F. Polar Exploration

1376. Caswell, John E. Arctic frontiers; United States explorations in the Far North. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [1956] 232 p. 56–11235 G630.A5C3. Bibliography: p. 216–225.

1377. Mitterling, Philip I. America in the Antarctic to 1840. Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1959. 201 p. illus. 59–10555 G870.M67

Essay on sources: p. 169–186.

Two historical surveys of 19th-century polar exploration, each well documented and concise. The first describes northern polar expeditions between 1850 and 1909, the period when, as Vilhjalmur Stefansson has written, "explorers tended to become pioneers of science if not martyrs of science." After brief introductory mention of earlier European polar thrusts, this volume emphasizes the historical continuity, including the chain of friendships, in expeditions from Edwin Jesse De Haven to Robert E. Peary and the cumulatively increasing data base of scientific knowledge that resulted. Photographs, drawings, and maps of persons and places increase the historical perspective of Caswell’s text. The bulk of Mitterling’s material covers early 19th-century discovery of the South Atlantic islands and the coastal rim of a new continent. A synthesis of many private papers, this chronological narrative stresses the motivations of the explorers, who varied widely in purpose, ranging from those who sought profits in the fur-seal trade to those who pursued information and understanding on scientific and governmental missions. In an extensive bibliography, the author evaluates the sources of his facts.

1378. Siple, Paul. 90° South; the story of the American South Pole conquest. New York, Putnam [1959] 384 p. 59–11029 G850 1957.S5

Paul Siple made his first trip to Antarctica as the Boy Scout chosen to accompany the Richard E. Byrd Expedition of 1928–30. This reminiscence, an intimate and descriptive review of American Antarctic exploration in the 20th century, first surveys the author’s five expeditions with Byrd and then comprehensively details the 18 months Siple spent at the South Pole as the scientific leader of 17 men undertaking investigations for the U.S. contribution to the International Geophysical Year. An informal narrative, 90° South reveals the problems of physical existence in the "deepfreeze" as well as the emotional and intellectual reactions it provokes. Photographs intensify the description of a stark and frigid life. A general historical account of the search for the South Pole, by a New York Times correspondent who took part in three expeditions, is Walter Sullivan’s Quest for a Continent (New York, McGraw-Hill [c1957] 372 p.).