The First Crossing of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, is an account originally published in 1897 of an journey of exploration and survey to the Arctic. The author Sir William Martin Conway describes several mountain ascents, boat expeditions in the ice fjord, voyages to the North -East-Land, the Seven Islands, expeditions to Hinloopen Strait and Wiches Land, and into most of the Fjords of Spitsbergen, and of an almost complete circumnavigation of the main Island. This journey led the men to areas not touches by man before.
Spitsbergen was discovered by the Dutchmen Barendszoon and Heemskerk on the 17th of June 1596. They were at the time sailing northwards to rind a way over the Pole from Holland to China. In 1607 the same coast was revisited and further explored by the English navigator Hudson, sailing with a purpose similar to that of Barendsz ; but Hudson observed the prevalence of whales, walruses, and other valuable animals, and fisheries were immediately established by Englishmen in consequence. During the first quarter of the seventeenth century the Spitsbergen waters became the scene of much international rivalry, the English attempting to annex the land and secure a monopoly of the fisheries, whilst foreign ” interlopers ” of various nationalities successfully resisted their pretensions.
Svalbard is today Norwegian territory and Spitsbergen is the only permanently inhabited island there. Download The First Crossing of Spitsbergen here as a free, Public Domain PDF e-book (371 pages/24 MB):
My Experiences at Nan Shan and Port Arthur with the Fifth East Siberia Rifles is the accounts of Lieutenant-General Tretyakov, commander of the Western Section of the Defences from the battles for the possession of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War 1904 and 1905 between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan. This books is based on a number of articles from the frontline by Tretyakov, published in the Russian military journal, “Voenny Sbornik.” As such, the book is an early account of war-journalism from a long-forgotten war.
Six thousand miles from the Russian Fatherland the author’s regiment, the 5th Siberian Rifles—and many other—fought to the death for God and the Czar. This tale is a
record of their soldierly devotion. I tells the actual history from the fighting line as we live with his men amidst the bloodstained wreck of their trenches on 203 Metre Hill. We are instantly transported from the dry bones of military history to the living realities of the battlefield.
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A Day with a Tramp and other days. In the summer of 1891, the young Walter A. Wyckoff set out on a journey. He took on the roads from Connecticut to California with not a dollar in his pocket to get a better knowledge of the people and the country. Walter A. Wyckoff was a smart kid, he later became Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University, and he kept a notebook of his travels that became this book. He earned his living as a day labourer and continued it until, in the course of eighteen months, he had worked his way from Connecticut to California.
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Best Railway Stories edited by L. T. C. Rolt. Heres a goodie for adventurous boys and girls at all ages. Dramatic stories from the heydays of railroads. This fascinating collection of stories captures its essence superbly and is as colourful, as lively, and as varied as the railways themselves. Death, mystery and disaster rise through the steam of the stories by – to name a handful – Dickens, Conan Doyle, Freeman Wills Croft and Robert Aickman and comedy, politics and fanaticism rattle through those by ‘Q’, Raymond Williams and Doug Welch.
L. T. C. Rolt- and there is no one better qualified to do so-has put together an anthology to keep the traveller awake from Euston to Inverness, or a man from his own pillow far into the night.
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Van Wert’s Travels in Asia and Africa was first published in 1884 and is the dramatized travel logs from his year longs expeditions Northern Africa, the Middle East, and India. The book among his other works, such as Van Wert’s Travels in Foreign Lands, was very popular among younger readers eager to know more about the world. His books were for this reason also used in public schools in the USA.
The book is richly illustrated and full of anecdotes. Download Van Wert’s Travels in Asia and Africa here as a free PDF e-book (314 pages/44MB):
In this book the story is told of adventures and discoveries in astronomy from the star-gazing astrologers of Babylon and China to the astrophysicists of today. Until about 1500 A.D. the Greeks were foremost in the field of cosmic speculation. Then came Copernicus, who set out to correct Ptolemy’s erring calendar; next Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer, who perfected new instruments and mapped the skies with new refinements; then the
Jesuit astronomer-missionaries to China, and Bruno, the philosopher-astrologer; then Kepler, a neurotic who plotted the orbits of the planets with astonishing accuracy, but still believed in astrology; and then Galileo, whose revolutionary theories involved him in troubles,, with the Church. Later still came Newton and the revolution of modern astrophysics. Download the free PDF e-book here:
Wonderful Balloon Ascents or The Conquest of the Skies by F. Marion is a history on balloons and Balloon Voyages published in 1870 at the height of the European balloon craze. The book is richly illustrated with copperplate picture depicting popular attempts to ascend that drew thousands of spectators. We have eyewitness reports from the first successful flight the by brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier in 1783. The book describes the entire history of ballooning from the first known ancient experiments to the technical ideas, safety concerns, navigation and the possible future of balloons used in warfare. Download the free PDF e-book here (11MB/248 pages):
Travels in the Interior of Africa is the account of the explorer Mungo Park (1771-1806), a Scottish physician and doctor who dedicated his life to the mapping of Africa. During 1795 and 1796 he traveled through Gambia and Senegal and mapped the river Niger’s properties. The travel was highly dramatic and he experienced both diseases, assault, and imprisonment. Travels in the Interior of Africa was published in 1797 and the book gained popularity and was soon translated into several other languages. Mungo Park went back to Africa in 1803 when the African Association asked him to return to chart the full course of the Niger River this time. His wife, sensibly, didn’t want him to go, but the terms they offered him — five thousand pounds for expenses and a thousand pounds a year in salary – was too tempting. On that journey, Mungo Park died in a tragic drowning accident in 1806.
Download the free PDF e-book Travels in the Interior of Africa by Mungo Park here (377 pages/21MB):
Journal of the first Voyage of Columbus is the English translation of the logs and journals from the discovery of America – or “Indies” as Christopher Columbus called it. The book describes in details the life on board the ships, the fear of the sailors, the arrival in the shore of the Island of Guanahani, Cuba. Furthermore, we get interviews with the native people of the islands and the expeditions considerations about possible business ventures, the possibilities of finding gold and there is a chapter about Columbus outlining a colonial policy. This is indeed a historical document. Download it here in full length for free (177 pages/15MB):
Free Public Domain PDF e-books about adventurers, explorers, sailors and mountaineers from all over the world – and exciting novels of adventure. Be inspired and learn how the world was discovered.
