#heroic age of polar exploration

[the-golden-vanity]

RIP Belgica crew, if you knew what fanfiction writers were doing to the Terror and Erebus crews, you'd probably be jealous.

[worstjourney]

Did You Know this was my original idea for the cover of Vol.1 of my graphic novel of The Worst Journey In The World? In the end, six possible cover options were consulted upon by my Patrons and by the Graphic Novel Club at The Children's Bookshop in Muswell Hill, and it was decided Ponting's Grotto was a more arresting image. I did manage to sneak this into the book as a full-page illustration, though.

[eldritch-bf]

If I was isolated with a bunch of other men stuck inside a research station in northern Greenland in the 1880s I would simply not go crazy and also I would have sex with all of them and they would stave off starvation by eating my boypussy all winter long

[buildoblivion]

[nopickls]

The heroic age of Antarctic exploration - after The Terror opening credits

[thepastisalreadywritten]

12 June 2024

Wreck hunters have found the ship on which the famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage.

The vessel, called "Quest," has been located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack on board on 5 January 1922 while trying to reach the Antarctic.

And although Quest continued in service until it sank in 1962, the earlier link with the explorer gives it great historic significance.

The British-Irish adventurer is celebrated for his exploits in Antarctica at a time when very few people had visited the frozen wilderness.

"His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south," said renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who directed the successful search operation.

"Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon," he told BBC News.

The remains of the ship, a 38m-long schooner-rigged steamship, were discovered at the bottom of the Labrador Sea on Sunday by a team led by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).

Sonar equipment found it in 390m (1,280ft) of water. The wreck is sitting almost upright on a seafloor that has been scoured at some point in the past by the passing of icebergs.

The main mast is broken and hanging over the port side, but otherwise, the ship appears to be broadly intact.

Quest was being used by Norwegian sealers in its last days. Its sinking was caused by thick sea-ice, which pierced the hull and sent it to the deep.

The irony, of course, is this was the exact same damage inflicted on Shackleton's Endurance - the ship he used on his ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.

Fortunately, the crews of both Endurance, in 1915, and Quest, in 1962, survived.

Indeed, many of the men who escaped the Endurance sinking signed up for Shackleton's last polar mission in 1921-1922, using Quest.

His original plan had been to explore the Arctic, north of Alaska, but when the Canadian government withdrew financial support, the expedition headed south in Quest to the Antarctic.

The new goal was to map Antarctic islands, collect specimens and look for places to install infrastructure, such as weather stations.

Shackleton never made it, however, struck down by heart failure in the Port of Grytviken on the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia, the last stop before reaching the White Continent. He was just 47 years old.

After his death, Quest was involved in other important expeditions, including the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by British explorer Gino Watkins, who himself tragically died aged 25 while exploring Greenland.

Quest was also employed in Arctic rescues and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII, before being turned over to the sealers.

The RCGS team members carried out extensive research to find Quest's last resting place.

Information was gathered from ship's logs, navigation records, photographs, and documents from the inquiry into her loss.

The calculated sinking location in the Labrador Sea was pretty much spot on, although the exact co-ordinates are being held back for the time being.

A second visit to the wreck, possibly later this year, will do a more complete investigation.

"Right now, we don't intend to touch the wreck. It actually lies in an already protected area for wildlife, so nobody should be touching it," associate search director Antoine Normandin said.

"But we do hope to go back and photograph it with a remotely operated vehicle, to really understand its state."

Alexandra Shackleton is the explorer's granddaughter and was patron to the RCGS survey.

"I was thrilled, really excited to hear the news; I have relief and happiness and a huge admiration for the members of the team," she told BBC News.

"For me, this represents the last discovery in the Shackleton story. It completes the circle."

The explorer continues to spark interest more than a century after his death.

Hundreds of people visit his grave on South Georgia every year to pay their respects to the man known by his crews simply as "The Boss."

"Shackleton will live forever as one of the greatest explorers of all time, not just because of what he achieved in exploration but for the way he did it, and the way he looked after his men," said David Mearns.

"His story is timeless and will be told again and again; and I'm just one of many disciples who'll keep telling it for as long as I can."

—

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS FRSGS (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.

He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

[antarcticconfessions]

I am leaving Discovery and Nimrod out here, because they are adjacent to the Imperial Trans Antarctic and Terra Nova Expeditions.

And the Belgians are only scrapping on the underrated tag, thanks to Madhouse at the end of the earth they gained quite some popularity.

Also please feel free to drop any infos on the expeditions mentioned, if you want🙏

[drfrederickacook]

Henryk Arctowskies at the Belgica exhibition in MAS Antwerp.

[theyonagoda]

Hello. Belgian Antarctic Expedition as Animals. Why not.

(But I don't feel confident enough in my grasp of their personalities to truly assign them so I'm mostly going by vibes, since I haven't finished Madhouse yet)

Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery FRSGS: Horse. I don't know why.

Frederick Cook: spicebush swallowtail (kid version.) A bit of a trickster. Unique face shape.

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen: The Alaskan Moose. Perfectly adapted. Long.

Emil Racoviță. Eurasian brown bear. Beautifully puffy face. I can make a soviet union joke here but I don't want to.

I did not include Lecointe. he knows what he did. He won't be forgiven 🐱

I will return to this once I have finished Madhouse. And laugh perhaps at how wrong I am.

[perenial]

going back in time to november 2022 and developing lead poisoning in front of 24 year old gene, changing the trajectory of their viewing habits forever

[samueldays]

Had a pleasant visit from @blogofex the past few days. We visited the Bygdøy peninsula with its several museums and got to see:

The Fram Museum of Polar Exploration, centered on the ship Fram ("Forth!" or "Forward!") and the several explorers who took it most of the way to both the North Pole and the South Pole during the Heroic Age.

"Nå må de skynde dem, ellers blir det for sent" (Now thou must hurry or else it will be too late) -Hjalmar Johansen as he was being attacked by a polar bear and called out to Fridtjof Nansen to get the gun faster.

"Nå tror jeg vi kan være dus med hverandre" (Now I think we can use the informal 'you' with each other) -Nansen to Johansen, several months later on that North Pole trip.

The Kon-Tiki Museum of Thor Heyerdahl's voyages, a man who was probably wrong about his theory of people rafting from Egypt to South America to Hawaii 3000 years ago.

Still, he got a lot of respect for testing part of his theory by building a raft at 3000 year old tech level and setting sail westward from Peru, with no previous experience but a lot of people telling him "You are going to die if you do this". He lived.

The Norwegian Culture and History Museum, somewhat vaguely named, with a wide collection of exhibits showing what Norway was "like" in the past, from looms and stables to plaster ceilings and priestly chasubles.

Also a stave church, originally from the 13th century, refurbished 18th century, with fancy wood panels.

Best wishes in next country, tourist man!

[the-golden-vanity]

Endurance expectation: Madhouse at the End of the Earth, but with more overland (over ice?) adventure

Endurance reality: The Terror (2018), but nobody dies.

[worstjourney]

Beautiful day in beautiful Dundee with this total hottie!

[areyougonnabe]

How would you suggest people get started learning about polar expeditions? I read Frozen in Time but I'm at a loss of where to go now 😭 any suggestions?

Hi!!! It depends on which era you're interested in!!

For Victorian exploration including the FE, I always recommend Erebus by Michael Palin, William Battersby's Fitzjames biography, and Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming. Now, all of those books have their flaws as many nerds (like me) will tell you, but they are all great starting points and will introduce you to the cast of characters/run of events of that era. Once you've advanced a bit, you could check out Dave Woodman's Unraveling the Franklin Mystery for an intensely detailed look at Inuit testimony; The Spectral Arctic by Shane McCorristine for an academic exploration of ghosts and clairvoyance in Victorian exploration; or Finding Franklin by Russell Potter for an overview of the search expeditions up to the present day. Michael Smith's Crozier biography is also a solid read. (EDIT: I forgot The Man Who Ate His Boots by Anthony Brandt if you want to know more about Franklin himself and his earlier expeditions!)

If you're more interested in the late Victorian/Edwardian era, commonly referred to under the "Heroic Age" umbrella, you have a lot of potential starting points....

That era could be said to have begun in 1897 with the Belgica expedition, one of the most chaotic and insane expeditions of all time. Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton is a RIDE of a book (more like FRATHOUSE at the end of the earth, amirite) and will get you started with two of my favorite figures of the age: it was the polar origin story of Roald Amundsen, and where he met a pre-pole controversy Frederick Cook (HIS SOULMATE).

For more Amundsen after the Belgica, I really liked The Last Viking by Stephen Brown. You could also check out Roland Huntford's biography buuut this blog is a No Roland Zone so I am hesitant to recommend him, even though re: Amundsen he's more legit than elsewhere.

The Worst Journey In The World is a classic for a reason: a really beautiful and detailed first-person account of Scott's last expedition that is a pillar of travel writing and the foundation for much of the historiography that came after. However, you could also start with A First Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston (which I haven't read yet but comes highly recommended) or even Cherry's biography by Sara Wheeler which is really excellent. OH and the graphic novel version of Worst Journey just released its first volume which is a WONDERFUL introduction to the story! Buy it here and support the artist!

I've also really enjoyed all of the other first-person accounts I've read, many of which are free & in the public domain: With Scott: The Silver Lining by T. Griffith Taylor and The Great White South by Herbert Ponting are super interesting and give you a taste of what it was like to really be there.

For Shackleton, definitely start with Endurance by Alfred Lansing and go from there. Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition is a good second step & will get you background on him and Scott (& Wilson). I have had Shackleton: A Life In Poetry by Jim Mayer recommended to me as well but haven't read it yet. After that, Frank Worsley (captain of the Endurance) wrote two books which are great supplements: Shackleton's Boat Journey and another one just called Endurance. And Caroline Alexander's The Endurance is really good too but it's a coffee table book with nice pictures, so grab a hard copy!

And last but CERTAINLY not least, I May Be Some Time by Francis Spufford is the be-all and end-all of polar exploration nonfiction, IMO. I'm just finishing a reread right now actually—I first read it post-Franklin obsession but pre-Scott obsession and honestly, it's an entirely different book once you're crazy about the Heroic Age, so while I have recommended it in the past for people just getting started, and still do, at this point I also kind of want to tell people to maybe wait until you've already reached a certain level of derangement to dive into it.

[buildoblivion]

a live donkey

[nopickls]

What will I do now, with my hands?

As from a Quiver of Arrows, Carl Phillips