John Muir 
The Cruise of the Corwin 
Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in search of De Long and the Jeannette

John Muir agreed in 1881 to sail aboard the Corwin, whose fruitless mission it was to search for the missing scientific research vessel Jeannette, which itself became icebound while exploring the distant and mysterious Wrangell Land in the higher latitudes of the Arctic. This cruise would afford Muir the opportunity to examine evidence of glaciation along the arctic coastlines of Siberia and Alaska and the harmonious lifestyle of Inuits and Chukchis, which was in the midst of disruption from the intrusions of the civilized South.

Table of Content

I. Unalaska and the Aleuts
II. Among the Islands of Bering Sea
III. Siberian Adventures
IV. In Peril from the Pack
V. A Chukchi Orator
VI. Eskimos and Walrus
VII. At Plover Bay and St. Michael
VIII. Return of the Search Party
IX. Villages of the Dead
X. Glimpses of Alaskan Tundra
XI. Caribou and a Native Fair
XII. Zigzags among the Polar Pack
XIII. First Ascent of Herald Island
XIV. Approaching a Mysterious Land
XV. The Land of the White Bear
XVI Tragedies of the Whaling Fleet
XVII. Meeting the Point Barrow Expedition
XVIII. A siberian Reindeer Herd
XIX Turned Back by Storms and Ice
XX. Homeward-Bound

APPENDIX
I. The Glaciation of the Arctic and Subarctic Regions visited during the Cruise
II. Botannical Notes

About the author

Richard Fleck is author of Desert Rims to Mountains High, and also foreword writer for the West Winds Press: Literary Naturalist Series which includes Alaska Days with John Muir and The Maine Woods. He is editor of A Colorado River Reader. At age seventy-six he remains active by climbing mountains and guiding Sierra Club hikes in Colorado and Utah. He is married to Maura and has three children and seven grandchildren. He teaches occasional classes for Colorado Heights University in retirement.