William Barr

Arctic Hell-Ship

The Voyage of HMS Enterprise 1850-1855

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

In 1850, Richard Collinson captained the HMS Enterprise on a voyage to the Arctic via the Bering Strait in search of the missing Franklin expedition. Arctic Hell-Ship describes the daily progress of this little-known Arctic expedition, and examines the steadily worsening relations between Collinson and his officers. William Barr has based his research on a wide range of original archival documents, and the book is illustrated with a selection of vivid paintings by the ship's assistant surgeon, Edward Adams.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: University of Alberta Press
• Seitenzahl: 332
• Erscheinungstermin: 31. Mai 2007
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 261mm x 179mm x 30mm
• Gewicht: 788g
• ISBN-13: 9780888644824
• ISBN-10: 0888644825
• Artikelnr.: 22716977

Autorenporträt

William Barr is one of this country's best historical editors and finest northern scholars. Trained as a geographer, he developed a life-long preoccupation with the history and geography of the Canadian North, exemplified by a series of superbly edited volumes on aspects of northern exploration and adventure. His work has, from the outset, been characterized by attention to detail and a fine scholarly eye for matters of significance. His careful approach to editing and extensive research has ensured that his volumes are first-rate models of the historian's craft. The introductions to his books are highly significant works of scholarship in their own right, seeking to balance a greater understanding of the individual's life with an explanation of the broader social, cultural, economic and geographical context within which the explorer or adventurer operated. The meticulous detail in his books -- always supplemented by the superbly drawn maps one expects from a geographer -- illustrates the depth of Barr's knowledge and understanding of northern history. Barr's body of work includes over 100 scholarly articles and such important books as Overland to Starvation Cove (1987), The Expeditions of the First International Polar Year (1985), Searching for Franklin (1999), and A Frenchman in Search of Franklin (1992), to cite only part of his contributions. His translations of key international works have made important historical documents available in English, thus contributing to the greater understanding of the international interest in, and contributions to, the history of the Circumpolar World. One of his best contributions is From Barrow to Boothia (2002), a finely edited production of the journal of Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease that provides much needed critical insight into this long-ignored explorer. His recent work, Red Serge and Polar Bear Pants (2004), describes the life and times of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Harry Stallworthy, using extensive family records to provide an unusually detailed discussion of the experience of serving the RCMP in the North. The diversity of William Barr's contributions is further demonstrated by his recent translation (from the German) of Wilhelm Dege's account of the last German Arctic weather station (published in 2004 as War North of 80). William Barr has done much to keep scholarly interest in northern exploration and science alive at time when the study of Arctic discovery and adventure has lost much of its cachet. He has, in the process, provided a series of foundational studies which scholars across a wide variety of disciplines will continue to exploit to great and positive effect. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and is currently a Research Associate with the Arctic Institute, University of Calgary. In addition, William Barr, historian, editor, translator and Circumpolar expert, is the deserving recipient of the 2006 Clio Award for the North from the Canadian Historical Association.