The Arctic journal of captain Henry Wemyss Feilden, R. A. : the naturalist in H.M.S. Alert, 1875-1876

Resource Information

The work The Arctic journal of captain Henry Wemyss Feilden, R. A. : the naturalist in H.M.S. Alert, 1875-1876 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bowdoin College Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The Arctic journal of captain Henry Wemyss Feilden, R. A. : the naturalist in H.M.S. Alert, 1875-1876

Title remainder

the naturalist in H.M.S. Alert, 1875-1876

Statement of responsibility

edited by Trevor H. Levere

Creator

• Feilden, H. W., (Henry Wemyss), 1838-1921,

Contributor

• Hakluyt Society,
• Levere, Trevor Harvey,

Author

• Feilden, H. W., (Henry Wemyss), 1838-1921,

Editor

• Levere, Trevor Harvey,

Issuing body

• Hakluyt Society,

Subject

• Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration | British
• Diaries
• Diaries
• Discovery (Ship : 1874-1902)
• Discovery and exploration, British
• Feilden, H. W., (Henry Wemyss), 1838-1921
• Feilden, H. W., (Henry Wemyss), 1838-1921 -- Diaries
• Alert (Sloop : 1856-1895)
• Arctic Regions

Genre

• Diaries

Language

eng

Summary

The British Arctic Expedition of 1875-6 was the first major British naval expedition to the high Arctic where science was almost as important as geographical exploration. There were hopes that the expedition might find the hypothetical open polar sea and with it the longed-for North-west Passage, and it did reach the highest northern latitude to date. The Royal Society compiled instructions for the expedition, and selected two full-time naturalists (an unusual naval concession to science), of whom one, Henry Wemyss Feilden, proved a worthy choice.Feilden was a soldier, who fought in most of the wars in his lifetime, including the American Civil War, on the Confederate side. On board HMS Alert, he kept a daily journal, a record important for its scientific content, but also as a view of the expedition as seen by a soldier, revealing admiration and appreciation for his naval colleagues; he performed whatever tasks were given to him, including the rescue of returning sledge parties stricken by scurvy. He also did a remarkably comprehensive job in mapping the geology of Smith Sound; some of his work, on the Cape Rawson Beds, was the most reliable until the 1950s. He was an all-round naturalist, and a particularly fine geologist and ornithologist. He was not just a collector; he pondered the significance of his findings within the context of the best modern science of his day: in zoology, Charles Darwin on evolution; in botany, Hooker on phytogeography, and in geology, Charles Lyell's system. He illustrated his journal with his own sketches, and also enclosed the printed programmes of popular entertainments held on the ship, and verses for birthdays and sledging (there was a printing press onboard)

Member of

• Works issued by the Hakluyt Society ;, 3rd ser., no. 35

Biography type

contains biographical information

Cataloging source

ERASA

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• plates

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Works issued by the Hakluyt Society

Series volume

third series, no. 35