ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: A TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE (1903)

A TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE or DISCOVERY OF THE TEN TRIBES AS FOUND IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN (1903) – Written by Otte Julius Swenson Lindelof.

This is a work of Mormon science fiction. A detailed message in a bottle is found regarding the fate of the LDS whaling ship Mt. Walston and its crew, led by Captain Nye, Linder, Jost and Lothair. The manuscript is dated to the late 1870s and recounts the ship’s journey through the Bering Strait and on so far north that the crew discovered a region of warm temperatures.

The Americans come across an archipelago of more than ten islands which turn out to be populated by descendants of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The islands are ruled by a beautiful young queen and, in fact, all of the Arctic Israelites are excellent physical specimens thanks to the abnormally high nutritional value of the region’s foodstuffs.

The islands are technologically mixed. Their architecture is described by Captain Nye and his aides as “Sixth Century Persian” and their clothing seems based on the same era.

The islands employ electricity in far more advanced ways than the rest of the world, making for a futuristic lifestyle in some ways like lighting and cooking. However, their modes of transportation are largely sailing ships and chariots.

The ships and chariots are constructed of a very light but very hard metal found only in the Arctic. The lightness lets the ships be propelled far faster than other vessels of their kind. The chariots are horsedrawn but can reach incredible speeds due to the lightness of their metal makeup.

MOST entertaining of all, assorted species of dinosaurs are still alive in the Arctic. Huge pterodactyls carry large gondolas made of the same lightweight metal and which can carry several passengers each.   

Some swiftly running dinosaurs also seem to pull various chariots but the novel is poorly written and not entirely clear about this. The pterodactyls are also used in warfare, with the gondolas carrying a small crew and large cargos of stones which are dropped like bombs on the enemy on land and at sea.

The queen’s husband, King Manasherous, led an amphibious campaign against an island held by a group called simply “robbers” in the book but which are more like pirates or Barbary Corsairs. The king was slain during that campaign, leaving the queen widowed and the robbers emboldened.

Warfare has gripped the islands since then, with the robbers succeeding in taking and plundering other islands. Typical of such Lost Civilization stories, the newly arrived outsiders take up the queen’s cause when the captain falls in “love” with her.

Several of the Americans are killed in the resulting battles and the queen proves to be fairly ruthless herself and beheads all of the defeated robbers who refuse to take an oath of loyalty to her. Captain Nye, having won the queen’s heart, also converts her from Judaism to Christianity.

The narration tells us that a resurrected Jesus visited the Arctic Archipelago long, long ago and promised the Israelites that eventually a figure would arrive to lead them to a world outside of their ten islands.

Before any such exodus (as it were) can be mounted, the robber leader Captain Shenackeribbous abducts the queen and makes off with her in a pterodactyl-carried gondola. Tragically, it crashes, killing them both.

Overall, some of the ideas in A Trip to the North Pole are fun and engaging, but the writing is unfocused and a bit meandering. I liked it for what it was, but it’s a coin flip if it would be enjoyed by readers less enthusiastic than I am about such old works.

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