#polar exploration reads

[full-of-terrors]

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.

[jesslovesboats]

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!

[sinni-ok-sessi]

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

[crancisfrozier]

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?

[coldfruitwater]

throws up and dies foreverrrrrr

[charlesdesvoeux]

so what you're telling me is that they were fated soulmates

A First-Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston, page 46

[fullcolorfright]

The Great White Silence (1924, dir. Herbert G. Ponting, British)

[finhere]

reading challenge idea called Polar Winter where you read nothing but polar expedition books the entire season

[pretendingday]

Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen

[snakepyre]

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.

[full-of-terrors]

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.

[jesslovesboats]

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!

[the-golden-vanity]

RIP Belgica crew, if you knew what fanfiction writers were doing to the Terror and Erebus crews, you'd probably be jealous.

[juliaanoia]

Hey Terrors, y'all got any book recommendation about polar exploration? I'm asking partly for myself, but also for my dad. He recently got into the subject and so far he's read Michael Palin's Erebus and a book about the Shackleton expedition, I'm not 100 percent sure which one. I want to get him another book for Christmas. AND I also want to read and learn more myself. For my dad's present it would be great if the book was available in German. And I think he would like to read about different expeditions than the ones he's already read about. I personally would love to read something that has original material from the explorers/sailor in it, letters and diaries etc, and don't mind if it's in english or german. So, in short, if you got any books about the subject you can recommend, I'd love to hear about it. Thank youuuu <3

[crancisfrozier]

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

[autailome]

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