An Account of the Arctic Regions

This 1820 account of the Arctic regions was the first book on whaling to be published in Britain.

Published in 1820, this two-volume guide to the Arctic was written by distinguished scientist and explorer William Scoresby (1789–1857). Volume 2 focuses on the history, development, and methods of whaling in the polar regions and includes the account of a whaling voyage in 1816.Written by explorer, scientist and later clergyman William Scoresby (1789–1857), this two-volume guide to the Arctic regions was first published in 1820. Scoresby, himself the son of a whaler and Arctic explorer, first sailed to the polar regions at the age of eleven, and was later apprenticed to his father. He became a correspondent of Sir Joseph Banks, and his extensive research on the Arctic area included pioneering work in oceanography, magnetism, and the study of Arctic currents and waves. He surveyed 400 miles of the Greenland coast in 1822. This account was the first book published in Britain which was devoted solely to the whale fisheries. Volume 2 focuses on the fisheries and includes a history of whaling, the methods used to extract whale oil and prepare whalebone, and the impact of new developments. The book ends with a detailed account of a whaling expedition in 1816.