Conquest of the Antarctic

People, perhaps, still exist who believe that it is of no importance to explore the unknown polar regions. This, of course, shows ignorance. It is hardly necessary to mention here of what scientific importance it is that these regions should be thoroughly explored. The history of the human race is a continual struggle from darkness toward light. It is, therefore, to no purpose to discuss the use of knowledge; man wants to know, and when he ceases to do so, he is no longer man. - FRIDTJOF NANSEN

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE IN GEOGRAPHY

THE antarctic programs are an important part of the International Geophysical Year. They are important not only because for the first time such a comprehensive and well planned scientific program has become possible in this little known area, but also because for the first time much of the Antarctic will be opened to geographical exploration itself. Never before has the situation existed where so large an area has stubbornly refused to submit to geographical conquest until such time as both detailed scientific investigation and exploration could be joined in the assault. Most other areas of the world have long since yielded to man. Aboriginal populations inhabited most arctic lands, which in turn were discovered and occupied by our present civilization.

The Antarctic has never had a native population, and until recent times only its fringes have been outlined by exploration. Perhaps a simple reason accounts for this - modern civilization developed on the major land masses of the northern hemisphere and the exploration and development of our north lands was quite a necessary part of this civilization. Hard economic facts sent the early expeditions in search of the northwest passage and caused actual development of the northeast passage to its present capacity for shipping. The economic, scientific, and strategic importance of the Arctic is now accepted.

But the techniques and equipment that were successful in opening up the arctic regions were plainly inadequate in the Antarctic where we have quite a different story. The early explorations by Captain Cook in the 18th century outlined a vast area of cold and ice. The economic incentive southward in the great antarctic seal and whale fisheries reached only to the outer fringe of the continent. But indeed it was the seal hunting and associated activity in the early 19th century that led directly to the discovery of the antarctic continent as an almost incidental by-product. Since then, the great struggle for knowledge of the continent itself has been a search purely for geographical and scientific knowledge; and to date the Antarctic has only partially yielded.

The antarctic continent is without doubt the most formidable, the most difficult, and the most dangerous geographic frontier that has stood before man in his search for knowledge. While the North Pole is located in the center of the icecovered Arctic Ocean, which is surrounded by the great land masses of the northern hemisphere, the South Pole is on a plateau of snow and ice ten thousand feet above sea level in the interior of a vast continent six million square miles in area. The size of the Antarctic is hard to comprehend. It would completely fill the Arctic Ocean and overlap the adjacent land masses. From the tip of the Palmer Penisula south of Cape Horn to the Wilkes Land coast south of Australia is a distance of over three thousand nautical miles, or about the same distance as between New York and Paris. The continental land mass is ice covered except for the peaks of great mountain ranges which rise above the ice surface. Miles of its coast end at the sea edge in perpendicular and inaccessible ice cliffs.

It can truthfully be said that the antarctic continent is the coldest place on earth. Even during midsummer the temperature scarcely ever rises above freezing, and we have many accounts of the intense cold of winter and the antarctic blizzards. Life cannot exist except in the coastal margins where the only resources of possible use to man are the seals and penguins. Expeditions for all practical purposes are completely dependent on outside support.

THE Antarctic is remote from the centers of our civilization in the northern hemisphere and equally remote from our everyday affairs. It is difficult of access. The long voyage by ship must pass through the tropics and cross the vast expanse of the southern oceans through the stormy belt known as the "roaring 405." Passage must be forced through a belt of pack ice that at times has stopped the sturdiest of ships and destroyed some. The Belgica in 1898-99 and the Gauss in 1902-03 were trapped in the ice over the winter. Shackelton's Endurance in 1915 was crushed and sank in the Weddell Sea. And no ship to date has ever penetrated to the continental shores in the Bellingshausen Sea area.

Little wonder that early attempts, even with the best knowledge, equipment, and techniques of the day, met almost insurmountable difficulties. Fragmentary knowledge was purchased at the price of great hardship, suffering, and even death. The pages of antarctic history are written with courage and devotion rarely surpassed in human endeavor.

After discovery of the new continent in the early 19th century, its outlines gradually emerged through the explorations of D'Urville, Wilkes, Ross, and others. But it was not until 1895 that man first set foot ashore near Cape Adare and not until 1899-1900 that the first party under Borchgrevink wintered there. The early 20th century saw the first penetration beyond the coastal barriers to the unknown continental interior: Scott and the Ross Ice Shelf, 1902 to 1904, Shackelton and the Plateau, 1908 to 1909, culminating in the triumph and tragedy of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole in 1911 and 1912. No more stirring and dramatic tales of polar exploration" have ever been written.

The era of modern exploration using aircraft as well as mechanical transport was ushered in during the late 1920s and 1930s by the great pioneering efforts and foresight of men like Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Sir Hubert Wilkins, and Lincoln Ellsworth. New areas and new possibilities were for the first time opened up; and it could be foreseen that aircraft together with modern technological capabilities would ultimately provide the means for a true conquest of the Antarctic.

Today for the first time we have that opportunity. The greatest scientific assault on any geographical frontier in the history of the world has now begun. Twelve nations have joined together to pit their technical and scientific resources against the Antarctic. Already old barriers have fallen. In addition to the many coastal bases, permanent year-around stations have now been established in the interior and even at the South Pole itself. But these things did not just happen. The antarctic program today is a result of our sum total knowledge and experience in the polar regions. The methods, techniques, and equipment of the early explorers have been carefully studied and evaluated. Detailed planning and coordination have been carried out for the past several years. No mistakes or omissions could be tolerated. And the scale of operation, the number of men involved, made this doubly difficult. No longer were the responsibilities concentrated in the hands of a few experienced polar explorers. Many who had never seen an iceberg or perhaps even snow before were intimately associated in the exacting details of preparation. The most efficient buildings and the stoutest and most effective instruments of modern technology were provided.

But perhaps most significant is that a determined will to conquer has arisen, both in the men actually participating and cooperatively among the nations devoting their resources. This operation could not be accomplished "on a shoestring," as were many single expeditions of the past. The use of ice-breakers, long-range aircraft, ice-working ships, modern mechanized transport and construction is possible only at great expense and effort. Never before in polar exploration has such a potential been provided, nor has such responsibility for its wise and effective use been imposed.

The first phase is drawing to completion. The bases are established and manned. Man's ingenuity, skill, and technical ability have already accomplished a telling blow in the conquest of the Antarctic. On July 1 begin the synoptic geophysical observations that for the first time offer the opportunity of placing the Antarctic in proper perspective in relation to the rest of the world as a whole. And man will take another step in his continual struggle from darkness into light. The men manning these antarctic outposts on the frontier of knowledge are well prepared and stand resolute.

Invasion of the Antarctic modern style. Dedication of the South Pole IGY base, actuallyheld at McMurdo Sound because of travel difficulties. Norway's flag flies in honor of RoaldAmundsen who first reached the Pole in 1911. The camp used by Scott in 1902 is in the background, between the flags. Marines were from an Operation Deepfreeze ship.