SYNOPSIS
ON THE EDGE tells the captivating--and often harrowing--story of the 400 year effort to map North America's Coasts. However the emphasis is not on early mapping technology, but on the often overwhelming challenge of simply negotiating unknown and dangerous coasts. In the process, as a secondary outcome, new maps were produced.
The book includes a set of maps, all drawn to the same projection, that show the progress of mapping the coasts of North America. Also it contains information on sailing, the life of a sailor in the 16th century, and the importance of maps and narratives to the usefulness of the expedition.
ON THE EDGE is based on the narratives of mariners who sought a passage through the continent to Asia and produced maps as a byproduct of their journeys. In so far as possible, this book is bassed on those narratives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Urge to Discover New Lands and Make Maps
2. John Cabot Makes a Claim for England, 1497
3. Giovanni da Verrazzano Maps an Ocean of His Imagination, 1524
4. Jacques Cartier gives France a Prize, 1534, 1535, 1541
5. Ships, Navigation, and Mapping in the Sixteenth Century
6. Martin Frobisher Succumbs to Gold Fever, 1576, 1577, 1578
7. John Davis Makes a Near Miss, 1585, 1586, 1587
8. Henry Hudson Has a Very Bad Day, 1607, 1608, 1609, 1610
9. Bering and Chirikov by Sea, 1741; Hearne, 1770 and Mackenzie, 1789 by Land
10. James Cook Maps a Huge Swath of the Northwest Coast, 1778
11. John Ross Sees a Mirage, 1818; John Franklin Makes His First Expedition, 1819
12. William E. Parry Has Beginner's Luck, 1819, 1821, 1824
13. John Franklin's Second Overland Expedition Makes a Successful Survey, 1825
14. John Ross's Second Voyage Lasts Four Hard Years, 1829-1833
15. Peter Deese and Thomas Simpson Extend the North Coast Map, 1845
16. John Franklin's Last Expedition Becomes the Failure of the Century, 1845
17. First Searchers Look in the Wrong Places, 1847
18. John Rae Hears about Franklin from Eskimos, 1848
19. Robert McClure Completes the Passage, Richard Collinson Map more coasts, 1850
20. Elisha K. Kane Barely Survives, but Maps New Land, 1853
21. Francis L. M'Clintock Extends the Map and Learns What Happened, 1857
22. George Nares Maps the North Coast of Ellesmere Island and Relearns Lessons, 1875
23. Otto Sverdrup Maps an Immense Area, 1898
24. Villjalmur Stefansson Maps New Islands, 1913
25. A Few Final Thoughts
ON THE EDGE tells the captivating--and often harrowing--story of the 400 year effort to map North America's Coasts. However the emphasis is not on early mapping technology, but on the often overwhelming challenge of simply negotiating unknown and dangerous coasts. In the process, as a secondary outcome, new maps were produced.
The book includes a set of maps, all drawn to the same projection, that show the progress of mapping the coasts of North America. Also it contains information on sailing, the life of a sailor in the 16th century, and the importance of maps and narratives to the usefulness of the expedition.
ON THE EDGE is based on the narratives of mariners who sought a passage through the continent to Asia and produced maps as a byproduct of their journeys. In so far as possible, this book is bassed on those narratives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Urge to Discover New Lands and Make Maps
2. John Cabot Makes a Claim for England, 1497
3. Giovanni da Verrazzano Maps an Ocean of His Imagination, 1524
4. Jacques Cartier gives France a Prize, 1534, 1535, 1541
5. Ships, Navigation, and Mapping in the Sixteenth Century
6. Martin Frobisher Succumbs to Gold Fever, 1576, 1577, 1578
7. John Davis Makes a Near Miss, 1585, 1586, 1587
8. Henry Hudson Has a Very Bad Day, 1607, 1608, 1609, 1610
9. Bering and Chirikov by Sea, 1741; Hearne, 1770 and Mackenzie, 1789 by Land
10. James Cook Maps a Huge Swath of the Northwest Coast, 1778
11. John Ross Sees a Mirage, 1818; John Franklin Makes His First Expedition, 1819
12. William E. Parry Has Beginner's Luck, 1819, 1821, 1824
13. John Franklin's Second Overland Expedition Makes a Successful Survey, 1825
14. John Ross's Second Voyage Lasts Four Hard Years, 1829-1833
15. Peter Deese and Thomas Simpson Extend the North Coast Map, 1845
16. John Franklin's Last Expedition Becomes the Failure of the Century, 1845
17. First Searchers Look in the Wrong Places, 1847
18. John Rae Hears about Franklin from Eskimos, 1848
19. Robert McClure Completes the Passage, Richard Collinson Map more coasts, 1850
20. Elisha K. Kane Barely Survives, but Maps New Land, 1853
21. Francis L. M'Clintock Extends the Map and Learns What Happened, 1857
22. George Nares Maps the North Coast of Ellesmere Island and Relearns Lessons, 1875
23. Otto Sverdrup Maps an Immense Area, 1898
24. Villjalmur Stefansson Maps New Islands, 1913
25. A Few Final Thoughts
REVIEWS
This delightful and engaging historical geography is much more about exploring coasts than mapping them. Maps, of course, manifest political, military, and economic power; they assign claims to territories and their strategic locational attributes and resources. Accurate maps depended upon getting somewhere first, at least in a fashion that allowed one to record latitude and longitude with some reliability. What McCoy (emer., Utah) does well is to compile a chronology of several centuries of European mariners' exploits reproduced or imagined by cartographers, and to do so in a single coherent narrative and set of maps of consistent scale to illustrate the accumulation of cartographic knowledge of North American coasts up to the early 20th century. Always driving exploration was a desire to locate a Northwest Passage. The author's maps catalog the rate, extent, and accuracy of coastal exploration and mapping from the slow and awkward early years, when decades might pass before another explorer appeared, to the final intense and dramatic efforts to explore and map Arctic coastlines. The author's writing is crisp, and the book is an accessible, enjoyable read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General, public, and undergraduate libraries.
J. S. Wood, Copyright American Library Association
This delightful and engaging historical geography is much more about exploring coasts than mapping them. Maps, of course, manifest political, military, and economic power; they assign claims to territories and their strategic locational attributes and resources. Accurate maps depended upon getting somewhere first, at least in a fashion that allowed one to record latitude and longitude with some reliability. What McCoy (emer., Utah) does well is to compile a chronology of several centuries of European mariners' exploits reproduced or imagined by cartographers, and to do so in a single coherent narrative and set of maps of consistent scale to illustrate the accumulation of cartographic knowledge of North American coasts up to the early 20th century. Always driving exploration was a desire to locate a Northwest Passage. The author's maps catalog the rate, extent, and accuracy of coastal exploration and mapping from the slow and awkward early years, when decades might pass before another explorer appeared, to the final intense and dramatic efforts to explore and map Arctic coastlines. The author's writing is crisp, and the book is an accessible, enjoyable read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General, public, and undergraduate libraries.
J. S. Wood, Copyright American Library Association
