User:Andeggs/Exploration of the Antarctic

British National Antarctic Expedition (Discovery)

Main article: Discovery Expedition

RRS Discovery

The British National Antarctic Expedition (1901 - 1904), led by Robert Falcon Scott, came to within 857 km (463 nautical miles) of the South Pole from its base at McMurdo Sound.

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition

Main article: Scottish National Antarctic Expedition

In 1903 the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition established Osmond House, a meteorological observatory on Laurie Island in the South Orkneys. A year later, ownership was passed to Argentina and renamed to Orcadas Base, the continent's oldest permanent base[1], and the only one present for roughly the next 40 years.

British Imperial Antarctic Expedition (Nimrod)

Main article: Nimrod Expedition

Nimrod trapped in ice.

Ernest Shackleton, who had been a member of Scott's expedition, organized and led the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition (1907-09), again with the primary objective of reaching the South Pole, and came within 180 km (97 nautical miles) before having to turn back. On this expedition, again based at McMurdo Sound, Shackleton, discovered the Beardmore Glacier and was the first to reach the polar plateau. During this expedition, parties led by T. W. Edgeworth David became the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the South Magnetic Pole.

Race to the Pole (Fram and Terra Nova)

Fram under sail.

The first to reach the Geographic South Pole were Amundsen and his party on December 14, 1911. Amundsen named his camp Polheim and the entire plateau surrounding the Pole Haakon VII's Vidde in honour of King Haakon VII of Norway. Amundsen's competitor Robert Falcon Scott reached the Pole a month later. On the return trip Scott and his four companions all died of hunger and extreme cold. In 1914 British explorer Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set out with the goal of crossing Antarctica via the South Pole but his expedition ended in failure after his ship was crushed in pack-ice in the Weddell Sea.

On December 14, 1911, a party led by Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen from the ship Fram became the first to reach the South Pole, using a route from the Bay of Whales and up the Axel Heiberg Glacier. Amundsen was followed by Robert Falcon Scott from the Terra Nova over a month later, using the route pioneered by Shackleton. Scott's party later died on the return journey after being delayed by a series of accidents, bad weather, and the declining physical condition of the men. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was later named after these two men.

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Endurance)

Main article: Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Endurance trapped in pack ice

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, led by Ernest Shackleton, set out to cross the continent via the pole, but their ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by pack ice before they even landed. The expedition members survived after an epic journey on sledges over pack ice to Elephant Island. Then Shackleton and five others crossed the Southern Ocean, in an open boat called James Caird, and then trekked over South Georgia to raise the alarm at the whaling station Grytviken.

Exploration by air: 30s, 40s and 50s

US Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd led five expeditions to Antarctica during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He overflew the South Pole with pilot Bernt Balchen on November 28 and 29, 1929, to match his overflight of the North Pole in 1926. Byrd's explorations had science as a major objective and pioneered the use of aircraft on the continent. Byrd is credited with doing more for Antarctic exploration than any other explorer. His expeditions set the scene for modern Antarctic exploration and research. It was not until October 31 1956 that anyone set foot on the south pole again; on that day US Navy Rear Admiral George Dufek[2] (and others) successfully landed a R4D Skytrain (Douglas DC-3) aircraft.

During the International Geophysical Year of 1957 a large number of expeditions were mounted.

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Main article: Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Sir Edmund Hillary in 1958 after accompanying the first plane to land at the Marble Point ground air strip - Antarctica

In 1956, a United States Navy expedition set up the first permanent based at the South Pole, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, by airlift, to support the International Geophysical Year. In 1958, Edmund Hillary's party in the New Zealand party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition became the third group in history to reach the South Pole by land, and the first group of motor vehicles to reach the pole. The British team led by Vivian Fuchs, met them at the pole shortly afterwards. The expedition completed the first overland crossing of the continent by land via the South Pole. New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary reached the Pole in early January 1958 using farm tractors equipped for polar travel, the first party since Scott's to reach the South Pole overland. Hillary was laying supply depots as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and in typical Hillary style "detoured" to the pole because the trip had gone well. British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs then arrived at the Pole from the opposite direction later in January, meeting Hillary. Fuchs continued on, making use of the provisions that Hillary had cached, and on March 2 succeeded in reaching Scott Base, completing the overland transpolar crossing that Shackleton had envisaged.