The Realm Of The Ice King

To be frank, this book was a grind to get through. It was a dry, factual read, which is quite at odds with the somewhat whimsical title.
I was taken in by the cover with its excellent image of a polar bear attacking a man, rifle broken by his fall, but defending himself with a knife, and by the excellent title. I neglected to pick up that it was published by the ‘Religious Tract Society', which should have been a sign. it is undated, but the last expedition it mentions is 1880, so it is reasonable to expect it dates from shortly after that.

In essence, this book explains every voyage and exploration of the Arctic known at that time - it provides a high level of detail, and is massively repetitive.
It starts off well enough, looking at the Vikings and their exploration, but once we get into the 1550s there is just voyage after voyage after voyage - all unsuccessful enough, none very interesting. Obviously this exploration all hinges around the northern passage (northwest or northeast).

Sadly, this book lacks maps. Hard to abide for such an old book, as it was not as if you could get your lazy arse off the couch and look on the internet at a map (as I could have done, but didn't). This meant the painstaking explanations of islands and places were sort of swept up in a wave of confusion that I suppose I lacked the motivation to sort out for myself.

Certainly I was put off by the pious interjections, which occurred far too often. These became unbearable. They were all along the lines of...
[P72]
Captain Beechley relates with much pleasure an evidence of piety which he observed in these poor exiles. “ On landing,” he says, “from their boat, and approaching their residence, these people knelt upon its threshold, and offered up prayer with evident fervour and sincerity...”

Nevertheless, having moaned about it, it remains an encyclopaedic collection of stories about Arctic exploration (not just limited to the British, it covers the Russians, Germans, a Swedish expedition, Americans, an Austro-Hungarian expedition and others). Some of the more well known are Sir Hugh Willoughby, Martin Frobisher, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, William Baffin, Vitus Behring, James Cook, William Parry, Sir John Franklin, Sir George Back, Sir John Ross, John Rae, and plenty of others.

Really though, as Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage in 1903–1906, this book sort of stops short of a punchline.

Hard work for me. 2.5 stars. Rounded up.