Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T10:29:58.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

British polar expeditions 1919–39

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

John Wright
John Wright
Affiliation:
Webbs Farmhouse, Cakeham Road, West Wittering, Chichester, West Sussex PO20 8LG, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Twenty years of British polar expeditions are described, covering nearly 60 expeditions and over 260 members, virtually all emanating from the universities. Expeditions are catalogued with the official name (if any), dates, areas visited, leader's name, number of members, and mentioning any special features. Backgrounds and principal characteristics of the expeditions are described, particularly scientific objectives and details of members, including distinctions in their later careers. The record includes four deaths, all in the summer and three from drowning, and a single rescue operation of an aircraft by a motor boat. Scientific results are outlined, with main emphasis on the author's speciality (surveying and mapping); hope is expressed that others will describe the other scientific results in future articles. Most expeditions were characterized by absence of publicity, and the virtual impossibility of rescue operations due to isolation and lack of field radio transmitters and aircraft.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 26 , Issue 157 , April 1990 , pp. 77 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bertram, G. C. L. 1987. A biologist's story: Antarctica, Cambridge, conservation and population. Published privately.Google Scholar
Binnie, F. G. 1925. Oxford University Arctic Expedition. Geographical Journal 66: 9–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binnie, F. G. 1925. With seaplane and sledge in the Arctic. London, Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Chapman, F. Spencer. 1931. Northern lights: the official account of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition 1930–31. London, Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Chapman, F. Spencer. 1934. Watkins'last expedition. London, Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Croft, N. A. C. 1939. Polar exploration. London, Adam and Charles Black.Google Scholar
Glen, A. R. 1935. Young men in the Arctic: the Oxford University Arctic Expedition to Spitsbergen. London, Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Glen, A. R.Oxford University Expedition, Northeast Land. Geographical Journal 90: 193–222, 289–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glen, A. R., assisted by Croft, N. A. C. 1937. Under the pole star. London, Methuen.Google Scholar
Godfrey, A. S. T. 1938. The cradle of the north wind. London, MethuenGoogle Scholar
Haig-Thomas, D. 1938. Tracks in the snow. London, Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Humphries, N., Shackleton, E. and Moore, A. W. 1936. Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition. Geographical Journal 87: 385–443.Google Scholar
Lindsay, M. 1932. Those Greenland days. Edinburgh, Blackwood.Google Scholar
Lindsay, M. 1935. The British Trans-Greenland Expedition. Geographical Jounal 85: 393–441 and 86: 235–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, M. 1935. Sledge: the British trans-Greenland Expedition 1934. London, Cassell.Google Scholar
Riley, J.P. 1989. From pole to pole: the life of Quintin Riley 1905–80. Bluntisham, Bluntisham Books.Google Scholar
Rudmose, Brown R. N. 1933. Recent polar work —some criticisms. Polar Record 1 (5): 62–66.Google Scholar
Rymill, J. 1938. Southern lights: the official account of the British Graham Land Expedition 1934–37. London, Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Rymill, J. 1938. The British Graham Land Expedition 1934–7. Geographical Journal 91: 297–312,424–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, J. M. 1933. The land that God gave Cain. London, Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Scott, J. M. 1935. Gino Watkins. London, Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Stephenson, A. 1981. British polar exploration 10 years before and after World War II: a comparison. Polar Record 20(127): 317–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, H. G. 1932. The British Arctic Air Route Expedition. Geographical Journal 79:353–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wordie, J. M. 1938. An expeditionto north west Greenland and the Canadian Arctic in 1937. Geographical Journal 92:385–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar