Overview

The German surgeon and explorer Emil Bessels (1847–88) was head of the scientific team on the American-sponsored Polaris Expedition, which in 1871–3 made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole. Some of the crew spent months adrift on an ice floe and others were marooned in Greenland. Astonishingly, they survived, but much of the expedition's scientific research remained unpublished as a result of financial wrangling. This 1879 publication is a popular account of the journey, with a substantial scientific appendix based on the expedition papers and additional data shared with Bessels by Sir George Nares. It describes the expedition's landfalls from Newfoundland to Greenland, and experiences, including temperatures so low that mercury froze, hunting for polar bears and seals for food, and the help provided by the local Inuit, whose language, traditions and burial customs Bessels outlines. The book also contains over eighty illustrations, mostly woodcuts.

Full Product Details

Author:   Emil Bessels
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
ISBN:  

9781139151580

ISBN 10:   1139151584
Publication Date:   05 November 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Undefined
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Language:   German

Table of Contents

Vorwort; 1. Ursprung der Expedition und deren Ausrüstung; 2. Von New-York nach Neufundland; 3. Von Neufundland nach Grönland; 4. Von Holsteenborg nach der nördlichsten Ansiedelung der Erde; 5. Historischer Rückblick; 6. Nach dem unbekannten Gebiete; 7. Die ersten Tage in Polaris-Bay; 8. Die erste Schlittenreise; 9. Hall's Schlittenreise; 10. Im Banne der Finsterniss; 11. Das neue Jahr; 12. Durch Finsterniss zum Licht; 13. Die Schlittenreise nach Süden; 14. Der Vorsommer; 15. Die Bootfahrt nach Norden; 16. Der Sommer; 17. Nach Süden; 18. Auf festem Boden; 19. Eine ethnographische Skizze; 20. Weitere Schritte; 21. Der Beginn der Schollenfahrt; 22. Zwischen Hoffnungslosigkeit und Zuversicht; 23. Der Frühling auf der Scholle; 24. Die Robben; 25. Die Erlösung; 26. Die Bootfahrt durch's Eismeer; 27. Auf dem Walfischfang; 28. Die Fahndung; 29. Die Heimkehr; Wissenschaftlicher Anhang: 1. Hydrographie; 2. Erdmagnetismus und Nordlichter; 3. Meteorologie; Instructionen.

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