Storms, Ice, and Whales

$36.95

The Antarctic Adventures of a Dutch Artist on a Norwegian Whaler Written by Willem van der Does Professional landscape painter and book illustrator Willem van der Does (1889-1966) traveled to the Antarctic by whaler in 1923-1924. He served as bosun on the first whaler to break through the Antarctic ice...

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The Antarctic Adventures of a Dutch Artist on a Norwegian Whaler

Written by Willem van der Does

Professional landscape painter and book illustrator Willem van der Does (1889-1966) traveled to the Antarctic by whaler in 1923-1924. He served as bosun on the first whaler to break through the Antarctic ice pack in pursuit of its quarry. This book is his narrative of that harrowing trip and provides details of the flora and fauna, including penguins and albatross. As well, it describes such natural phenomena as the colors of the ice, the sea, and the sky. He also chronicles in detail the workings of the ship and describes the crew and their tasks.

Van der Does writes of the solitude as "Nowhere else in the world can one so deeply comprehend the meaning of endlessness as at the Pole, with its vast desolation." The son of a sea captain, the author had lived in the Dutch East Indies before his trip and worked as a landscape painter and book illustrator. This book contains 134 of his original pen-and-ink illustrations, including sketches of whales, icebergs, penguins, elephant seals, waves, albatross, and the ship itself.

The text was originally published in Dutch as 'Storm, ijs en walvisschen' in 1934. This edition includes all the original illustrations by the artist.

Hardcover with jacket, 416 pages, illustrated with numerous pen drawings, biographies of polar explorers and nautical figures, glossary