Race to the Bottom of the Earth

One of the greatest stories in Antarctic Exploration is that of the race to the South Pole. Many people in Europe were fascinated with these heroic explorers and this fueled the fire to claim "first to the pole" for one's home country. The first person to attempt to reach the South Pole was an Englishman, Robert Falcon Scott in 1901. Scott and his party from the British Navy wintered on Ross Island (near McMurdo Sound) and then pushed for the pole only to come within 700 km of their goal. At this time, Ernest Shackleton, one of the members of Scott's party was sent home due to illness. After he recuperated, Shackleton returned on his own in 1907 at the head of the British Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton wintered at Cape Royds just a few kilometres from Scott's hut. In the summer, Shackleton and a team of three sledged to within only 150 km of the Pole but did not have sufficient supplies to reach the Pole and return safely so they had to turn back. Shackleton's team was also the first to ascend Mt. Erebus (3794 m), an active volcano on Ross Island.

Robert Falcon Scott

In 1911, Scott returned to Antarctica for a second attempt at the South Pole and so did a team of Norwegians led by Roald Amundsen. Amundsen was an experienced explorer with a great knowledge regarding survival and travel at the North Pole. He had attempted a journey to the North Pole in 1910 but changed his mind about the trip when he learned that two people had already seen the North Pole. Instead, he turned to the unexplored South Pole. Amundsen's camp was positioned in the Bay of Whales, 100 km closer to the Pole. The Norwegians were also supplied with 59 husky dogs to help with hauling supplies on sleds. Scott, on the other hand used ponies as well as dogs, yet the ponies could not function in the snow and eventually proved useless. Scott also refused to see the usefulness in wearing fur clothing. 57 days after the started out Amundsen's team of four, with the remaining 18 dogs (originally 97 dogs) reached the South Pole on the 14th of December 1911 (photo on the right). Using skis, Amundsen was able to safely negotiate "Devil's Ballroom", where many crevasses were located. Throughout the trip they used the meat of the weak dogs to feed the strong ones. They swiftly returned to their camp and set sail for Australia to tell the world of their achievements.

Scott and his party also reached the Pole, only a month later and was devastated to see the Norwegian flag flying at the bottom of the world. In his diary, Scott said of the discovery "This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have labored to, without the reward of priority". The image to the left illustrates Scott's devastation. His team retreated and yet were held by bad weather long enough for all of them to parish from lack of supplies. The irony is that they were located only 15 miles from their food depot. The remaining members of Scott's team who were awaiting their return back at the hut journeyed out next summer to find and retrieve the bodies of their friends.

Captain Shackleton and the Plight of Endurance

In 1915, Shackleton returned to the Antarctic, this time to traverse the continent. As they got closer to the continent, his ship, Endurance, became frozen in the sea ice. They were a great distance from land and the captain and crew were forced to live in an ice floe. Over time, however, the ship was crushed by the movement of the ice and the party were forced to abandon their ship and set up camp on the sea ice. Over 281 days they drifted roughly 24, 000 km on the ice and yet never came close enough to land. The ship eventually sank. At break up in early spring, the crew set sail in lifeboats to nearby Elephant Island. Here, Shackleton and a crew of five left the others to search for help. Shackleton was gone for so long that the crew on Elephant island were forced to winter over on the island living under their boats and eating seal meat. Shackleton's goal was to initiate a rescue operation and they sailed in their 6 m boat 1300 km to the island of South Georgia. Here they crossed mountain passes without supplies or climbing equipment to reach a whaling station on the other side of the island. Shackleton, in a Norwegian whaling vessel set off to rescue the others but were prevented by sea ice again. Finally, on a third attempt a ship from Chile the whole of Shackleton's team were rescued.

To get some perspective on Shakleton's journey we can use this PBS lesson plan to recreate what his team went through.

Antarctic Historical Links