W
WALTON, Kevin & ATKINSON, Richard
Of Dogs And Men.
Pressure from environmentalists and the more efficient mechanical vehicles meant that in 1994 the working dogs were removed from Antarctica. This book gives a nostalgic look back at this unique period in history. Kevin Walton, who witnessed the arrival of the dogs come in the 1940's and Rick Atkinson, who was in the Antarctica when the use of the dogs came to an end, are well placed to tell the story in its entirety: from collecting the dogs, training, nutrition, breeding and aspects of sledging. Some excellent photographs combine to make this a modern record of dogs of the Antarctic Survey 1944-1994. Published 1996 Images Publishing.
WHEELER, Sara
Cherry, A Life of Aspley Cherry-Garrard
Anyone who studies historical exploration in the Antarctic will not disagree that this is a long overdue book. Cherry's anguish at discovering the bodies of Scott's polar party only ten miles from where he himself left the final food dump lived with him for the rest of his life. By all accounts many in Britain wanted an explanation about why he did not go further. Cherry must have asked himself this everyday of his life, the mental turmoil stayed with him until his death. Cherry also completed an over- winter journey across the ice to collect penguin eggs and his story told in ' The Worst Journey In The World' remains a classic. The journey however, was a zenith for him in that the finally got the adventure he was looking for, yet he remained unsettled and unfulfilled. Anyone who has read ' Worst Journey' will want to know more about the man. Sara Wheeler fulfils that gap with a well researched book and an insight into this man. Cherry would appear to have had a very easy childhood with a very financially comfortable family. Yet even at an early age he was considered a bit of a loner. Scott made an inspired choice in taking Cherry (money paid upfront probably helped) and you the reader can also see that there was more to this man than a upper class snob seeking thrills and adventures. Published 2001 by Cape.
Terra Incognita
Not strictly a book about historical exploration but a ' good read' nevertheless. It has an interesting female perspective on a male dominated continent and with it comes a sense of humour and a passion about Antarctica. Published 1996 by Cape.
WILD, Frank,
Shackleton's Last Voyage. The story of the 'Quest',
From the official journal and private diary kept by Dr A.H. Maclin. Published 1923 Cassell.
WILSON, Edward.
Diary Of The 'Terra Nova' Expedition To The Antarctic 1910-12 Ed by HGR King
The diary has vivid descriptions of the Polar landscapes. 27 Water Colour illustrations by the author, reproduced in book form, many for the first time. An intimate account of what were to be the last years of his life. A rare and collectable title. I hear though that the actual text is stale and uncontroversial. Pub: Blandford 1972.
There is also an edition edited by Ann Savours in 1966. The US edition published by Humanities Press also in 1972 and a paperback edition retitled 'South Pole Odyssey', selections from the diaries edited by HGR King, published Blanford Press 1982.
WILSON, Dr & ELDER, David
Cheltenham In Antarctica: The Life of Edward Wilson.
This is an illustrated story of Edward Wilson taking the reader around his boyhood home in Cheltenham through to his last days with Scott on the fatal journey back from the pole. Published 2000 by Reardon Publishing.
WISE. Terence
Polar Exploration
A reference book that devotes a paragraph on every known polar expedition since early times. This is a very useful quick reference book. Published Almark 1973.
WORSLEY, F.A.
The Great Antarctic Rescue. Shackleton's Boat Journey
Published 1977 Times Books
Published 1977 Times Books
Account of Shackleton's 1914-17 Endurance expedition. Includes chapters on Worsley's wartime experiences.The 1931 first edition of Endurance was published by Phillip Allen. Geoffrey Bles published a reprint in 1938.
Shackleton's Boat Journey.
An account of the 1916 epic in 'James Caird' from Elephant Island to Sth. Georgia. Published 1933.
WRIGHT, Silas.
The Antarctic Diaries and Memoirs of Charles S. Wright.
Edited by Colin Bull and Pat Wright. Silas Wright was a Canadian on Scott's last expedition.
YELVERTON, David.
Antarctic Unveiled: Scott's First Expedition and the Quest for the Unknown Continent.
As far as I am concerned this is a long overdue book, it sets the record straight about the contribution Scott made to the exploration of Antarctica. If I can quote from a book review (www.antarctic-circle.org/book.htm)
" Challenges the most experienced polar traveller to assert, without hindsight, that he or she would have acted differently, given what Scott knew at the time".
The book itself is can only be described as 'full of detail'. Every known fact about the Discovery expedition is in there and I mean ‘everything’!
Published by University Press of Colorado 2000.
Quest For A Phantom Strait; The Saga Of The Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expedition 1897-1905
Polar publishing 2004
In 1895 the worlds leading geographers met in London to discuss whether a seventh continent did exist at the South Pole. Three expeditions Belgium, Swedish and French were dispatched to test whether the Polar Sea was a collection of frozen Islands- the rest, as they say, is history!
