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.
The enthusiasm of Sir Clements R. Markham (1830–1916) for travel and exploration started early and took him around the world. Originally a naval officer, he was later responsible for organising the geographical mapping of much of India, and brought the method of brewing pure quinine to India from his extensive travels in Peru. An active and influential member of the Hakluyt Society and Royal Geographical Society, Markham was instrumental in gathering support for this 1875–6 Arctic expedition. He gives a clear account of the funding, planning and aims, the execution of the journey, and how the research should be continued. In particular, he documents the physical activities involved on the expedition, including the surveying of coastal landforms, and the tradition of the Royal Navy in the Arctic. This 1877 template for scientific exploration demonstrates the approaches adopted in the nineteenth century, and is still of interest today.
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.
In May 1845, the famous Arctic explorer John Franklin (1786–1847) embarked on another attempt to find the elusive North-West Passage. He never returned from this voyage, and was last seen by whalers in Baffin Bay in July 1845. Some thirty rescue missions were launched between 1847 and 1859 to find the missing men. Franklin was not the first explorer to make the dangerous voyage to find the route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, and journalist Peter Lund Simmonds (1814–97) draws from a wide range of reports and publications about these expeditions in his history of the search for the North-West Passage, published in 1851. The detailed account also includes descriptions of the many missions to find Franklin, and this second edition was published later in the same year as the first in order to include updated reports on the progress of his rescue.
French missionary Émile Petitot (1838–1916) was based in Canada's Northwest Territories for twelve years, from 1862. He visited the Inuit people five times and became so well accepted that they called him 'Mr Petitot, son of the Sun'. Petitot believed that understanding Inuit languages was crucial to the religious conversion of the natives. During his mission, he collected more linguistic material than ever before and prepared dictionaries of the various Dene dialects. In this book, published in 1876, he describes the Inuit's traditions and sets about the monumental task of compiling the first grammar and vocabulary of the extremely complex Tchiglit dialect. Petitot also made substantial contributions to the geology, palaeontology, zoology and botany of the Northwest region. His efforts were rewarded with a Silver Medal from the French Société de Géographie and the Back Award from the Royal Geographical Society of London.
This short work contains texts and maps relating to early exploration and trade routes. Included here are descriptions of Russia and Siberia by Isaac Massa (1586–1643), a Dutch merchant and diplomat; one of the memorials relating to Pacific discoveries by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (c.1565–1615); and maps by the cartographer Hessel Gerritsz (c.1581–1632) showing the discoveries of the English navigator Henry Hudson (d.1611). Gerritsz originally compiled these materials and published them in Dutch, and they were soon translated into Latin to increase their readership. In the present work, first published in 1878, reproductions of the Dutch and Latin editions from 1612 and 1613 are presented together by Frederik Muller (1817–81). To encourage research on these texts, Muller also included a new English translation, and an explanatory essay by his son Samuel Muller (1848–1922).
First published in 1878, this English translation of a Greenlander's memoirs provides a valuable alternative perspective on nineteenth-century polar expeditions.
