Author: Lord Dufferin

Lord Dufferin was the title used by Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, a British diplomat, colonial administrator, and travel writer who later became Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. Letters from High Latitudes recounts his 1856 voyage aboard the schooner Foam to Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitzbergen. Written as letters, the book describes landscapes, weather, sailing difficulties, local encounters, and the mixture of curiosity and Arctic discomfort. Dufferin later served as governor general of Canada, ambassador to Russia and the Ottoman Empire, viceroy of India, and ambassador to Italy and France. Its popularity led to editions and made it one of the best-known Victorian accounts of northern cruising. Letters from High Latitudes reveals a younger Dufferin testing his descriptive voice while navigating regions that many contemporary British readers knew chiefly through exploration reports.