Victorian Era Expedition Job Ads?

[hollyking]

So I have a particular interest for a project. Can anyone point me in the direction of ads that were published looking for porters, animal handlers, supercargoes and other jobs that might be required for a Victorian era expedition? I have a short story idea for a young man who answers such an ad.

Comments

[corivax.livejournal.com]

There is a community just for this sort of question, little_details. I thounk you'd have better luck there.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I've posted there.

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Did it help? I love that community. I like to lurk around and answer science questions. :)

You'd probably enjoy that too; they get a lot of questions about postapocalyptic [zombie] doom and all the ham radio/generators/etc that your ARES experience would be good for. :)

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Yes it did! I think I'll keep lurking to help out if any of those questions come up. :)

directed here via details ?

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

You will be safe using something like the probably-apocryphal Nimrod expedition advertisement (http://www.antarctic-circle.org/advert.htm). (You will enjoy that link, if you have not already explored the Shackleton advert as a model.) It is plausible enough to have caused enormous debate! Remember, run it in the "Situations" section.

Men were generally recruited from known sources for expeditions; the pool of likely talent wasn't all that large and a widespread old-boy's network operated. The military would be a source, as would clubs and junior overseas government functionaries and certain trading companies (such as Hudson's Bay Co.). However, for ships requiring a crew, the crew might be hand-picked (particularly after Nansen's first Fram expedition), though not necessarily. A canny leader would look for crew who had been in the area before (e.g., on a sealer for Southern Ocean trips). Expeditions that were careless about staffing had high mortality, as Nansen observed.

Funding was usually tight. For a story, you need to decide who's bankrolling the trip and how generous they are.

Lower-level jobs like porter, supercargo, animal handlers would be filled not with white Englishmen, but by natives recruited at the trail head, with the exception of dogs for Arctic and Antarctic trips; handlers for dogs for trips that used them (nb: the English didn't; see Scott) were mostly recruited from among Finns (I think) or Greenlandic Inuit (I'm sure). For a mapping expedition, the surveyors would be English, though. They might have a couple of knowledgeable servants with them to handle higher-level tasks and natives in lower-level positions (the tea-making and boot-polishing).

Translator is one possibility for a job, perhaps there'd be just one non-local along. Expedition leaders often couldn't communicate with people in the areas they were passing through themselves. Translators might be recruited locally and from government service, the military, or trade. I seem to recall Eric Newby telling a great story about Wilfred Thesiger haranguing his sherpas and bearers in English, of which they spoke not a word, while they carried on stoically setting up camp.

The "Victorian era" spans a lot of time and practices evolved all through it. If you narrow down your date for the story, a lot of your choices will be clearer (or at least, you'll be able to pick one or two expeditions to read about).

Re: directed here via details ?

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that wonderful information.

I did some searching but hadn't found the Shackleton ad. I love it!