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. ＂John Muir was certainly as concerned for the potential loss of marvelous arctic cultures as he was for our continent’s vanishing wilderness. In this sense, THE CRUISE OF THE CORWIN truly deserves our attention, especially in light of all that is happening in the Arctic today.＂ -Richard Fleck

John Muir (21 April 1838 - 24 December 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. Richard F. Fleck is author of Desert Rims to Mountains High, and also foreword writer for the WestWinds 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-five 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.