The Open Polar Sea
A Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, in the Schooner United States

Explorer Dr Isaac Israel Hayes' account of his search for the mythical Open Polar Sea, first published in 1866.

Isaac Israel Hayes (Author)

9781108049863, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 May 2012

502 pages, 110 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm, 0.63 kg

The Open Polar Sea was one of the most prevalent myths of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration. Several explorers had hypothesised a stretch of ice-free sea between Greenland and the North Pole, and several expeditions set out in search of it. One of these was planned and led by Isaac Israel Hayes (1832–81), an American physician and explorer. This account of the expedition, first published in 1866, was compiled from his journals. Having left Boston in a small schooner so overloaded with equipment that a passenger could lean over the deck rail and touch the sea, Hayes and his crew almost faced shipwreck off Nova Scotia and regularly saw their cabins flooded on their way to Greenland, where, in calmer weather, they encountered the first palatial ice floes. Written for the general reader rather than for scientific purposes, this book still serves as an accessible, entertaining guide to the voyage.

Introduction
1. Leaving Boston
2. Passage to the Greenland coast
3. The colony of Proven
4. Upernavik
5. Among the icebergs
6. Entering Melville Bay
7. Hans and his family
8. Our winter harbor
9. Sunset
10. Journey on the glacier
11. Important results of the recent journey
12. My cabin
13. Increasing darkness
14. Midwinter
15. The Arctic midnight
16. The New Year
17. The Arctic night
18. Prolonged absence of Mr Sonntag
19. Sonntag
20. Looking for the sun
21. Sunrise
22. Spring twilight
23. Kalutunah returns
24. Starting on my first journey
25. Sending forward supplies
26. The first day's journey
27. The storm continues
28. The difficulties multiplying
29. The main party sent back
30. The prospect ahead
31. A new start
32. The open Polar Sea
33. On board the schooner
34. Inspection of the schooner
35. The Arctic spring
36. The Arctic summer
37. Leaving Port Foulke
38. Leaving Smith Sound
39. Homeward bound.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]