This book is about Polar cruising in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, how and where it developed, and what has attracted people to these remote parts of the world.
It starts with William Bradford’s cruise to Greenland in the Newfoundland sealer Panther in 1869 and traces Polar cruise activity from the first North Cape cruise by Thomas Cook in the President Christie in 1875 through the Interwar period to the present day, and with a chapter on where expedition cruising is going in the future While Polar cruising was sustained by large vessels up until the 1990’s, largely on a sightseeing basis, the availability of Russian research ships as expedition cruise ships enabled this sector of the industry to offer a wide range of experiential cruises. In terms of destinations and activities North of 60oN and South of 60oS are considered as being of a Polar nature. The history of each destination is reviewed and up to date and comprehensive statistics are provided for each region.
• Contents
• Errata