An Arctic Boat-Journey in the Autumn of 1854

This 1860 first-hand account records a gruelling episode in Greenland during the second Grinnell expedition in search of John Franklin.

Isaac I. Hayes (Author), H. Norton Shaw (Introduction by)

9781108074896, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 March 2014

400 pages, 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

After the expedition of Sir John Franklin went missing in the Arctic, a series of search missions were sent out in an attempt to discover its fate. Two of these were funded by, and named after, the American shipping magnate Henry Grinnell (1799–1874), the second of which was launched in 1853. With the brig Advance trapped in ice off the coast of northern Greenland, the expedition's surgeon Isaac Israel Hayes (1832–81) set out in August 1854 with a party of men towards Upernavik. This 1860 publication traces nearly four months spent struggling against horrendous Arctic conditions. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are The Open Polar Sea (1867) and The Land of Desolation (1871), Hayes's account of a more leisurely cruise along the coast of Greenland. Also available is Arctic Explorations (1856), a two-volume account of the second Grinnell expedition by its leader, Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57).

Preface
1. Introductory
2. Preparation
3. The start
4. Across the ice-fields
5. Under sail
6. A gloomy night
7. Rounding Cape Alexander
8. The fleet at sea
9. Northumberland Island
10. At sea in a snow-storm
11. Across Whale Sound
12. Among the Esquimaux
13. Hopes checked
14. Building a hut
15. Hut-building continued
16. The hut discovered by Esquimaux
17. A two weeks' famine
18. Schemes for moving southward
19. Plans for obtaining supplies
20. Petersen
21. Intercourse with the Esquimaux
22. Failure of our plans
23. Petersen's adventures among the Esquimaux
24. Supplies obtained when least expected
25. Good cheer
26. Further plans
27. Preparations for abandoning the hut
28. Darkness ahead!
29. Plots and counter-plots
30. Moving northward
31. Over the frozen sea
32. Rounding Cape Alexander again
33. Reaching the brig
34. Concluding remarks
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]