Description
Book SynopsisThis book describes the 1873 voyage of the British explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith, based on the diaries and photographs of Lieutenant Herbert C. Chermside, who joined the expedition of the seas around Svalbard. Chermside’s photographs, long believed lost, have recently been uncovered in Sweden and are being curated there by the Grenna Museum. The three unpublished diaries of Herbert Chermside were lent to the Scott Polar Research Institute in 1939 by Mrs. Benjamin Leigh Smith. For the first time, Chermside’s diaries are published in their entirety, with the original photographs shown alongside modern images of the same locations. This includes the first photographic record of the north coast of Svalbard, images that are today being used as comparative data for the study of climate change in the archipelago.
The diaries have been fully transcribed and edited. Introductory chapters are included, written by specialists in the history of exploration, history of science, and the history of photography from Penn State University, the University of Gothenburg, and UiT, the Arctic University of Norway, as well as contributors from the UK and Germany.
This volume is published in association with Grenna Museum, which will present Chermside’s photographs in a 2022 exhibit on Leigh Smith and A.E. Nordenskiold.
Table of ContentsForeword by Charlotte Moore, author and descendent of Benjamin Leigh SmithForeword by Håkan Jorikson, Director of Grenna Museum (Swedish)Introduction: Herbert C. Chermside and his chronicle of Benjamin Leigh Smith’s 1873 exploration of Spitzbergen
by P.J. CapelottiOne: The 19th century exploration of Spitzbergen
by Susan BarrTwo: Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and the Swedish expedition of 1872-73
by Urban WråkbergThree: Axel W. Engvall and Leigh Smith’s rescue of Nordenskiöld
by Anders LarssonFour: Alfred Eaton and the biological collections of Leigh Smith’s 1873 expedition
by C.L. DevlinFive: Chermside's observations of marine mammals during a Spitzbergen hunt
by C.L. DevlinSix: Chermside’s Arctic birds
by Magnus ForsbergSeven: The discovery of Chermside’s Spitzbergen photographs
by Håkan Jorikson and Anders LarssonEight: Chermside’s Spitzbergen imagery, then and now
by Tyrone Martinsson and Andreas UmbreitNine: Chermside’s diary of Leigh Smith’s 1873 expedition
edited by P.J. CapelottiAppendix 1: Spitzbergen/Svalbard Place Names, 1873 and currentAcknowledgements
