TheHeroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was an era in the exploration of the continent ofAntarctica which began at the end of the 19th century, and ended after theFirst World War; theShackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 is often cited by historians as the dividing line between the "Heroic" and "Mechanical" ages.[1][2][3]
During the Heroic Age, theAntarctic region became the focus of international efforts that resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration by 17 majorAntarctic expeditions launched from ten countries.[4] The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances intransport andcommunication technologies revolutionized the work of exploration.[1][5] Each of these expeditions therefore became a feat of endurance that tested, and sometimes exceeded, the physical and mental limits of its personnel. The "heroic" label, bestowed later, recognized the adversities which had to be overcome by these pioneers, some of whom did not survive the experience: a total of 22 expedition members died during this period.
Both thegeographic andmagnetic South Poles were reached for the first time during the Heroic Age. The achievement of being first to the geographical pole was the primary object in many expeditions, as well as the sole rationale forRoald Amundsen's venture, which became the first to reach it in 1911. Other expeditions aimed for different objectives in different areas of the continent. As a result of all this activity, much of the continent's coastline was discovered and mapped, and significant areas of its interior were explored. The expeditions also generated large quantities of scientific data across a wide range of disciplines, the examination and analysis of which would keep the world's scientific communities busy for decades.[6]
| Terra Australis | |
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 "Terra Australis Nondum Cognita" is the large continent on the bottom of this 1570 map byAbraham Ortelius | |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Hypothetical continent |
Exploration of the southernmost part of the globe had been an off-and-on area of interest for centuries prior to the Heroic Age, yet the sheer isolation of the region as well as its inhospitable climate and treacherous seas presented enormous practical difficulties for early maritime technology. About a century after theAge of Exploration, British explorerJames Cook became one of the first explorers known to have traveled to the region. The discoveries ofhis second voyage (1772–1775) changed the world map forever.[7] Prior to this expedition it was believed that a large continent known asTerra Australis occupied the majority of the Southern Hemisphere. Cook discovered that no such landmass existed, though massive ice floes prevented his reaching Antarctica proper.[7] In the process his expedition became the first recorded voyage to cross theAntarctic Circle. He did hypothesize that, based upon the amount of ice, there must be a landmass from which the ice originated, but was convinced that if it existed this land was too far south to be either habitable or of any economic value.[7] Subsequently, exploration of the southern regions of the world came to a halt.
Interest was renewed again between 1819 and 1843.[8] As Europe settled after a period of war and unrest, explorersFabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen,John Biscoe,John Balleny,Charles Wilkes,Jules Dumont d'Urville, andJames Clark Ross sought greater knowledge of the Antarctic regions.[8] The primary goal of these explorers was to penetrate the vast barriers of sea ice that hid Antarctica proper, beginning with Bellingshausen andMikhail Lazarev'scircumnavigation of the region in 1819–1821, during which they became the first to sight and therefore officially discover mainland Antarctica, and culminating in Wilkes' discovery ofVictoria Land and naming of the volcanoes now known asMount Terror andMount Erebus in 1840.[8] Much early knowledge of the lands south of the Antarctic Circle was also derived from economic pursuits by sealers and whalers, including the probable first landing on mainland Antarctica by an American sealer in 1821, though whether this landing was truly the first is disputed by historians. These explorers, despite their impressive contributions to South Polar exploration, were nonetheless unable to penetrate the interior of the continent, and their discoveries instead formed a broken line of newly discovered lands along the coastline of Antarctica.
Antarctic Region, 1848 | |
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 The known Antarctic region after the 1819–1843 period of intensive exploration. |
What followed this early period of exploration is what historianH. R. Mill called "the age of averted interest".[9] Following James Clark Ross' expedition aboard the shipsHMSErebus andHMSTerror in January 1841, Ross suggested that there were no scientific discoveries worth exploration in the far south.[9] It has been suggested that Ross' influence, as well as the widely publicized loss of theFranklin expedition in the Arctic in 1848, led to a period of disinterest, or at least an unwillingness to invest significant resources, in polar inquiry, particularly by theRoyal Society. In the twenty years following Ross' return, there was a general lull internationally in Antarctic exploration.[9]
The initial impetus for the renewed exploration of the Antarctic that became known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration is somewhat contested, as it was a vague and multifarious international movement.George von Neumayer ofHamburg, also an Antarctic explorer, helped to renew Antarctic exploration from 1861 onward while he worked in an observatory inMelbourne.[8] His particular interests were the importance of meteorology and how more information about the South Pole could lead to more accurate weather predictions. This helps explain German involvement in Antarctic research. Another important precursor to the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration was theDundee Antarctic Expedition of 1892–93 in which fourDundeewhaling ships travelled south to the Antarctic in search of whales instead of their usualArctic route. The expedition was accompanied by several naturalists (includingWilliams Speirs Bruce) and an artist,William Gordon Burn Murdoch. The publications (both scientific and popular) and exhibitions that resulted did much to reignite public interest in the Antarctic. The performance of the whaling ships was also crucial in the decision to buildRRSDiscovery in Dundee.[10]
Another, particularly British, impetus more closely tied to the period is a lecture given byJohn Murray titled "The Renewal of Antarctic Exploration",[11] given to theRoyal Geographical Society in London, on 27 November 1893.[12] Murray advocated that research into the Antarctic should be organised to "resolve the outstanding geographical questions still posed in the south".[13] Shortly prior to this, in 1887, the Royal Geographic Society had instated an Antarctic Committee which successfully incited many whalers to explore the southern regions of the world and foregrounded the lecture given by Murray.[8] In August 1895, the Sixth International Geographical Congress in London passed a general resolution calling on scientific societies throughout the world to promote the cause of Antarctic exploration "in whatever ways seem to them most effective".[14] Such work, the resolution argued, would "bring additions to almost every branch of science".[14] The Congress was addressed by the NorwegianCarsten Borchgrevink, who had just returned from a whaling expedition during which he had become one of the first people to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. During his address, Borchgrevink outlined plans for a full-scale pioneering Antarctic expedition, to be based atCape Adare.[15]
However, the inauguration of the Heroic Age is now generally considered to bean expedition launched by theSociété Royale Belge de Géographie in 1897;Carsten Borchgrevink followed a year later with a privately sponsored expedition.[16][17] The designation "Heroic Age" only came much later; the term is not used in any of the early expedition accounts or memoirs, nor in biographies of polar figures involved in the Heroic Age which appeared in the 1920s and 1930s. It is not clear when the term was first coined or adopted generally. It was used in March 1956 by the British explorerDuncan Carse, writing inThe Times. Describing the first crossing ofSouth Georgia byErnest Shackleton'sImperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1916, Carse wrote of "three men from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, with 50 feet of rope between them, and a carpenter's adze".[18]
Notes
| Dates | Country | Expeditionname(s) | Ship(s) | Leader | Expedition summary | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897–1899 |  Belgium | Belgian Antarctic Expedition | Belgica |  | Adrien de Gerlache | This was the first expedition tooverwinter south of theAntarctic Circle, after the ship was icebound in theBellingshausen Sea. It collected the first annual cycle of Antarctic observations. It also reached 71°30'S, and discovered theGerlache Strait. First MateRoald Amundsen would later lead the first arrival at theSouth Pole, in 1911. | [4][22][23] |
| 1898–1900 |  UK | British Antarctic Expedition 1898 (Southern Cross Expedition) | Southern Cross |  | Carsten Borchgrevink | The first expedition to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland (Cape Adare), Borchgrevink's expedition was the first to make use of dogs and sledges. It made the first ascent of theGreat Ice Barrier,[24] and set aFarthest South record at 78°30'S. It also calculated the location of theSouth Magnetic Pole. | [25][26][27] |
| 1901–1904 | UK | National Antarctic Expedition 1901 (Discovery Expedition) | Discovery (main vessel) Morning (relief ship) Terra Nova (relief ship) |  | Robert Falcon Scott | It made the first ascent of the Western Mountains inVictoria Land, and discovered the polar plateau. Its southern journey set a new Farthest South record at 82°17'S.[28] Many other geographical features were discovered, mapped, and named. This was the first of several expeditions based inMcMurdo Sound. | [29][30][31] |
| 1901–1903 |  Germany | First German Antarctic Expedition (Gauss Expedition) | Gauss | .jpg) | Erich von Drygalski | The first expedition to investigate eastern Antarctica, it discovered the coast ofKaiser Wilhelm II Land, andMount Gauss. The expedition'sship became trapped in ice, which prevented more extensive exploration. | [32][33][34] |
| 1901–1903 |  Sweden | Swedish Antarctic Expedition | Antarctic (main vessel) ARA Uruguay (support ship) |  | Otto Nordenskjöld | This expedition worked in the east coastal area ofGraham Land. It was marooned onSnow Hill Island andPaulet Island in theWeddell Sea after the sinking of its expedition ship, and was later rescued by the Argentinian naval vesselARA Uruguay. | [35][36][37] |
| 1902–1904 | UK | Scottish National Antarctic Expedition | Scotia |  | William Speirs Bruce | The permanentOrcadas weather station inSouth Orkney Islands was established. TheWeddell Sea was penetrated to 74°01'S, and the coastline ofCoats Land was discovered, defining the sea's eastern limits. | [38][39] |
| 1903–1905 |  France | Third French Antarctic Expedition | Français |  | Jean-Baptiste Charcot | Originally intended as a relief expedition for the stranded Nordenskjöld party, the main work of this expedition was the mapping and charting of islands and the western coasts ofGraham Land, on theAntarctic Peninsula. A section of the coast was explored, and namedLoubet Land after the President of France. | [40][41][42] |
| 1907–1909 | UK | British Antarctic Expedition 1907 (Nimrod Expedition) | Nimrod | .jpg) | Ernest Shackleton | The first expedition led by Shackleton. Based inMcMurdo Sound, it pioneered theBeardmore Glacier route toward theSouth Pole, and the (limited) use of motorised transport. Its southern march reached 88°23'S, a new Farthest South record, just 97geographical miles from the Pole. The Northern Party reached the location of theSouth Magnetic Pole. | [43][44][45] |
| 1908–1910 | France | Fourth French Antarctic Expedition | Pourquoi-Pas? IV | | Jean-Baptiste Charcot | This continued the work of the earlier French expedition with a general exploration of the Bellingshausen Sea, and the discovery of islands and other features, includingMarguerite Bay,Charcot Island,Renaud Island,Mikkelsen Bay, andRothschild Island. | [40][46] |
| 1910–1912 |  Japan | Japanese Antarctic Expedition | Kainan Maru |  | Nobu Shirase | The first non-European Antarctic expedition carried out a coastal exploration ofKing Edward VII Land, and investigated the eastern sector of the Great Ice Barrier, reaching 80°5'S. | [47][48] |
| 1910–1912 |  Norway | Amundsen's South Pole expedition | Fram |  | Roald Amundsen | Amundsen set up camp on the Great Ice Barrier, at theBay of Whales. He discovered a new route to the polar plateau via theAxel Heiberg Glacier. Using this route, a party of five led by Amundsen became the first to successfully reach the geographicSouth Pole on 14 December 1911. | [49][50][51] |
| 1910–1913 | UK | British Antarctic Expedition 1910 (Terra Nova Expedition) | Terra Nova |  | Robert Falcon Scott† | Scott's last expedition, based like his first inMcMurdo Sound. Scott and four companions reached the geographic South Pole via the Beardmore route on 17 January 1912, 33 days after Amundsen. All five died on the return journey from the Pole through a combination of starvation and cold. | [52][53][54] |
| 1911–1913 | Germany | Second German Antarctic Expedition | Deutschland |  | Wilhelm Filchner | The main objective was to establish the nature of the geographical relationship between theWeddell andRoss seas. The expedition achieved the southernmost penetration of the Weddell Sea to date, reaching 77°45'S, and discovered theLuitpold Coast,Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, andVahsel Bay. It failed to establish a shore base from which to conduct its explorations, and after a long drift in the Weddell Sea pack it returned toSouth Georgia. | [37][55][56] |
| 1911–1914 |  Australia and New Zealand | Australasian Antarctic Expedition | Aurora |  | Douglas Mawson | The expedition concentrated on the stretch of Antarctic coastline between Cape Adare and Mount Gauss, carrying out mapping and survey work on coastal and inland territories. Discoveries includedCommonwealth Bay,Ninnis Glacier,Mertz Glacier, andQueen Mary Land. | [57][58] |
| 1914–1917 | UK | Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition | Endurance |  | Ernest Shackleton | Shackleton's expedition attempted a transcontinental crossing between the Weddell and Ross seas via the South Pole, but failed to land the Weddell Sea shore party afterEndurance was trapped and crushed in pack ice. The expedition then rescued itself after a series of exploits, including a prolonged drift onice floes, a lifeboat escape toElephant Island, an 800-mileopen-boat journey to South Georgia Island, and the first crossing of South Georgia. | [59][60] |
| 1914–1917 | UK | Ross Sea party In support of Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition | Aurora |  | Aeneas Mackintosh† | Its objective was to laydepots across the Great Ice Barrier, to supply the party crossing from the Weddell Sea. All the required depots were laid, but in the process three men, including the leader Mackintosh, died. | [61] |
| 1921–22 | UK | Shackleton–Rowett Expedition | Quest | | Ernest Shackleton† | Vaguely defined objectives included coastal mapping, a possible continental circumnavigation, the investigation of sub-Antarctic islands, and oceanographic work. After Shackleton's death on 5 January 1922,Quest completed a shortened programme before returning home. | [62][63] |
Twenty-two men died on Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age. Of these, four died of illnesses unrelated to their Antarctic experiences, and two died from accidents in New Zealand, and one in France. The remaining 15 perished during service on or near the Antarctic continent.
| Expedition | Name | Country | Date of death | Place of death | Cause | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgian Antarctic Expedition | Carl August Wiencke | Norway | 22 January 1898 | South Shetland Islands | Washed overboard and drowned | [64] |
| Émile Danco | Belgium | 5 June 1898 | Bellingshausen Sea | Heart disease | ||
| Southern Cross Expedition | Nicolai Hansen | Norway | 14 October 1899 | Cape Adare, Antarctica | Intestinal disorder | [65] |
| Discovery Expedition | Charles Bonnor | UK | 2 December 1901 | Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand | Fall from ship's mast | [66][67] |
| George Vince | UK | 11 March 1902 | Ross Island, Antarctica | Slip over ice precipice | ||
| First German Antarctic Expedition | Josef Enzensperger | Germany | 2 February 1903 | Kerguelen Island | Beriberi | |
| Swedish Antarctic Expedition | Ole Kristian Wennersgaard | Sweden | 7 June 1903 | Paulet Island | Heart failure | |
| Scottish National Antarctic Expedition | Allan Ramsey | UK | 6 August 1903 | South Orkney Islands | Heart disease | [68] |
| Third French Antarctic Expedition | F. Maignan | France | 15 August 1903 | Le Havre, France | Struck by broken rope | 4]8 |
| Terra Nova Expedition | Edgar Evans | UK | 17 February 1912 | Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica | Head injury, starvation, and cold | [69][70][71] [72][73] |
| Lawrence Oates | UK | 17 March 1912 | Great Ice Barrier, Antarctica | Starvation and cold | ||
| Robert Falcon Scott | UK | 29 March 1912 | Great Ice Barrier, Antarctica | Starvation and cold | ||
| Edward Wilson | UK | 29 March 1912 | Great Ice Barrier, Antarctica | Starvation and cold | ||
| Henry Bowers | UK | 29 March 1912 | Great Ice Barrier, Antarctica | Starvation and cold | ||
| Robert Brissenden | UK | 17 August 1912 | Admiralty Bay, New Zealand | Drowning | ||
| Second German Antarctic Expedition | Walter Slossarczyk | Germany | 26 November 1911 | Mount Duse, South Georgia | Suicide or accident | |
| Richard Vahsel | Germany | 8 August 1912 | Weddell Sea | Syphilis | [56][74][75] | |
| Australasian Antarctic Expedition | Belgrave Ninnis | UK | 14 December 1912 | King George V Land, Antarctica | Fall into crevasse | [76] |
| Xavier Mertz | Switzerland | 7 January 1913 | King George V Land, Antarctica | Cold and malnutrition (Hypervitaminosis A) | ||
| Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Ross Sea party) | Arnold Spencer-Smith | UK | 9 March 1916 | Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica | Cold andscurvy | [77][78] |
| Aeneas Mackintosh | UK | 8 May 1916 | McMurdo Sound, Antarctica | Fall through sea ice | ||
| Victor Hayward | UK | 8 May 1916 | McMurdo Sound, Antarctica | Fall through sea ice | ||
| Shackleton–Rowett Expedition | Ernest Shackleton | UK | 5 January 1922 | South Georgia | Heart disease | [79] |
Another five men died shortly after returning from the Antarctic (this does not include the significant number who died on active service in theFirst World War):
Scholars debate exactly when the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration came to an end. Shackleton'sEndurance expedition is sometimes referred to as the last Antarctic expedition of the Heroic Age.[84][85] Other chroniclers extend the era to the date of Shackleton's death, 5 January 1922, treating theShackleton–Rowett, orQuest expedition, during which Shackleton died, as the final chapter of the Age.[86] According to Margery and James Fisher, Shackleton's biographers: "If it were possible to draw a distinct dividing line between what has been called the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration and the Mechanical Age, the Shackleton–Rowett expedition might make as good a point as any at which to draw such a line".[1] A journalist inspecting the ship before she sailed reported "Gadgets! Gadgets! Gadgets everywhere!"[1] These included wireless, an electrically heated crow's nest and an "odograph" that could trace and record the ship's route and speed.[1]
The heroic era of Antarctic exploration was 'heroic' because it was anachronistic before it began, its goal was as abstract as a pole, its central figures were romantic, manly and flawed, its drama was moral (for it mattered not only what was done but how it was done), and its ideal was national honour. It was an early testing-ground for the racial virtues of new nations such as Norway and Australia, and it was the site of Europe's last gasp before it tore itself apart in the Great War.
— Tom Griffiths,Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica p. 111
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