William Robertson's account of Benjamin Leigh Smith's second expedition to Franz Josef Land in Eira

Abstract Following his return from participating in Benjamin Leigh Smith's expedition that wintered at Cape Flora, Northbrook Island, Franz Josef Land, in 1881–82, William Robertson, the chief engineer on the barque Eira , wrote a brief account of the expedition. Robertson's manuscript emp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Record
Main Authors: Cromack, Tim, Riffenburgh, Beau
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2000
Subjects:
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ecology
Geography, Planning and Development
Franz Josef Land
Eira
Northbrook Island
Novaya Zemlya
Polar Record
walrus*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s003224740001679x
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003224740001679X
Description
Summary:Abstract Following his return from participating in Benjamin Leigh Smith's expedition that wintered at Cape Flora, Northbrook Island, Franz Josef Land, in 1881–82, William Robertson, the chief engineer on the barque Eira , wrote a brief account of the expedition. Robertson's manuscript emphasises the hunting of walrus prior to reaching Franz Josef Land, the sinking of the ship, the enforced wintering, and the successful retreat of the party by open boat to Novaya Zemlya. The original of the manuscript reproduced here, which is one of only a few first-person accounts known to exist, is held by Robertson's descendants. It has not previously been published.

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