What's New

The diary of Dr. John Simpson

Those familiar with the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian or the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will know that the fictional Stephen Maturin was a polymath: surgeon, scientist, linguist and spy. This sort of character seems not that uncommon in the real Royal Navy of the 19th century. Dr. Simpson is an example. He was the ship’s doctor on the HMS Plover during its seven year stay in the Bering Strait region and at Point Barrow (1847–1854) but he also conducted scientific research, and, having learned to speak the local languages, was an important liaison between the English sailors and the native people.

The HMS Plover and HMS Herald near Wainright Inlet. Image courtesy of the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology. http://www.lindahall.org/

The diary was photographed at the Duke University Special Collections Library as part of our high school project investigating the meteorological observations made by Dr. Simpson at Point Barrow. The diary is of particular interest to us because it contains metadata or information about how air temperature data was collected. Click to see PDF.