IN THE ARCTIC: Tales Told at Tea Time - Frank Debenham

Frank Debenham was a member of the scientific staff on Scott’s 1910 expedition. He conceived the idea for a Polar Institute whilst sitting in Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds and after the death of the polar party he campaigned for a living memorial to Scott. On 26th November 1920 the Scott Polar Research Institute came into being and Frank Debenham was its first director.

When he returned from the Antarctic in 1913 he resolved not to publish any reminiscences but at the urging of many friends he published, in 1952, IN THE ANTARCTIC which deals chiefly with the three years he spent there. The book has extensive illustrations which the author hopes ‘...may convey something of the spirit of harmony which reigned in that crammed but cosy hut forty years ago’.

IN THE ARCTIC, which was first published in 1997, was written in Deb’s retirement as his way of remembering some of the people—explorers, staff, research students—who passed through his tenure as a Director of SPRI. These delightful stories are a mixture of facts and fantasy, some poignant, some amusing but all delightful. 

Blocked on front and spine; over 30 photographs and illustrations