Simone Rieck

10 May 2004

Antarctica: The Last Frontier

Introduction

            Explorers throughout history have provided us with infinite resources.  Without explorers like Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci, many Americans would not have an America in which to live.  Without the brave souls that traversed the harshest lands and most dangerous climates, we would not have maps.  Explorations and expeditions lead to discoveries of cures to deadly diseases, historical data on mysterious continents, and a better understanding of the unknown.  Antarctica provided explorers with a final frontier.  It was once said that we knew more about Mars than we did Antarctica.  During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the race began to change that.  Countries, especially those in Europe, pushed their ways south, stating a goal of scientific discovery.  Explorers from Great Britain and Germany claimed initial victories, as British Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition paved the way for German Amundsen, the first to reach the South Pole.  Having already lost the race to the South Pole, Ernest Shackleton, who had been aboard Scott’s first expedition, began his way across the continent hoping to be the first to traverse the frozen land from shore to shore.  Quite a bit later, American scientist and explorer, Richard Byrd, traveled to Antarctica, usually for long periods of time to collect data.   Though Scott, Shackleton, and Byrd were all very successful in their discoveries and journeys in the southern most part of the world, their fame comes mostly from their failures or suffering.  Each explorer (Scott, Shackleton, and Byrd) contributed to the overall discovery of Antarctica.  Luckily, these men kept diaries, recorded their data and wrote books, or revealed their inner most thoughts in their memoirs.  Their legacy lives on through their writing. 

            Many questions are raised when discussing exploration literature.  This journal is an attempt to provide the following:

• historical context for the expeditions of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and Richard Byrd,
• a modern description of Antarctica,
• biographical information on the three explorers and discussion on their writing, and
• a concluding explanation as to why each of the explorers is so famous by unfolding the romance of failure.

Each of these factors may help in determining the motivations of the explorers as well as the effect their writing has on readers.

Historical Context

     Twentieth Century Great Britain

            By the beginning of the twentieth century, the British Empire had grown to over 11,400,000 square miles of territory, making it “the largest empire the world had ever known” (Britain par. 1).  Thanks to their tremendous exploratory and conquering efforts between 1750 and 1850, Great Britain had acquired “India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, Hong Kong, Gibralter, several islands in the West Indies and various colonies on the African coast” (Britain par. 1). 

            The approach of the twentieth century brought competition from Germany.  Britain’s economic power was diminishing, and it only maintaining its dominance of the shipbuilding industry.  Germany was continuously out-performing Great Britain in other areas, such as coal, iron, chemicals and light engineering, and it posed the greatest threat to Britain’s empire.  This threat, along with the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, led to the Entente Cordiale (friendly understanding) between France and Britain in 1904 and later the Triple Entente, when Russia joined the alliance. 

            Though the British Empire was already protected by the Royal Navy, by 1914, Britain had “247,432 regular troops.  About 120,000 of these were in the British Expeditionary Army” (Britain par. 8).  Britain was a dominant force in the world, but it was determined to be the first to the unchartered territory of Antarctica.  With Germany coming fast on its trail, in 1901, Britain sent Robert Falcon Scott, a member of the Royal Navy, on his first expedition to the icy continent.  Thanks to the groundwork set by Scott and his men, which included Shackleton, German Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911.  Over the first decade of the twentieth century, several British scientists and members of the Royal Navy returned to Antarctica. 

     The United States in the 1930’s

            The 1930’s were years filled with hardship in America.  Money was scarce due to the Great Depression, and unemployment reached 13,000,000 in 1932 (Timeline).  According to Sutton and Whitley, “What was once the land of opportunity was now the land of desperation.  What was once the land of hope and optimism had become the land of despair.  The American people were questioning all the maxims on which they had based their lives – democracy, capitalism, individualism” (par. 4).  Hoover’s presidency ended when Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1932 election by a landslide; the economy became the focus of politicians.  The laissez-faire lifestyle of the United States was replaced with a government-regulated economy.  It was also during the 1930’s that Adolf Hitler came to power and warfare flooded the streets of Europe, but the United States did not enter what would become World War II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

            The Great Depression overshadowed many extraordinary events on the home front as well.  For instance, Jesse Owens won four gold medals in track-and-field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone.  It was also during this time that Richard Byrd made his expeditions to Antarctica and “conducted many scientific search projects” (Sutton and Whitley par. 7).  Different from the beginning of the century, around the world exploration took the back seat to economic strain and war. 

Antarctica

What makes Antarctica so extraordinary?  Even today, Antarctica draws scientists and explorers by the thousands.  For instance, the National Science Foundation sponsored 700 researchers in 2003 to conduct 141 projects, ranging in purposes.  Antarctica, like the Arctic, provides “the window to outer space” (Nielson 15).  Much work has been done in the field of aeronomy, or the study of the upper atmosphere, and research has been performed in “medicine, biology, geology, and geophysics” (15). 

Antarctica is the third smallest continent on Earth, with an area of 5,4000,000 square miles, but it is still 1.5 times the size of the U.S.  Ninety-eight percent of the continent is covered with ice, and 70% of the world’s fresh water is locked in its ice cap.  Until 1840, Antarctica was believed to be a group of islands instead of a large land mass continent.  In comparison to the other continents, Antarctica is the coldest, with a temperature of -129°F recorded in 1983.  The continent can have winds of up to 200 mph, and the average annual precipitation is measured at 0.8 inches (Nielson). 

Despite the dangers and isolation, dedicated scientists and driven explorers jump at the opportunity to work in Antarctica.  Dr. Jerri Nielson offers an explanation:

Antarctica is a blank slate on which you can write your soul.  The voice inside is more easily heard where you barely have what you need to get by.  The drive to survive turns indifferent strangers into great friends.  Many of the great Antarctic explorers returned to the Ice until it took their lives…. Friendship is easier in a place where people need each other to live and the universal questions of human life seem simpler.  (15)

Remarkably, even though lives were risked in the race to claim the continent in the beginning of the century, the “Antarctic Treaty (1961) provides for scientific research and bars military uses.  27 nations conduct research on Antarctica; about 3,000 - 4,000 researchers [during] summer [months]” (15).  One might say that the tribulations of explorers such as Scott, Shackleton, and Byrd were worth the scientific discoveries and advancements that have and may soon come from the South Pole.

Explorers

     Robert Falcon Scott

            Robert Falcon Scott was born at Outlands, Great Britain, on June 6, 1868, to John and Hannah Scott.  He became a “naval cadet at thirteen, a midshipman at fifteen and a full lieutenant at twenty-three” (Neider 225).  Scott is remembered for his bravery in losing the race to the South Pole.  He was an intelligent man, believed to be a natural leader.  Scott, a naval commander, was chosen to lead his first Antarctic expedition in 1901.  The expedition was named the National Antarctic Expedition, but became known as Discovery after the ship in which the expedition was made. 

Scott and his men based themselves at Hut Point, in “what is now known as McMurdo Station” (Neider 226).  Relying on information Scott had gathered from Nansen’s Arctic expeditions, he and his men “opened the era of full-scale land exploration of the continent, using sledging traverses” (Neider 226).  While there, Scott and his men made numerous geographical discoveries, including “Edward VII Land, which much later was found to be a peninsula and was renamed accordingly” (Neider 226).  During this trip, Scott, Wilson, and Shackleton reached a new farthest south of 82° 17’ on December 30, 1902, which is within 450 miles of the South Pole.  Worried about their supplies and with illness upon them, Scott made the difficult decision to turn back.  Upon his return, the commander wrote a book detailing his discoveries, which served to inspire and aid several future expeditions of other explorers. 

Scott left for his second and last expedition to the South Pole in June 1910 on the Terra Nova, unaware that Roald Amundsen will reach the South Pole a little over one month ahead of him.  Instead of Hut Point, this time Scott based himself at Cape Evans, about fifteen miles north.  Though the main goal was to be scientific and geographical research, “Scott’s and the British nation’s prime hope was the discovery of the Pole” (Neider 226).  Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Oates, and Evans reached the Pole on January 18, 1912.  Believed to be a lack of preparation, the men suffered from illness, hunger, and blizzards.  Evans perished on February 17; Oates sacrificed himself in an attempt to save the other, more physically fit men by walking into a blizzard on March 17.  Trapped by blizzard, Scott, Wilson, and Bowers pitched their last camp nearly eleven miles from One Ton Depot.  The men were discovered on Movember 12, 1912, as well as thirty-five pounds of geological specimens that the party refused to leave behind despite their failing health and lack of resources.

Scott continued to keep logs, even when he and his men were under the worst conditions.  About the letters Scott wrote when he realized the end was imminent, Neider writes:

…he wrote several letters to friends and colleagues detailing what had gone wrong and crediting his companions with noble behavior under heart-braking conditions.  In these letters he referred to himself and his companions as dead men.  But there is no self-pity and not much self-concern in either the journals or the letters.  His outlook remained broad to the end, even though he probably made no assumption that his journals and letters would be found.  (227)

Excerpts from Scott’s journals, provided in Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration, offer readers a glimpse into the daily lives of the explorers.  Keeping with naval tradition, however, the writing provides little in the form of sentiment.  Throughout the beginning and middle, Scott provides temperatures and weather conditions and a tally of food and supplies.  Only occasionally does Scott use terms such as “poor” to describe his suffering companions, and he does plea to God for better traveling conditions.  Perhaps the most touching moment in Scott’s journal is at the point of Oates’s death.  He states:

Should this be found I want these facts recorded.  Oates’ last thoughts were of his mother, but immediately before he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be pleased with the bold way in which he met his death.  We can testify to his bravery.  He has borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able and willing to discuss outside subjects.  He did not – would not – give up hope till the very end.  He was a brave soul.  This was the end.  He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning – yesterday.  It was blowing a blizzard.  He said, “I am just going outside and may be some time.”  He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.  (Scott 115)

At the point that their lives are dwindling, Scott seems to recognize that the audience for his journal may no longer be limited to him.  His language begins to change, and, for a while, he adds details.  The passage about Oates’s death is touching, but Scott still provides an image of himself as a soldier.  In addition, he refers to Oates, in a way, like he is a good soldier, not necessarily a suffering human being.  The passage is touching, especially when he refers to Oates’s mother, but it still lacks an individual nature.  On March 29, Scott ends his entry, “It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more” (117).  This embodies the suffering of he and his men, and readers become aware that the end is inevitable.  His final entry is one more plea to God, “For God’s sake look after our people” (117).  Again, this is one of the few moments that Scott shows sentiment in his journal. 

            Scott’s initial motivation for his second expedition is clear: he wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole.  He was assigned the duty of leading both expeditions by the Royal Navy, not necessarily volunteering both times.  His writing reflects his scientific and geographical goals, both in his first book and in his journals. 

     Sir Ernest Shackleton

            Ernest Shackleton was born at Kilkea House, County Kildare, Great Britain, on February 15, 1874.  His father hoped he would become a doctor, but Shackleton longed for the sea.  At sixteen, Ernest “went to Liverpool and joined the full rigger Hoghton Tower, owned by the North Western Shipping Company of Liverpool” (Ernest par. 1).  In 1899, he took a position with the Union Castle Line, which was believed to be the next best thing to the Royal Navy (Ernest).  In 1900, Shackleton volunteered for the National Antarctic Expedition, under the command of Robert Falcon Scott aboard the Discovery.

            Shackleton made four voyages to Antarctica.  Upon his return from his first voyage (with Scott), he “came down with scurvy complicated by the coughing up of blood” (Neider 269).  Both Scott and Shackleton were disappointed and felt that Ernest had let down the party.  This belief hurt his reputation, and, upon his return he was disgraced, “as if he had not been fit for the rigors of a polar traverse” (269).  Despite public discredit, Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition left England in 1907.  He based himself on Cape Royds, Ross Island, and the expedition traversed to within 97 miles of the Pole.  He also pioneered the Beardmore Glacier route over the Transantarctic Mountains, but barely made it to Ross Island (Neider).

            Years later, after Amundsen had reached the South Pole, Shackleton concluded that “‘there remained but one great main object of Antarctic journeyings – the crossing of the South Polar continent from sear to sea’” (Neider 270).  He took command of the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914 with the hopes of traveling from the Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound.  The expedition failed, but the experience was yet another triumph of the human spirit (Neider).  The Endurance was trapped by ice in the Weddell Sea and drifted there for ten months until it was crushed.  The crew of 27 lived upon a ice floe for almost five months until they escaped by whaleboats and reached the deserted Elephant Island.  Shackleton and five others left to seek help, “crossing 800 miles of Antarctic waters to South Georgia, where he and two of his companions became the first men to traverse the island’s high, dangerous mountains in their journey to the Norwegian whaling station on the opposite side of the island” (Neider 270).  Remarkably, Shackleton lost few men, and it was not until years later at the beginning of his fourth Antarctic expedition that he died at the age of forty-eight in South Georgia (Neider). 

            South, the book Shackleton wrote about his Trans-Antarctic expedition, relays information much like the journals and book of Scott.  The difference between the excerpts provided by Ice, of course, is that Scott’s is a journal written immediately and with little time for reflection, where Shackleton lived on and could think things through before he wrote.  For the most part, Shackleton’s writing lacks the same sentiment as Scott’s; however, his ability to think things through allows Shackleton to quote his journals and use similes, and reminiscences.  For instance, his statement regarding April 9 includes a quote, “‘This has been an eventful day.  The morning was fine, though somewhat overcast by stratus and cumulus clouds; moderate south-south-westerly and south-easterly breezes.  We hoped that with this wind the ice would drift nearer to Clarence Island…” (263).  His inclusion of quotes from his journals reassures readers of the reliability of the information.  In a sense, Shackleton’s writing offers the same type of experience as Scott’s because readers can imagine being in the explorer’s shoes; however, Shackleton’s use of similes takes the illustration one more step, offering readers insight into thoughts and emotions.  Upon rescue, Shackleton describes his previously suffering men:

A curious spectacle met my eyes when I landed the second time.  Some of the men were reeling about the beach as if they had found an unlimited supply of alcolholic liquor on the desolate shore.  They were laughing uproariously, picking up stones and letting handfuls of pebbles trickle between their fingers like misers gloating over hoarded gold.  (284)

In the same section, he continues with a fond memory from his childhood, pulling on the heartstrings of his audience: “The smiles and laughter, which caused cracked lips to bleed afresh, and the gleeful exclamations at the sight of two live seals on the beach made me think for a moment of that glittering hour of childhood when the door is open at last and the Christmas-tree in all its wonder bursts upon the vision” (284). 

            Overall, Shackleton’s writing is a systematic recollection of his experiences.  However, unlike Scott who perished on his journey, he had time to reflect and add figures of speech, quotes, and memories.  Shackleton’s motive for his expedition across the continent was stated.  He was a seaman and wanted to be the first to traverse Antarctica from sea to sea.  He failed, but he survived and returned to Antarctica one last time. 

     Richard Evelyn Byrd

            Richard Byrd was born in 1888 into a famous Virginian family.  “He entered the United States Naval Academy at the age of 20 and was commissioned in 1912” (Richard par.1).  Byrd was an “Antarctic explorer, pioneering aviator, and U.S. Naval Officer” (Admiral par. 1).  In 1926, he and Floyd Bennett may have been the first to fly over the North Pole, in a 15 ½ hour flight.  In 1929, “Byrd and three others made a 19-hour flight over the South Pole” (Admiral par. 2).  Byrd, more than any other person, “was responsible for the introduction and wide us of aircraft in Antarctic exploration [and] led five successive Antarctic expeditions” (Neider 385).  Between 1928 and 1930, he constructed Little America near Amundsen’s base off the Bay of Whales, and made “numerous geographical discoveries, including the Rockefeller Mountains, Marie Byrd Land (named in honor of his wife) and Edsel Ford Mountains” (385).  During the 1939-41 U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition, Byrd discovered Thurston Island, and during the 1946-1947 Operation Highjump, ship-based and land-based aircraft mapped 537,000 square miles along the Antarctic coast (Admiral par. 2). 

            It was his 1933-35 mapping, land-claiming, and scientific expedition, however, that Byrd “spent five months isolated at a weather station hut (called Bolling Advance Base) and was rescued after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning” (Admiral par. 2).  Upon returning, Byrd’s friends and colleagues urged him to construct a narrative of his experiences at Bolling.  A reluctant Byrd responded with his production of Alone.  Unlike Scott, and Shackleton, the sections from Alone provided by Ice contain several beautifully poetic passages.  In fact, Byrd’s memoirs are reminiscent of the works of transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau.  Byrd relates:

I felt as though I had been plumped upon another planet or into another geologic horizon of which man had no knowledge or memory.  And yet, I thought at the time it was very good for me; I was learning what the philosophers have long been harping on – that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.  For all my realism and skepticism there came over me, too powerfully to be denied, that exalted sense of identification – of oneness – with the outer world which is partly mystical but also certainty.  I came to understand what Thoreau meant when he said, “My body is all sentient.”  There were moments when I felt more alive than at any other time in my life.  Freed from materialistic distractions, my senses sharpened in new directions, and the random or commonplace affairs of the sky and the earth and the spirit, which ordinarily I would have ignored if I had noticed them at all became exciting and portentous.  (139)

In addition to his tremendous insights into the human experience, Byrd also manages to provide readers with intricate details of his environment.  He formats his memoirs in a manner similar to Scott’s journal, and, like Shackleton, he uses similes to fully illustrate what he saw.  For example, he describes the snow as “so light that [his] breath alone was enough to send the crystals scurrying like tumbleweed…” (139). 

            Being alone, Byrd had more time for self-reflection than did Scott and Shackleton.  He could not provide readers with details about his companions, so he described his innermost thoughts and feelings.  He also employed the sublime.  He describes the beauty of the icy environment, but the terrifying depth of the crevasse:

“At the surface it was not more than three feet across; but a little way down it bellied out, making a vast cave.  The walls changed from blue to an emerald green, the color of sear ice.  The usual crystals, created by the condensed exhalations from the warmer depths, did not festoon the walls…” (142).  Byrd’s mission differed greatly from those of Scott and Shackleton.  First, his mission was performed two decades later, and technology had advanced.  Second, this particular mission was specifically science-driven.  Third, his failure was a failure of equipment and technology, not so much of a lack of preparedness or even weather conditions.  Finally, like previously mentioned, Byrd was alone, and his writing reflects his personal thoughts and experiences.  Unlike explorers prior to him, his memoir is only slightly systematic, and focuses on the individual experience of Antarctica.

Conclusion

            Despite all the discussed explorers provided us, they will forever be remembered for their suffering and/or failures.  Objective 2 discusses the absence of the literature about success stories and states, “Far more books are written on the catastrophic, second-place Scott expedition to Antarctica than on the first-place, successful expedition led by Amundsen” (LITR 5738 course syllabus).  Tables turned, without the failure and death of Scott, readers probably would not be aware of his geographical discoveries.  This is illustrated by the fact that the book he wrote about his first expedition is rarely mentioned, even in the anthology of stories used in our Literature of Space and Exploration class.  The same goes for Shackleton.  He made four expeditions to Antarctica, yet most literature focuses on his failed mission across the continent.  Readers are drawn to it because of the suffering faced by Shackleton and his men.  Readers want to read about tribulations and wonder if the hero will get out alive.  Byrd exemplifies this as well.  He is a well-accomplished explorer, Naval officer, and scientist, yet Alone is his most widely read publication.  The book jacket might states something such as, “Follow the thoughts and experiences of celebrated Antarctic explorer Richard Byrd as he fights for his life for five months ALONE in the Antarctic frontier.”  Unfortunately, the science and discovery that motivated Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and Richard E. Byrd is overshadowed by their struggles. 

Works Cited

“Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd: Antarctic Explorer.”  Zoom Explorers.  07 May 2004           <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/b/byrd/shtml>.

Antarctic Explorers: Robert Falcon Scott.  08 May 2004 <http://www.south-pole.com/p0000089.htm>.

“Britain in 1914.”  Education on the Internet & Teaching History Online.  07 May 2004

<http://www.spatacus.schoolnet.co.uh/FWWinBritain.htm>.

Byrd, Richard.  “from Alone.”  Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration.  Ed. Clint Willis.  New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1999.  137-156.

“The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition.”  American Museum of Natural History.  (2001).  07 May 2004

<http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/expedintro.html>.

Ernest H. Shackleton.  08 May 2004 <http://www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm>.

Neider, Charles (Ed.).  Antarctica: Firsthand Accounts of Exploration and Endurance. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000.

Nielsen, Dr. Jerri.  “Antarctica: Exploring Earth’s Last Frontier.”  World Almanac & Book of Facts.  (2004).  05 May 2004.  Academic Search Premier.

Richard E. Byrd.  08 May 2004 <http://www.south-pole.com/p0000107.htm>.

Scott, Robert Falcon.  “from Scott’s Last Expedition: The Journals.”  Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration.  Ed. Clint Willis.  New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1999.  101-117.

Shackleton, Sir Ernest.  “from South.”  Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration. Ed. Clint Willis.  New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1999.  257-284.

Sutton, Bettye and Peggy Whitley.  “American Cultural History.”  Kingwood College Library.  (2004).  10 May 2004 <http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade30.html>.

“Timeline: 1931-1935.”  Ad Access.  (1999).  10 May 2004 <http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/timeline-1931.html>.