The Journey to the South Pole

The underside of our world has fascinated us for centuries. Over the first few hundred years of Antarctic exploration, scientists, explorers and artists alike had one goal in mind: reaching the South Pole.

2019 marks the 107th anniversary of the first expedition to reach the southernmost point of our globe. Follow in their footsteps and discover the history of daring discoveries to the farthest and most inhospitable place on our planet...

Mapping the unmappable

Polus Antarcticus was first issued in 1637 by Hendricus Hondius. It is the earliest map to focus entirely on the Antarctic continent, which is illustrated by a chain of islands and partly by a series of lines. The original cartouche has been removed to make way for land newly discovered.

Antarctica was finally on the map!

Sneaking off in the name of science

In late 1772, Cook came upon his first iceberg in the HMS Resolution and in January 1773, he made the first ever crossing of the Antarctic Circle. However, the thick ice pack forced the ships northward. Without knowing it, Cook came within 129 kilometres of the Antarctic coast!

During the next two years Cook spent the southern winters in the more temperate latitudes of the Pacific. In the summers he again turned south and continued his eastward voyage around the southern continent. Towards the end of February 1775 he completed the first circumnavigation of Antarctica, proving that it was neither as large or habitable as once thought.

English painter William Hodges accompanied Cook on his second voyage and completed a number of sketches and paintings of locations visited on the voyage, which we can see here...

The Uphill Battle to the Bottom of the World

The (Other) Space Race

Meet Robert Falcon Scott...

British Royal Navy officer, Richard Falcon Scott left Britain on June 15, 1910 aboard his ship, Terra Nova. The expedition set off from their base the following October, with Siberian ponies, motorized sledges, and dogs.

But they were struck by bad conditions - and some bad luck - from the beginning. First, they were hit by a storm leaving Australia and had to lose tons of coal, gallons of petrol and some of the expeditions animals.

Once in Antarctica, the remaining tough Siberian ponies and mechanical sledges couldn’t cope with the challenging weather conditions and difficult terrain. While setting up their base camps, Scott risked his own life to rescue a dog team that had fallen into a crevasse. Several of the ponies collapsed and, with only a few remaining, the surviving ponies became caught on breaking ice. Scott’s team attempted a rescue but only two ponies returned alive.

In December, the dog teams turned back and by January only five men were left: Scott, Bowers, Oates, Wilson and Evans.

Meet Roald Amundsen...

While Scott’s team struggled on the ice, a daring Norwegian explorer by the name of Roald Amundsen was making his own dash to the Pole.

Amundsen’s team arrived on the ‘Great Ice Barrier’ on January 14, 1911. Eschewing mechanical sledges and ponies for skis and dog sleds, Amundsen’s small team had set out on September 8, 1911, but had to turn back due to extreme weather conditions. But Amundsen was smart: as his dogs collapsed in the extreme cold, Amundsen used them as a source for fresh meat.

Amundsen decided to forge his own path; he believed that there were other routes to the Polar Plateau, instead ascending via the Axel Heiberg Glacier.

So who won?

On January 17, 1912, Scott’s team reached the South Pole… only to find that Amundsen's party had beaten them to it by just 34 days. Victory for Amundsen and the Norwegian team!

But that wouldn’t be the last problem that Scott's expedition would face…

Tragedy on the Ice

A few weeks into the return journey of Scott's team, Edgar Evans was struck by severe frostbite. They faced terrible weather, and couldn't locate their depot. As they descended the Beardmore Glacier, Evans collapsed and died.

The team reached the spot at which they were supposed to meet up with the dog teams - but they were nowhere to be found. They were abandoned by their teammates, with temperatures dropping every day and, to make matters worse, Oates was now suffering from frostbite in his left leg, slowing the team down even further.

On March 16, Oates said "I am just going outside and may be some time", and walked out into the blizzard to his death...

Oates' suicide increased the team's speed but was still not enough to save them. On March 29th, Scott wrote his last diary entry:

"Since the 21st we have had a continuous gale from W.S.W. and S.W. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

R. Scott

Last entry

For God's sake look after our people."

But Amundsen's story is not without its own tragedy.

In June 1928, while taking part in a rescue mission for the Airship Italia in the Arctic, the plane he was in disappeared. No trace of it has ever been recovered...

The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station was later named after these two intrepid explorers.

Contemporary Science

The conditions in Antarctica are particularly good for finding meteorites. Here we can see a scientist unearthing a huge meteorite.

During the austral summer of 2012-2013, a Belgian-Japanese team collected no less than 425 meteorites on the Nansen Ice Field in Antarctica. Discovered on 28 January 2013, this 18kg specimen is, according to Belgian researchers, the largest meteorite found in East Antarctica for 25 years, and the fifth largest of more than 16,000 meteorites found in this part of Antarctica!

The Final Frontier?

Who knows where our exploration will take us next!