Arctic Adventures was written in 1882 and is very much a novel of its time. It follows the journey of a handful of sailors on the Hardy Norseman, a whaling ship that sets off to the Arctic, specifically the Spitsbergen region in search of whales, seals & their missing brother who sailed the year prior.

The main thing I took away from this novel was how much waste was common place, in the first part of the book they kill three whales yet only make use of part of one, casting the rest loose as they run out of time before a storm comes. Throughout the book numerous walruses are killed, there's a bit seal clubbing and numerous bears are shot. All in the spirit of adventure.

It's certainly an interesting look into Arctic travel in the period of the late 1800s even if fictionalised and it's a pretty quick read at 192 pages for the 1885 edition published by George Routledge, London that I read. ( )