ebooks Shifting Identities: Changes in the Social; Political; and Religious Structures in the Arab World by Mitri Raheb in History

Description

Emil Bessels was chief scientist and medical officer on George Francis Hall’s ill-fated American North Pole Expedition of 1871-73 on board the ship Polaris. Bessels’ book; translated from the German in its entirety for the first time; is one of only two first-hand accounts of the voyage; and it is the only first-hand account of the experiences of the group which stayed with the ship after it ran afoul of arctic ice; leaving some of its crew stranded on an ice floe. Bessels and the others spent a second winter on shore in Northwest Greenland; where the drifting; disabled ship ran aground. Hall died suspiciously during the first winter; and Bessels is widely suspected of having poisoned him. Bill Barr has uncovered new evidence of a possible motive.Polaris includes considerable detail which does not appear elsewhere. It is the only account of the expedition which includes rich scientific information about anthropology; geology; flora and fauna. It provides much more information than other accounts on the Greenland settlements Polaris visited on her way north. Bessels’ is the only published first-hand account of the second wintering of part of the ship’s complement on shore at Polaris House; near Littleton Island; and of that party’s attempt at travelling south by boat until picked up by the Scottish whaler Ravenscraig. The same applies to the cruise aboard the whaler; Arctic; after Bessels and his companions transferred to that ship.Essential reading for researchers and students of arctic exploration history; this book is also a compelling read for the interested general reader.