Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea
In the Years 1820, 1821, 1822 and 1823

First published in English in 1840, this is an account of a four-year survey of the north-eastern coastline of Siberia.

Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangell (Author), Edward Sabine (Edited and translated by)

9781108062152, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 August 2013

556 pages, 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 3.1 cm, 0.7 kg

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.

Preface
Introduction
1. Departure of the expedition
2. Journey from Jakuzk to Nishne Kolymsk
3. General remarks of the district
4. Nishne Kolymsk
5. First ice journey over the sea
6. Matiuschkin's account of the fair at Ostrownoje
7. Second ice journey
8. Nishne Kolymsk
9. Matiuschkin's account of a journey along the lesser and the greater Aniuj rivers
10. Survey of the coast of the polar sea
11. Third journey on the ice of the polar sea
12. Von Wrangell's journey through the stony tundra
13. Matiuschkin's journey across the eastern tundra
14. Fourth journey on the polar sea
15. Return from Sredne Kolymsk to St Petersburgh
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]