#polar exploration reads
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The Arctic Grail by Pierre Benton seems to have answered my longstanding question- seriously what was the golden age explorers’ decades long beef with dogsleds?
Victorian pigheadedness never ceases to amaze me: a study in man-hauling.
Was it just the racism? Short answer: yes. Because the concept of dray animals should not have been mind blowing to them and they apparently tried reindeer and ponies and whatever other stupid ideas they had that didn’t work. But apparently the idea of being pulled by dogs was beneath them while man-hauling was a heroic endeavor. It was a fear of “going native”.
Anyone who adopted indigenous practices from anywhere for any reason was always looked at as having stepped outside of society and treated like a misfit. It was a struggle just to stop using Naval issue leather boots.
Ironically, having dogs pull their gear was considered more “animalistic” than acting as their own dray animals. And anything being too easy made it “cheating”.
Yikes on bikes.
It finally took the Norwegian explorers and a lot of the later explorers to shift the consensus to dogs but my lord. This is one point that I really struggle to understand the contemporary mindset of those guys because man-hauling sounds goddamn terrible.
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Hello friends, I am back with more reading recommendations for your agonies! Next up we have the long awaited and much requested Sad Boat Fiction list. As with all of my lists, this is NOT exhaustive and there WILL be great books left off, and also you may or may not like these books! I only rec things that I've personally enjoyed or that come highly recommended by trusted friends, but taste in books is incredibly subjective, especially with fiction. If I missed your favorite, please add it in the comments or drop it in my DMs!
Now that I'm feeling more settled in my new job, I will hopefully have a lot more time to make book lists and do more virtual Readers' Advisory. I have lists in the works for women in polar exploration and companion reads for the HBO War series, but if there's something else you would love to see, please send me a message!
Classics of the Genre
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Media Tie-Ins
Who Goes There? (Filmed as The Thing) by John W. Campbell, Jr.
The North Water by Ian McGuire
Cold Skin by Alfred Sánchez Piñol
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Graphic Novels
Whiteout by Greg Rucka
How to Survive in the North by Luke Healy
The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard*
*this is only fiction in the broadest possible sense of the term, but there is a shiny new American version of this book coming out with a gorgeous new cover and you should pre-order it immediately
Science Fiction
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
Romance
Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
My Last Continent by Midge Raymond
Inspired by the Terra Nova Expedition
The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard*
The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge
Terra Nova: A Play by Ted Tally
Antarctic Navigation by Elizabeth Arthur
*this is only fiction in the broadest possible sense of the term, but there is a shiny new American version of this book coming out with a gorgeous new cover and you should pre-order it immediately
Inspired by the Franklin Expedition
The Rifles by William T. Vollmann
Minds of Winter by Ed O'Loughlin
Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
On the Proper Use of Stars by Dominique Fortier
Literary Fiction
The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen
Inspired by the Classics
The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Modern Day Antarctica
How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Polar and Nautical Horror
Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss
The Deep by Nick Cutter
All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry
The Deep by Alma Katsu
Happy reading!
#reader's advisory#sad boat#sad boat books#sad boat fiction#polar exploration#nautical history#read this
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reading about polar exploration is great if you ever feel like you're not cut out for project management because holy shit neither were these guys
#amundsen possibly excepted but I've not actually read in details about his expeditions yet so who knows#polar exploration
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BABE WAKE THE FUCK UP NEW PARKS CANADA PRESS RELEASE ABOUT EREBUS ARTIFACTS
https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2024/01/parks-canadas-underwater-archaeologists-complete-seasonal-research-at-wrecks-of-hms-erebus-and-hms-terror-national-historic-site.html
Edit: here's another page from the parks canada website with photos of some of the artifacts:
And an unlisted video apparently posted a month ago?
youtube
#polar exploration#the franklin expedition#I haven’t read all of it yet cause im at work#but I saw that cool ass pistol they found in a chest#also 68 dives!!!! holy shit!!!!#please tell me if they found anything else cool#Youtube
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so what you're telling me is that they were fated soulmates
A First-Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston, page 46
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throws up and dies foreverrrrrr
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The Great White Silence (1924, dir. Herbert G. Ponting, British)
#the great white silence#robert falcon scott#polar exploration#my screencaps#documentary film#1920s films#unlike South 1919 I read accounts of the expedition before watching this#(specifically cherry-garrard’s Worst Journey in the World)#and the film did not capture the narrative’s feeling for me#obviously you can’t compress 600 pages into a single film#but the goofy 20s intertitles in the first half of this felt so morbid knowing what would happen to scott#polar
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Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen
#had a very normal time reading this play#words#terror and erebus#gwendolyn macewen#franklin expedition#polar exploration#the terror adjacent
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Not a lot on tumblr about this movie so let me give you some propaganda; Against the Ice is a movie based on Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iverssen's expedition in Greenland in 1910. Ejnar pulbished his book 'Two Against the Ice' in 1955.
#i will be reading the book also#against the ice#polar exploration#kinda#admittedly not a lot of propaganda but i cant be bothered to write some text rn. look at the images its pretty
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RIP Belgica crew, if you knew what fanfiction writers were doing to the Terror and Erebus crews, you'd probably be jealous.
#currently reading#madhouse at the end of the earth#currently rewatching#the terror amc#belgica#belgica expedition#franklin expedition#the terror#polar exploration#polar history#heroic age of polar exploration#boat media#age of sail#technically age of steam but whatever
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Some final thoughts:
the way he describes fixing the sleds, omg this man is tough.
"Cold and windy. Undo the lashings, unload the load, get out the brace and bit and bore new holes, taking plenty of time for such is the cold there is danger of the steel bit breaking. Then, with ungloved hands thread the thongs through. The fingers freeze. Stop work, take your icy fingers to your heart and when you feel it burning you know it has thawed out. Then start to work again."
He did that multiple times a day almost everyday because he was the best at it.
Describes one of their party, MacMillan as "the life of the funeral" for his cheerfulness on the ice.
"the dogs doing the hungry looking on, as dogs have done and do and will forever do." aww
(nb: not all the mention of the dogs is so pleasant)
It's weird reading about an overland arctic expedition where they want the ice to stay frozen solid, I'm so used to leads meaning open water. But here their greatest fear is falling through.
Speaking of falling through, one of their group Marvin left them before they went on to the final leg of the journey and drowned on his return trip. His death hit Henson particularly hard and he mourned his friend in his book a great deal.
I know there's controversy about whether they reached the pole or not but his description of the accomplishment is very interesting.
Once back at the ship there's an accidental gun discharge and he and MacMillan narrowly escape getting shot.
Again, controversy about Peary reaching the pole at all but the way Henson drags Cook when they're told that Cook also claims to have reached the pole is very funny. "He was not even good for a days work."
Henson has some very unpleasant statements about the Inuit people he encounters while simultaneously valuing their skills and company highly.
Overall an interesting read and a fascinating cultural document from another era.
Polar exploration themed read for April 2024, already from the forward (by Peary) and introduction (by Booker T. Washington) Im intrigued.
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I guess it's time to start moving some content from twt over here! For those who don't know me, I'm a public librarian with a special interest in polar and nautical history, and I love nothing more than connecting readers with good books. I've managed to convert some friends to my way of thinking, and one of them coined the phrase "sad boat books" to describe the types of books that I'm always reading and recommending. Here is my first list of sad boat books-- I can personally vouch for all of them!
New to sad boat? Start here to see if it’s for you!
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger
Terra Nova, A GREAT first expedition!
The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
A First Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston
Robert Falcon Scott Journals- Captain Scott’s Last Expedition by Robert Falcon Scott
“I Love Ernest Shackleton” starter pack
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Shackleton’s Boat Journey by Frank Worsley
The Endurance by Caroline Alexander
“I Hate Ernest Shackleton” starter pack
The Lost Men by Kelly Tyler-Lewis
Polar Castaways by Richard McElrea and David Harrowfield
Roald Roald Roald!
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen by Stephen Bown
The South Pole by Roald Amundsen
The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford*
*DISCLAIMER: this guy hates Captain Scott and gets most of the Scott details wrong, read for Roald only!
The Franklin Expedition
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger
Erebus by Michael Palin
May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Expedition edited by Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney, and Mary Williamson
Non-polar sad boats
The Bounty by Caroline Alexander
Batavia’s Graveyard by Mike Dash
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Sometimes a sad balloon can be a sad boat
The Expedition by Bea Uusma
The Ice Balloon by Alec Wilkinson
Karluk/Wrangel Island, the expeditions of my heart
Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy
The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven
The Karluk’s Last Voyage by Robert A. Bartlett
The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor’s Memoir of Arctic Disaster by William Laird McKinlay
Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven
Miscellaneous sad boat books that are well worth your time
The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance by Mensun Bound
In The Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition by Buddy Levy
If you read and enjoy any of these, please let me know!
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insane of shackleton to complain that war in the old days made men in 1913. sir why don't you just try to enjoy the last year of the belle époque 1914 is about to hit everyone like a truck
screenshot from the lost men by kelly parker lewis
#HE WONT EVEN BE ABLE TO APPRECIATE 1914S EVENTS MAKING REAL MEN OR WHATEVER#BC HES GONNA BE TRAPPED IN THE PACK ICE WITH THE ENDURANCE LMAOOO#Shackleton#e#polar exploration#currently reading
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Made it to John Irving’s grave today after arriving in Edinburgh. What an absolutely beautiful spot it’s in, I think he would have really liked it
#the franklin expedition#john irving#polar exploration#the terror#the terror historical#I read his last letter from May we be spared to meet on earth
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at any given point my browser looks something like this i can never lend someone my phone
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my beautiful daughter
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