Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure

422 Pages·2003·2.52 MB·English

by  Marilyn J. Landis

Antarctica JKT MECH'L 10/19/09 12:16 PM Page 1
Antarctica: Exploring the Extremesurveys four LANDIS A N T A R C T I C A $26.95 (can $40.95)
centuries and forty expeditions to Antarctica, re-
counting, often in the explorers’ own words, the
wonders and catastrophes they encountered. A
E X P L O R I N G T H E E X T R E M E
final section describes Antarctica today, detailing “On January 17, he climbed a steep slope that was
the wildlife, flora, and geology of a region that is covered with fresh snow. He had almost reached
drawing an increasing number of visitors who, like 4 0 0 Y E A R S O F A D V E N T U R E the top when the ground opened like a trapdoor
the adventurers before them, are fascinated by the beneath his feet with a loud whoosh. Seconds later
isolation, beauty, and challenge of the southern- Mawson found himself dangling at the end of his
most continent. rope, fourteen feet below the lip of the crevasse.
As the sledge inched closer to the mouth, he whis-
AA
Marilyn J. Landis’s lifelong interest in things pered,‘So this is the end.’ But suddenly, the sledge
E
polar drew her as a student to Ohio State Univer- stopped its fateful advance with him hanging and
X
sity’s outstanding Antarctic science program. After “MARILYN LANDIS HAS BROUGHT THE NN slowly turning above the dark chasm. ‘It would
P
graduating with degrees in geology and earth sci- CHRONICLE OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION L be but the work of a moment to slip from the har-
ence, she worked as a geologist analyzing North ness,’ Mawson reasoned, ‘then all the pain and
TO LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE TTO
Slope drilling samples. Her interests later turned toil would be over.’ But he could not let go. Inch
R
to medical technology, where she helped to ADVENTURERS THEMSELVES. RICH IN THE AAI by inch he hauled himself toward the light, away
develop computer algorithms for detecting heart N from the black mouth that had almost swallowed
DETAILS THAT MAKE AN AUTHENTIC
arrhythmias. She made her first trip to Antarctica G him. He dragged his body over the lip of the cre-
RR
in the early 1990s. The beauty of the last great NARRATIVE, ANTARCTICA: EXPLORING THE vasse and then lay on the ground, his body shak-
continent convinced her to leave corporate life T ing violently.”
and write this book. Landis, who has lived in arc- EXTREMEDESCRIBES THE DANGERS, CCH —Douglas Mawson on Adelie Land, 1913
E
tic Alaska and traveled to Antarctica seven times, DISCOMFORTS, AND EXHILARATION OF

lives with her husband in Spokane, Washington. DISCOVERY. WE FEEL AS IF WE WERE TTE (cid:2) (cid:2) (cid:2)
X
THERE, WALKING ON THOSE AUSTERE AND II
T The danger and excitement of Antarctic explor-
LONELY SHORES ON THE EDGE OF THE CCR ation are unmatched in the annals of adventure
E travel. Fabulous sights, hair-raising escapes, and
KNOWN WORLD.”
M macabre deaths from storms and scurvy attended
AA
—DAVID CAMPBELL, AUTHOR OF E Ferdinand Magellan’s 1520 passage through the
THE CRYSTAL DESERT: SUMMERS IN ANTARCTICA southern straits and Captain John Biscoe’s 1830
Antarctic circumnavigation. Nineteenth-century
dis
k lan sealing and whaling expeditions from around the
nic world, as brutal to their crews as to the animals
y
h b they slaughtered, brought jubilant homecomings
grap along with shipwreck, abandonment, and agoniz-
o
t
ho ing loss of lives and fortunes. Ernest Shackleton,
p
Roald Amundsen, and Robert Scott endured an-
ISBN 1-55652-428-5
guishing trials of body and spirit in their separate
52695
struggles to reach the South Pole early in the
Distributed by
twentieth century.
ISBN 1-55652-428-5 Independent Publishers Group
9 781556 524288 M A R I L Y N J. L A N D I S
Printed in the United States of America www.ipgbook.com
Antarctica JKT MECH'L 10/19/09 12:16 PM Page 1
Antarctica: Exploring the Extremesurveys four LANDIS A N T A R C T I C A $26.95 (can $40.95)
centuries and forty expeditions to Antarctica, re-
counting, often in the explorers’ own words, the
wonders and catastrophes they encountered. A
E X P L O R I N G T H E E X T R E M E
final section describes Antarctica today, detailing “On January 17, he climbed a steep slope that was
the wildlife, flora, and geology of a region that is covered with fresh snow. He had almost reached
drawing an increasing number of visitors who, like 4 0 0 Y E A R S O F A D V E N T U R E the top when the ground opened like a trapdoor
the adventurers before them, are fascinated by the beneath his feet with a loud whoosh. Seconds later
isolation, beauty, and challenge of the southern- Mawson found himself dangling at the end of his
most continent. rope, fourteen feet below the lip of the crevasse.
As the sledge inched closer to the mouth, he whis-
AA
Marilyn J. Landis’s lifelong interest in things pered,‘So this is the end.’ But suddenly, the sledge
E
polar drew her as a student to Ohio State Univer- stopped its fateful advance with him hanging and
X
sity’s outstanding Antarctic science program. After “MARILYN LANDIS HAS BROUGHT THE NN slowly turning above the dark chasm. ‘It would
P
graduating with degrees in geology and earth sci- CHRONICLE OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION L be but the work of a moment to slip from the har-
ence, she worked as a geologist analyzing North ness,’ Mawson reasoned, ‘then all the pain and
TO LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE TTO
Slope drilling samples. Her interests later turned toil would be over.’ But he could not let go. Inch
R
to medical technology, where she helped to ADVENTURERS THEMSELVES. RICH IN THE AAI by inch he hauled himself toward the light, away
develop computer algorithms for detecting heart N from the black mouth that had almost swallowed
DETAILS THAT MAKE AN AUTHENTIC
arrhythmias. She made her first trip to Antarctica G him. He dragged his body over the lip of the cre-
RR
in the early 1990s. The beauty of the last great NARRATIVE, ANTARCTICA: EXPLORING THE vasse and then lay on the ground, his body shak-
continent convinced her to leave corporate life T ing violently.”
and write this book. Landis, who has lived in arc- EXTREMEDESCRIBES THE DANGERS, CCH —Douglas Mawson on Adelie Land, 1913
E
tic Alaska and traveled to Antarctica seven times, DISCOMFORTS, AND EXHILARATION OF

lives with her husband in Spokane, Washington. DISCOVERY. WE FEEL AS IF WE WERE TTE (cid:2) (cid:2) (cid:2)
X
THERE, WALKING ON THOSE AUSTERE AND II
T The danger and excitement of Antarctic explor-
LONELY SHORES ON THE EDGE OF THE CCR ation are unmatched in the annals of adventure
E travel. Fabulous sights, hair-raising escapes, and
KNOWN WORLD.”
M macabre deaths from storms and scurvy attended
AA
—DAVID CAMPBELL, AUTHOR OF E Ferdinand Magellan’s 1520 passage through the
THE CRYSTAL DESERT: SUMMERS IN ANTARCTICA southern straits and Captain John Biscoe’s 1830
Antarctic circumnavigation. Nineteenth-century
dis
k lan sealing and whaling expeditions from around the
nic world, as brutal to their crews as to the animals
y
h b they slaughtered, brought jubilant homecomings
grap along with shipwreck, abandonment, and agoniz-
o
t
ho ing loss of lives and fortunes. Ernest Shackleton,
p
Roald Amundsen, and Robert Scott endured an-
ISBN 1-55652-428-5
guishing trials of body and spirit in their separate
52695
struggles to reach the South Pole early in the
Distributed by
twentieth century.
ISBN 1-55652-428-5 Independent Publishers Group
9 781556 524288 M A R I L Y N J. L A N D I S
Printed in the United States of America www.ipgbook.com
ANTARCTICA /endpapers 10/19/09 12:38 PM Page b
ANTARCTICA /endpapers 10/19/09 12:38 PM Page c
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:25 PM Page i
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:25 PM Page ii
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:26 PM Page iii
A N T A R C T I C A
E X P L O R I N G T H E E X T R E M E
4 0 0 Y E A R S O F A D V E N T U R E
M A R I LY N J. L A N D I S
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:26 PM Page iv
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Landis, Marilyn J.
Antarctica : exploring the extreme : 400 years of adventure /
Marilyn J. Landis
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 375) and index (p. 383).
ISBN 1-55652-428-5
1. Antarctica—Discovery and exploration. I. Title.
G860.L354 2001
919.8'904—dc21
2001042109
cover image: Photo by Frank Hurley, dated January 14, 1915, from the Ernest
Shackleton lead expedition on the Endurance, courtesy Royal Geographical
Society, London.
Cover and interior design: Lindgren/Fuller Design
©2001 Marilyn J. Landis
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 1-55652-428-5
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:26 PM Page v
To all intrepid Antarctic explorers and dreamers,past and future
ANTARCTICA /3 10/19/09 12:26 PM Page vi
C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments / viii (cid:2) Time Line / xi (cid:2) Introduction /xvii
PA R T I
GENERAL EXPLORATION:
FROM THE CONCEPT OF ANTARCTICA
TO THE ANTARCTICA TREATY
1 The Search for Terra Australis Incognita/ 3
Magellan (cid:2) Drake (cid:2) de Gonneville
Bouvet (cid:2) de Kerguélen-Trémarec (cid:2) Cook
2 In Search of Seals with Further Discoveries / 27
Smith (cid:2) Bransfield (cid:2) Palmer (cid:2) Bellingshausen
3 The End of an Era / 49
Weddell (cid:2) Biscoe (cid:2) Balleny
4 The Search for the South Magnetic Pole / 63
d’Urville (cid:2) Wilkes (cid:2) Ross
5 Antarctic Whaling: Diminishing Returns / 109
Enderby Settlement (cid:2) Dundee Group (cid:2) Bull
6 Triumph and Tragedy: The South Pole Expeditions / 125
Scott/Discovery (cid:2) Shackleton/Nimrod (cid:2)
Amundsen/Fram (cid:2) Scott/Terra Nova