That First Antarctic Winter. The Story of
the Southern Cross Expedition of 1998-1900 as told by the Diaries of Louis Charles
Bernacchi.
Written and edited by Janet Crawford (Grand-daughter
of LC Bernacchi). Published by South Latitude Research 1998. In actual fact the
book is much more than that sub-title. It deals with the British Antarctic Expedition
of Carsten Borchgrevink to Cape Adare where the first wintering on the continent
took place in 1899.
A Very Gallant Gentleman
The
first biography of Captain Oates. It really has only two chapters on his early
life the rest in devoted to his experiences and death on the Terra Nova expedition.
Mainly, factual it is devoid of deeper aspects in Oates as a person. His mother
to whom Oates was devoted rarely gets a mention probably because she refused to
cooperate with the author. However, this is a typical old fashioned biography
of the 30's. The better book is by Limb and Cordingley. Published by Thorton Butterworth
in 1933 it soon went to numerous reprints. A good 1st ed. would fetch about £60.
The
Saga Of The 'Discovery'
Ship history written by member of the 'Terra
Nova' expedition. Built for Scott's first Antarctic expedition, 'Discovery' then
became a whale research ship for the British Government and later part of the
British-Australian-New Zealand Research Expedition under Douglas Mawson. First
published in 1938 by Blackie. An edition complete with original wrapper would
be about £150.
To the South Polar
Regions: Expedition of 1898-1900.
The British Antarctic Expedition
of 1898-1900 which was led by Carsten Borchgrevink, was one of the small, privately
funded ventures which contributed much to the early understanding of the Antarctic.
Bernacchi,of Italian origin, was the first Australian to play a significant part
in Antarctic exploration. The Southern Cross expedition, on which he was physicist,
was the first party to over-winter on the Antarctic continent.
Limited
edition 450 numbered copies when first published in 1901 by Hurst & Blackett.
Modern facsimile edition produced by Bluntisham 1991 was also limited to 450 copies.
I have an unnumbered presentation copy which leaves me bemused as to its worth.
Even the facsimle edition should fetch £30-£40 and the original first
edition will cost you £1000.
