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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 5 of 11

An Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound
  • In Search of Friends with Sir John Franklin
  • Robert Anstruther Goodsir
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
    First published in:
    1850
  • In 1847, Sir John Franklin and his crew perished on their Arctic expedition. The following years saw multiple attempts to discover what happened to them. First published in 1850, this short account by Robert Anstruther Goodsir (1823–95) is based on the journal he kept while serving as surgeon during an 1849 mission in search of the missing explorers. Seeking to find his brother, Harry, who was assistant surgeon and naturalist on Franklin's expedition, Goodsir vividly describes the various dangers encountered, such as ice floes, icebergs, storms and shipwrecks. Moreover, he takes note of wildlife, notably birds and fish, and records interactions with Inuit. The perspective offered by a medical man, with a keen desire to raise awareness of ongoing rescue efforts, adds further interest to the narrative. Several other works relating to the expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin have also been reissued in this series.

A Voyage towards the North Pole
  • Undertaken by His Majesty's Command 1773
  • Constantine John Phipps
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 February 2014
  • A friend of Sir Joseph Banks, and with scientific interests of his own, the naval officer Constantine John Phipps (1744–92) was appointed by the Admiralty in 1773 to command an Arctic expedition in search of a passage to the Pacific. Among the crew was a young Horatio Nelson and a freed slave, Olaudah Equiano, who became the first African to visit the Arctic. Although unsuccessful in its primary aim, the voyage is noteworthy for Phipps' description of the polar bear as a distinct species, and for being a naval voyage on which research was deemed as crucial as exploration. Following the publication of this account in 1774, the Gentleman's Magazine commented that 'there has not appeared a voyage in any language so replete with nautical information, nor in which the mariner and philosopher can find such liberal entertainment'. Illustrated throughout, the work includes a substantial appendix containing the scientific data.

Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger
  • Being an Account of Various Observations Made during the Voyage of HMS Challenger round the World, in the Years 1872–1876, Under the Commands of Capt. Sir G. S. Nares, and Capt. F. T. Thomson
  • Henry Nottidge Moseley
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • 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.

Northward Ho!
  • Including a Narrative of Captain Phipps's Expedition
  • Albert Hastings Markham
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
    First published in:
    1879
  • 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.

Through Siberia
  • Volume 1
  • Henry Lansdell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • The Church of England clergyman Henry Lansdell (1841–1919) was an energetic traveller, both during his own leisure time and on behalf of the Irish Church Missions. He made many visits to Russia and central Asia, distributing bibles and tracts in the native languages of the many peoples he encountered, and focusing his attention especially on hospitals and prisons. He published this two-volume account in 1882, and it proved extremely popular (this second edition being prepared before the first was published), but it attracted some criticism for its favourable treatment of the Russian government. The anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin was especially indignant at the accounts of Russian prisons: he alleged that Lansdell was either a dupe of propaganda or was deliberately distorting what he had seen. Volume 1 describes Lansdell's motives for making the journey, his travels across Russia, and his experience of the prison and exile systems of Siberia.

The Private Journal of Captain G. F. Lyon, of HMS Hecla
  • During the Recent Voyage of Discovery Under Captain Parry
  • George Francis Lyon
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • By 1820, the explorer William Parry had managed to traverse half of the North-West Passage. For his second attempt in 1821–3, he was accompanied by George Francis Lyon (1795–1832), who captained HMS Hecla. Parry and Lyon ultimately failed to get beyond Fury and Hecla Strait - named for the expedition's ships - because of heavy ice. This, together with the onset of scurvy, brought about their return to England. First published in 1824, Lyon's journal provides details of the region's natural history and its ice conditions as well as some of the most perceptive early commentary on the Inuit of Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula. Lyon struck up a rapport with these people, even allowing them to tattoo him. Living among the Inuit, Lyon observed their customs, their clothing, their diet, and their hunting activities. Several engravings of the author's sketches enhance the value of the work.

The Career, Last Voyage, and Fate of Captain Sir John Franklin
  • Sherard Osborn
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1860
  • The disappearance of Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition of 1845 led to many rescue attempts, some by the British government, and some by private individuals. This short 1860 account of Franklin's life and of the search for him was written by the experienced naval officer Sherard Osborn (several of whose other works have been reissued in this series) with a view to inspiring the youth of Britain to follow the great explorer's example of duty and rectitude. Osborn (1822–75) had begun his naval career in the Far East, but was a pioneering commander of steam-powered ships, and his performance in the steam tender HMS Pioneer in the 1850 rescue expedition confirmed the efficiency of this new technology in icy waters. Decorated for his role in the Crimean War, and later active in railway and telegraph technology, he continued to take an interest in Arctic exploration, and in steamships, until his death.

The Life, Diaries and Correspondence of Jane Lady Franklin 1792–1875
  • Jane Griffin Franklin
  • Edited by W. F. Rawnsley
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1923
  • Jane Franklin (1792–1875) became well known in the middle of the nineteenth century for her tireless campaign to discover the fate of the lost Arctic expedition led by her husband, Sir John Franklin (1786–1847). The editor of this volume, Willingham Franklin Rawnsley (1845–1927), was Sir John's great-nephew, with access to the family papers. The four sections of this work, first published in 1923, address Jane's life before her marriage in 1828; the period when her husband was posted to the Mediterranean; life in Tasmania, where Sir John served as governor; and Lady Franklin's quest to learn the fate of her husband's expedition in search of the North-West Passage. Given appropriate context, the extracts illuminate her interest in European travel, her activities in Tasmania - especially in education and the treatment of female convicts - and her movements over the globe after searches discovered evidence of her husband's demise.

Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay in His Majesty's Ship Rosamond
  • Containing Some Account of the North-Eastern Coast of America and of the Tribes Inhabiting that Remote Region
  • Edward Chappell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
  • 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.

Narrative of an Expedition in HMS Terror
  • Undertaken with a View to Geographical Discovery on the Arctic Shores, in the Years 1836–7
  • George Back
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    26 September 2013
  • 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.

Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia
  • With a Narrative of a Residence in China
  • Volume 2
  • Peter Dobell
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • An Irish-born adventurer in Russian service, Peter Dobell (1772–1852) embarked in 1812 on a long journey from Kamchatka across Siberia to Tomsk. This two-volume work, first published in 1830, contains a detailed and idiosyncratic account of his journey, painting an affectionate picture of the region and its people. The narrative includes ethnographic observations, descriptions of nights spent with local families, notes on the wildlife encountered, and discussion of the problems caused by the weather. Dobell also lived in China for many years, and his remarks on the experience are incorporated into the work. He gives opinionated observations on topics such as Chinese society, traditions, trade and medicine. Again, this narrative reflects Dobell's instinctive curiosity and enthusiasm. Volume 2 covers the concluding part of Dobell's Siberian travels, from Yakutsk to Tomsk. It also contains all of the chapters on China.

A Two Years' Cruise Off Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and in the River Plate
  • A Narrative of Life in the Southern Seas
  • Volume 1
  • William Parker Snow
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
    First published in:
    1857
  • Following participation in the Arctic search for Sir John Franklin, the mariner and author William Parker Snow (1817–95) volunteered in 1854 to command the schooner Allen Gardiner, named after the man whose work for the South American Missionary Society was to be resumed. Although conceived as 'merely a simple narrative of daily life in the Southern Seas', this illustrated two-volume work becomes simultaneously a first-hand account of a sailor's experiences and observations, and a self-justification against those by whom he felt disappointed, frustrated and deceived. Volume 1 recounts the history of the Falkland Islands and the circumstances of this mission, covering the voyage to Patagonia, the establishment of a station on Keppel Island and the first friendly meetings with 'dreaded savages'. First published in 1857, the book met with some success. Snow, however, wasted the proceeds on a fruitless action against his former employers.

A Two Years' Cruise Off Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and in the River Plate
  • A Narrative of Life in the Southern Seas
  • Volume 2
  • William Parker Snow
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
    First published in:
    1857
  • Following participation in the Arctic search for Sir John Franklin, the mariner and author William Parker Snow (1817–95) volunteered in 1854 to command the schooner Allen Gardiner, named after the man whose work for the South American Missionary Society was to be resumed. Although conceived as 'merely a simple narrative of daily life in the Southern Seas', this illustrated two-volume work becomes simultaneously a first-hand account of a sailor's experiences and observations, and a self-justification against those by whom he felt disappointed, frustrated and deceived. Volume 2 includes an account of meeting 'Jemmy Button', the Fuegian who had been taken to Britain on the Beagle. It also charts the series of difficulties Snow faced as captain, which culminated in his dismissal and abandonment on the Falklands. First published in 1857, the narrative met with some success. Snow, however, wasted the proceeds on a fruitless action against his former employers.

Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia
  • With a Narrative of a Residence in China
  • Volume 1
  • Peter Dobell
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • An Irish-born adventurer in Russian service, Peter Dobell (1772–1852) embarked in 1812 on a long journey from Kamchatka across Siberia to Tomsk. This two-volume work, first published in 1830, contains a detailed and idiosyncratic account of his journey, painting an affectionate picture of the region and its people. The narrative includes ethnographic observations, descriptions of nights spent with local families, notes on the wildlife encountered, and discussion of the problems caused by the weather. Dobell also lived in China for many years, and his remarks on the experience are incorporated into the work. He gives opinionated observations on topics such as Chinese society, traditions, trade and medicine. Again, this narrative reflects Dobell's instinctive curiosity and enthusiasm. Volume 1 covers the first half of the journey, starting in Kamchatka and ending in Yakutsk.

The Dutch in the Arctic Seas
  • A Dutch Arctic Expedition and Route
  • Samuel Richard van Campen
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Despite Holland's rich history as a major maritime power, by the time this work first appeared in 1876 the Dutch had long abandoned their exploration of the Arctic Circle. In this detailed study, noting the achievements of Dutch navigators, Samuel Richard van Campen (c.1833–c.1893) makes the case for new expeditions into the north, not only to investigate the possibility of Arctic passages to America and Asia, but also to pursue scientific research. The author delineates potential routes and difficulties, discusses ocean conditions, and examines both historical and contemporary expeditions for flaws and successes. The book also includes as an appendix a chronological table of Arctic expeditions ranging from ninth-century Viking endeavours to Allen Young's 1876 voyage. Reissued here is the second edition of 1877, which does not differ textually from the first. Despite the author's intention to continue the work, a second volume never appeared.

Narrative of an Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland
  • Sent by Order of the King of Denmark, in Search of the Lost Colonies, under the Command of Captain W. A. Graah of the Danish Royal Navy
  • Wilhelm August Graah
  • Translated by George Gordon Macdougall
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • 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.

Schwatka's Search
  • Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records
  • William Henry Gilder
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1882
  • 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.

A Voyage of Discovery Towards the North Pole
  • Performed in His Majesty's Ships Dorothea and Trent, under the Command of Captain David Buchan, R.N. 1818
  • Frederick William Beechey
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Having joined the Royal Navy at the age of ten, Frederick William Beechey (1796–1856) had risen to the rank of lieutenant when he served under John Franklin on the 1818 British expedition to the Arctic in search of a possible route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Two ships, the Dorothea and the Trent, were sent to find a route via the seas around Spitsbergen. A little north of 80° their progress was halted by ice. Sailing west to Greenland, the Dorothea was seriously damaged and the expedition aborted. Beechey's account remains the principal source for this voyage as neither Franklin nor the overall commander David Buchan published their journals. Beechey's Arctic service equipped him to later command the Blossom in northern waters: his two-volume Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait (1831) is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Narrative of an Expedition to the Shores of the Arctic Sea in 1846 and 1847
  • John Rae
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 June 2013
    First published in:
    1850
  • 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.

Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea
  • In the Years 1820, 1821, 1822 and 1823
  • Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangell
  • Edited and translated by Edward Sabine
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    29 August 2013
    First published in:
    1840
  • 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.

Page 5 of 11