Captain Albert Hastings Markham - The Great Frozen Sea. A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the 'Alert' During the Arctic Expedition - 1878

Expedition that reached the highest latitude ever attained at the time

Markham, Captain Albert Hastings
The Great Frozen Sea. A Personal Narrative of the Voyage of the 'Alert' During the Arctic Expedition of 1875-6
London: Daldy, 1878 [first edition]

8vo (22.5x16 cm); xx, 440 pp, [4] adverts. Illustrated with 8 plates including 2 double-page colour plates of flags, frontis, 2 maps including one folding and tinted, and numerous in-text illustrations. Bound in original blue cloth, black and gilt decoration on front board and spine.

Condition good minus: Spine darkened with restorations at spine ends. Otherwise bright and colorfull. Some foxing of prelims and occasionally of contents, rear end paper chipped at fore-margin, binding bit rubbed, inner hinges cracking. Folding map with edge repair.

Markham commanded the Alert during the British Arctic Expedition under Nares to the North Polar Sea, and wintered on Ellesmere Island. He led the two-sledge party that attempted to reach the North Pole in 1876, but was forced to turn back on account of his party suffering from scurvy. His account describes in detail the passage, wintering, sledge journeys, notes on the dogs, scurvy, frostbite, snow blindness, and other occurrences. Markham was appointed second-in-command of HMS Alert under Captain Nares. Despite suffering from scurvy and being poorly clothed, he led a sledge-party to reach the highest latitude ever attained at the time, a record that stood for 20 years. They did, however, fail to realise their ultimate goal of reaching the North Pole.