A selection of vintage maps of Antarctica, available on Wikipedia Commons. Included is also a 1916 newspaper printing of a map showing Shackleton’s planned route during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition “of which news is expected any moment.”
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The Scott Polar Research Institute has an incredible collection of photography from many famous polar expeditions and voyages available online, spanning the entire period of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Highlights include galleries for the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909, and 1910-1913 (split into several different collections by photographer: Ponting, Levick, Debenham).
The Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition is also well documented – it was the last adventure taken by Earnest Shackleton (who later died of a heart attack while the ship was docked in South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean) and is considered by many to be the closing of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Shackleton (left) on board the Quest with Frank Worsley.
Quest pushing through ice.
Expedition members walking toward the camera.
Expedition members on deck.
See the rest of the images of the Shackleton Rowett Antarctic Expedition online.
Now available online. The pieces shown in the mountain section are a bit too folksy for me, but the rest looks great.
From the September issues of 2009 and 2010 – the more recent one is still available at Context if you’re not near a Japanese bookstore. About a quarter of the issue was dedicated to the “Rugged Country Life” with lots of pictures of outdoor clothing, log cabins, wildlife illustrations, rustic furniture, and miscellaneous gear.
Available from the Worcestershire Leather Company. Also be sure to check out the quick release belts.
Fish Bum I: Mongolia – a documentary about catching the Taimen, a giant trout.
And for the Steelheaders, Fish Bum II: Metalhead (you would need to have fished for Steelhead to understand this one).
I would have never guessed, but apparently the fly fishing film niche is big enough for an ongoing film tour.
The new Explorer jackets in the Engineered Garments FW10 collection have shipped out to the few stores that ordered them and I was able to acquire a version in the olive colored ripstop cotton from Blake down in Portland. When I first pulled it out of the box, I was surprised by how heavy it weighs from the interior blanket lining and when worn it feels like armor (as much as cotton and wool can be). Read on to see more details.
One of my new favorite stores: The London Trading Company. Barbour, Purdey, Beretta, and other fine goods all under one roof.
Anarchy in the mountains – pictures of the Fall/Winter 2010 pieces are now showing up online. Some of the accessories look great.
It’s been published for some time now, but I finally got around to reading through “The Last Gentleman Adventurer” by Edward Beauclerk Maurice. In the book, the author recounts his experiences as an apprentice working for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Canadian Arctic during the 1930’s.
The most memorable passages are about his everyday dealings with the local Inuit, particularly in how he describes their hunting techniques as well as culture – in one experience where he and his Eskimo hunting party are trying to free a trapped boat, but have to wait for the tide to come back, he introduces the notion of ‘Ionamut’:
The Eskimos came also to possess a shell of resignation, enabling them to suffer, with apparent equanimity, any hardships that might arise. This resignation often became a source of irritation between them and their southern companions when hunting or traveling together, for in such a situation as we now found ourselves, with a shrug of the shoulders the Eskimo would say, ‘Ionamut’ (‘It can’t be helped’), and settle down to wait, while his companions become increasingly agitated.
The book is an easy read and reasonably well written – pick it up sometime if these sorts of memoirs interest you. Related: An older review in the NYTimes by William Grimes.
