cumulative index. Nares' official report of the expedition, and Markham's account, The Great Frozen North, are also available from the Cambridge Library Collection.

In Arctic Seas: the Voyage of the Kite with the Peary Expedition
  • Together with a Transcript of the Log of the Kite
  • Robert Neff Keely, Gwilym George Davis
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1893
  • Robert Peary (1856–1920) was an American Arctic explorer. For much of the twentieth century, he was for many years credited with being, in 1909, the first man to reach the North Pole, although this has recently been questioned. Born in Cresson, Pennsylvania, Peary graduated from Bowdoin College in 1877 and joined the US Navy in 1881. He began his Arctic expeditions in 1886, exploring Greenland for a number of years in search of a route to the Pole. Published in 1893, this illustrated book consists of two parts. Drawing on the diaries of the expedition's surgeon, Robert Keely, Part I describes the journey that took Peary to Greenland in 1891. Part II uses the journal of the botanist William Meehan to describe the 1892 expedition to bring the exploring party home. The book includes transcripts of the logs of Richard Pike, captain of the Kite on both voyages.

A Voyage of Discovery, Made under the Orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty's Ships Isabella and Alexander
  • For the Purpose of Exploring Baffin's Bay, and Inquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage
  • John Ross
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1819
  • Sir John Ross (1777–1856) was a Scottish naval officer and Arctic explorer. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine and distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1818, Ross was assigned to H.M.S. Isabella and commissioned to search for the North-West Passage. This book, published in 1819, describes the expedition, which was unsuccessful although it did discover new facts about Baffin Bay. Several of Ross's former officers disputed his account of the decision to turn back at Lancaster Sound, which he had mistakenly believed was impassable. The ensuing controversy affected the rest of Ross's career and made him unpopular with influential contemporaries including Sir John Barrow and William Edward Parry. It also soured relations with his young nephew James Clark Ross, who had accompanied him, and who in 1831, during a second eventful expedition with his uncle, identified the location of the magnetic North Pole.

An Account of the Arctic Regions
  • With a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery
  • Volume 2
  • William Scoresby
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1820
  • Written by explorer, scientist and later clergyman William Scoresby (1789–1857), this two-volume guide to the Arctic regions was first published in 1820. Scoresby, himself the son of a whaler and Arctic explorer, first sailed to the polar regions at the age of eleven, and was later apprenticed to his father. He became a correspondent of Sir Joseph Banks, and his extensive research on the Arctic area included pioneering work in oceanography, magnetism, and the study of Arctic currents and waves. He surveyed 400 miles of the Greenland coast in 1822. This account was the first book published in Britain which was devoted solely to the whale fisheries. Volume 2 focuses on the fisheries and includes a history of whaling, the methods used to extract whale oil and prepare whalebone, and the impact of new developments. The book ends with a detailed account of a whaling expedition in 1816.

Arctic Explorations
  • The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55
  • Volume 1
  • Elisha Kent Kane
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1856
  • Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57) was a medical officer in the United States Navy, best known for the so-called 'Grinnell voyages' to the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin's expedition. Originally published in 1856, this two-volume work documents his second expedition, between 1853 and 1855, during which his ship became ice-bound, and he and his men survived by adopting Inuit survival skills, such as hunting, sledge-driving and hut-building. In Volume 1, Kane recounts the dangers posed by icebergs, glaciers and fluctuating tides, which led to his ship's entrapment, and records his impressions of the Inuit whom he later relied on for survival. Along with extensive illustrations of the animals, terrain and people encountered on his mission, and a useful glossary of Arctic terms, Kane's writings reveal his own controversial personality as well as his relationship with the Inuit and his admiration for their skills.

Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America
  • Effected by the Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company during the Years 1836–1839
  • Thomas Simpson
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1843
  • In 1829, Thomas Simpson (1808–1840), born in Dingwall, Scotland, joined the fur-trading Hudson's Bay Company. Under its auspices, he was the junior officer of a successful survey expedition along the North-West Passage, beyond the limits of Franklin's disastrous 1819–22 attempt. The Royal Geographical Society awarded Simpson their Founder's Medal; however the Company refused his request immediately to lead an expedition further east along the coast. Simpson, ambitious and furious, set out for London, hoping to secure approval there, but before he reached the Atlantic, he was shot in the head. The men who had accompanied him alleged that he went mad, and killed two of them before committing suicide. Simpson's own account of his explorations was edited by his brother, Alexander, and published in 1843 in an attempt to restore his reputation. It sheds light on Simpson's difficult character and also on the contribution of trade interests to exploration.

A Voyage towards the South Pole: Performed in the Years 1822–24
  • Containing an Examination of the Antarctic Sea, and a Visit to Tierra del Fuego
  • James Weddell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • James Weddell (1787–1834) a self-taught navigator, started his sailing career aged 9 and later led several voyages towards the Antarctic. This book, first published in 1825, is his account of the voyage of the Jane, which went on a sealing trip to the Falklands and beyond, but turned back before reaching Antarctica itself. It features detailed scientific measurements, careful observations of wildlife, and descriptions of the islands and coasts visited by the expedition, including an important early account of the South Shetlands. It also provides first hand insight into the hardships of a long and perilous voyage. Weddell speaks warmly of the Jane's crew, who withstood frostbite, reduced rations and frequent danger from icebergs. He also reports encounters with other ships, mutiny, scurvy and even the alleged sighting of a mermaid. His thoughtful approach to his mission makes this fascinating exploration narrative an especially valuable historical source.

Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale-Fishery
  • Including Researches and Discoveries on the Eastern Coast of West Greenland, Made in the Summer of 1822, in the Ship Baffin of Liverpool
  • William Scoresby
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1823
  • William Scoresby junior (1789–1857), explorer, scientist, and later Church of England clergyman, first travelled to the Arctic when he was just ten years old. The son of Arctic whaler and navigator William Scoresby of Whitby, he spent nearly every summer for twenty years at a Greenland whale fishery. He made significant discoveries in Arctic geography, meteorology, oceanography, and magnetism, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1824. First published in 1823, this book recounts Scoresby's voyage to Greenland in the summer of 1822 aboard the Baffin, a whaler of his own design. On this journey, his penultimate voyage to the north, he charted a large section of the coast of Greenland. His narrative also includes descriptions of scientific observations and geographical discoveries made during the voyage, and the appendices includes lists of rock specimens, plants and animal life, and notes on meteorological and other data.

The Cruise of the Antarctic to the South Polar Regions
  • Henrik Johan Bull
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1896
  • The Norwegian businessman, shipping magnate and whaling entrepreneur Henrik Johan Bull (1844–1930) led the first expedition to make a confirmed landing on the Antarctic mainland, at Cape Adare, in January 1895. Bull's highly readable account of the expedition, published in 1896, reveals both the scientific and the commercial motivations for early Antarctic exploration. His voyage, financed by Svend Foyn, the inventor of the harpoon gun, was mainly for commercial purposes, to investigate reports of right whales in the Ross Sea. Bull, however, insisted on aiming for Antarctica, despite encountering technical problems after the vessel ran aground, and the preference of the ship's master for hunting seals to make the trip financially profitable. A part-time scientist on the expedition was Carsten Borchgrevink (1864–1934), who collected the first specimens of vegetation from the Antarctic, and later, with the Southern Cross expedition, set up the first winter base on the continent.

Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
  • Performed in the Years 1819–20 ... under the Orders of William Edward Parry
  • William Edward Parry
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1821
  • William Edward Parry (1790–1855) spent the early part of his naval career protecting the whale fisheries of Spitzbergen. He was later appointed to several Arctic expeditions, including three in search of the North-West Passage. This 1821 publication, reissued here in the unchanged second edition from the same year, describes the first of these voyages. Although unsuccessful, it provided valuable scientific data and experience that shaped subsequent expeditions. Noted for his care for his men, and his ability to quickly find solutions to difficult problems, Parry realised during this expedition the importance of keeping his explorers occupied during the winter, and started a newspaper and a theatre group. This first expedition established that, contrary to John Ross's 1819 account (also reissued in this series), a westward route through Lancaster Sound did in fact exist. It also began to map the many islands in the region.

Memoirs of Rear-Admiral Sir W. Edward Parry
  • Edward Parry
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1857
  • Written by his son, the Rev. Edward Parry, this 1857 memoir describes the life and times of Rear-Admiral Sir W. Edward Parry (1790–1855), the British naval officer and Arctic explorer. The work describes how Parry became a successful pioneer of Arctic enterprise, having in 1827 attempted one of the earliest expeditions to the North Pole, setting a record which then stood for fifty years. Reflecting the religious side of Parry's character, the book demonstrates how he was a constant promoter of the welfare of his crews. From Parry's childhood years, the book traces the explorer's distinguished career in the Navy, his meticulous scientific work and his long and usually dangerous voyages and expeditions. Alongside his professional successes, including his knighthood in 1829, the book gives insights into the difficulties of his private life, including the tragic deaths of his first wife and of some of his children.

New Lands within the Arctic Circle
  • Narrative of the Discoveries of the Austrian Ship Tegetthoff in the Years 1872–1874
  • Volume 1
  • Julius von Payer
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1876
  • This two-volume work by the nineteenth-century Arctic explorer and artist Julius von Payer (1841–1915), originally published in German and translated into English almost immediately in 1876, documents his experiences during the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition, which he commanded from 1872 to 1874 with his colleague Karl Weyprecht. Early into the expedition, of which the original aim was to find a north-eastern passage, their ship, the Tegetthoff, became trapped in ice, and its resultant drifting into unknown territories led to the discovery of Franz-Josef Land. Volume 1 explores the climate and terrain of the Arctic region, the navigational strategies employed by the crew, and the challenges they faced as perilous conditions led them to abandon ship. The author also pays tribute to Weyprecht for his courageous attempts to free the vessel. The work contains both maps and paintings, the latter by von Payer himself.

With Nansen in the North
  • A Record of the Fram Expedition in 1893–96
  • Hjalmar Johansen
  • Translated by H. L. Braekstad
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1899
  • Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen (1867–1913) was a Norwegian Polar explorer. He accompanied Nansen on the Fram Expedition of 1893–6 and took part in a number of explorations of the Svalbard archipelago. He later participated in Roald Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole in 1910–12, although he was written out of the official history following a bitter dispute with Amundsen. Johansen's account of Nansen's Fram Expedition appeared in Norwegian in 1898, and this English translation was published the following year. It describes Nansen's attempt to drift north in a deliberately ice-bound ship and then ski to the North Pole, and reveals the dangers and challenges faced by the crew during their three-year journey. Although they did not reach the Pole, they set a new furthest-north record that stood for several years. Nansen's own account of the expedition, Farthest North, is also available as part of the Cambridge Library Collection.

Die Amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition
  • Emil Bessels
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1879
  • The German surgeon and explorer Emil Bessels (1847–88) was head of the scientific team on the American-sponsored Polaris Expedition, which in 1871–3 made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole. Some of the crew spent months adrift on an ice floe and others were marooned in Greenland. Astonishingly, they survived, but much of the expedition's scientific research remained unpublished as a result of financial wrangling. This 1879 publication is a popular account of the journey, with a substantial scientific appendix based on the expedition papers and additional data shared with Bessels by Sir George Nares. It describes the expedition's landfalls from Newfoundland to Greenland, and experiences, including temperatures so low that mercury froze, hunting for polar bears and seals for food, and the help provided by the local Inuit, whose language, traditions and burial customs Bessels outlines. The book also contains over eighty illustrations, mostly woodcuts.

Arctic Explorations
  • The Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55
  • Volume 2
  • Elisha Kent Kane
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1856
  • Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57) was a medical officer in the United States Navy, best known for the so-called 'Grinnell voyages' to the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin's expedition. Originally published in 1856, this two-volume work documents his second expedition, between 1853 and 1855, during which his ship became ice-bound, and he and his men survived by adopting Inuit survival skills, such as hunting, sledge-driving and hut-building. In Volume 2, Kane continues to describe the Inuit people by whom he was aided, their birth and death rites, their survival skills in times of famine, and their rescuing of his crew. Accompanied by an extensive appendix containing his meteorological and geological surveys of the area, Kane's writings reveal his own controversial personality, his scholarly and navigational abilities, and his admiration of the way in which the Inuits' life was adapted to their environment.

A Narrative of Some Passages in the History of Eenoolooapik
  • A Young Esquimaux, Who Was Brought to Britain in 1839, in the Ship Neptune of Aberdeen
  • Alexander M'Donald
  • Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    01 December 2011
    First published in:
    1841
  • Published in 1841, this is the story of Eenoolooapik, a young Inuit who guided whaling captain William Penny to the mouth of Cumberland Sound - a whale-rich body of water - 250 years after it was first explored and named by John Davis. Probably the first Inuk for whom a biography was published during his lifetime, 'Eenoo' drew a map which led Penny to the whaling area. His geographical knowledge therefore resulted in a burgeoning industry that provided seasonal employment to the Inuit and dramatically changed their lives. Alexander M'Donald (1817–48) describes Eenoolooapik's life and environment, a visit to Scotland with Penny (where he endeared himself to the people he met), and the difficulties he encountered in making the transition from life in the Arctic to nineteenth-century Britain. M'Donald himself later worked as an assistant surgeon on H.M.S. Terror in Sir John Franklin's last expedition: his eventual fate is not known.

Page 9 of 11