Originally published in 1879, this illustrated work by Albert Hastings Markham (1841–1918) opens with accounts of Arctic exploration from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries, including the expeditions led by Constantine John Phipps (1744–92), William Edward Parry (1790–1855) and George Nares (1831–1915). The journal of Thomas Floyd (c.1754–78), who served as midshipman under Phipps in 1773, comprises the most significant part of the work. Outlining the difficulties faced by an eighteenth-century expedition, ranging from encounters with wildlife to adverse weather conditions, Floyd's narrative is notable also for its inclusion of some early episodes in the career of Horatio Nelson, also a midshipman on the voyage. More than a dozen engravings enhance the work. Other publications by Markham, including A Whaling Cruise to Baffin's Bay (1874) and The Great Frozen Sea (1878), are also reissued in this series.
