Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875–6 in HM Ships Alert and Discovery

Written by expedition commander George Nares, this 1878 two-volume journal recounts the 1875–6 British Arctic expedition's attempt to reach the North Pole. Volume 2 describes the perilous return journey. It includes extensive appendices, giving details of the expedition's scientific discoveries, and features a cumulative index.

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The British Vice-Admiral and Arctic explorer Sir George Nares (1831–1915) received several honours for his contributions to science, including a fellowship of the Royal Society. He attended the Royal Naval School, New Cross, before joining the service in 1845. After a varied early career and the successful Challenger scientific expedition in the Atlantic, he took command of the British Arctic expedition of 1875–6. The expedition's attempt, led by second-in-command, Albert Markham, to reach the North Pole by dog-sled set a new record for farthest distance north achieved. This book, the second of Nares' popular two-volume account of the journey, published in 1878, describes the perilous return journey. It includes extensive appendices written by H. W. Feilden, giving details of the expedition's scientific discoveries, and features a cumulative index. Nares' official report of the expedition, and Markham's account, The Great Frozen North, are also available from the Cambridge Library Collection.