From explorer to expert: Sir William Martin Conway's ‘delightful sense of something accomplished’

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn 1896, Sir William Martin Conway led an expedition to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, then a terra nullius. It was the first expedition to cross the interior of the main island, Spitsbergen. Was Conway an ‘expert’ explorer or an enthusiastic amateur, or something in-between? This article examines Conway's comparisons of Arctic versus Alpine in his expedition narrative, The first crossing of Spitsbergen, and his portrayal of expedition members’ expertise and shortcomings. Distinctions between Arctic explorers, travellers and tourists at that time are assessed, as is Conway's occasional tendency to highlight the polar aspects of his homeland while perceiving the island of Spitsbergen in a notably English light. Conway's expert status developed with the subsequent publication of journal articles and No man's land, the first history of Svalbard. In the latter, his simplicity of style and form, and the pronounced British bias of the main narrative, contrast with the scholarly breadth and focus of the final reference sections, which acted as a catalyst for subsequent international bibliographical and cartographical compilations relating to the region.