A Polar Reconnaissance

This illustrated work, published in 1881, illuminates historical and recent Arctic exploration in the region of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

Enhanced by engravings, this 1881 work illuminates historical and recent Arctic exploration in the region of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Albert Hastings Markham (1841–1918) summarises previous discoveries and voyages made by various explorers. He then gives a detailed account of his 1879 voyage aboard the Norwegian cutter Isbjörn.Enhanced by several attractive engravings, this work, first published in 1881, illuminates Arctic exploration in the region of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, north of the Russian mainland. Naval officer Albert Hastings Markham (1841–1918) summarises previous discoveries and voyages made in the region by various navigators from England, Russia, Norway and elsewhere. He goes on to give an account of his 1879 voyage aboard the Norwegian cutter Isbjörn, offering details of Arctic flora and fauna, topographical and oceanographic features, and navigational difficulties presented by ice. For those interested in the scientific aspects of the expedition, the appendices contain notes and lists, prepared by experts, drawing on the various botanical and zoological specimens that were collected. Also reissued in this series are Markham's A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay (1874), The Great Frozen Sea (1878) and Northward Ho! (1879).