Antarctica!

Jan 11-14, 2024

We entered Drake’s passage Jan. 11 – and definitely experienced the infamous “Drake Shake”. The waters of the Atlantic, the Pacific and Southern Oceans all meet and mingle – with their associated winds, currents and temperatures. This often creates conditions for waves of well over 20 feet and gale force winds. As rough as we had it – waves of 15-20 feet and wind gusts over 50mph – it was still less than its worst. I generally don’t get seasick, but 36 hours of bobbing, shaking and pounding had me pulling out the meclizine (generic name for Bonine). 

But all that shaking and rattling was well worth it. There are no words that can truly describe the beauty of the Southern Continent. My photos were not very good – so will repost some of those posted on Facebook (with permission) along with my own.

History Lesson: 

The first human to set foot on Antarctica may have been Polynesian explorer, Ui-te-Rangiora, between 650-750AD (around the same time the island of Rarotonga was discovered). Stories of a great land of never-ending ice permeated through Rarotongan folklore. Several hundred years later, another Polynesian named Tamarereti (likely named for the man responsible for putting stars in the sky) ventured south until he, too, came upon the great land of rock and ice (and died, but two of his crew survived and were able to return home). These tales have been dismissed as embellishments by historians after the Antarctica was discovered, but as in any reporting – it’s good to “print the legend”. 

In the meantime, European scientists from Pythagoras onward conjectured about Terra Australis Incognita- the great Southern Continent (and named Antarctica by Marinus of Tyre in the 2^nd century AD). The first Europeans to actually see the continent is debated between a Russian Naval Officer, a Royal Naval officer and an American Sealing Captain – all were in the region in 1820 (and generally the “official” recognition goes to Russian Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen). The first to step foot on the new continent was Captain John Davis, an America sealer boat captain in Feb. 1821 (although that, too, is in doubt).

The first recorded expedition to find the magnetic South Pole (the north was discovered in 1831) began in 1839. An attempt by James Clark Ross tried for 4 years and failed. Interest in exploration died down until late 19^th century, with calls for exploration to expand scientific knowledge in 1895. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition became the first to spend the winter in Antarctica after their ship – the Belgica- became trapped in ice on Feb. 28, 1898, and were unable to break free until March 1899. The Southern Cross Expedition from Great Britain launched a two-year journey beginning in 1898. Using sled dogs, they were able to penetrate into the interior, climbing the great ice barrier (aka Ross Ice Shelf) and calculate the location of the south pole – but unable to reach it. 

The Scots were the first to establish a permanent meteorological observatory on Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands. Part of this expedition was the famous (and infamous) Edward Shackleton. His Nimrod Expedition from 1907-09 made it to within 97 miles of the magnetic south pole before they were forced to turn back (they chose to take ponies instead of dogs – many died from eating volcanic sand (which contained salt), and the remaining five succumbed to elements and crevasses en route to the pole) when they ran out of provisions. 

In 1910, a race to the South Pole began between Roald Amundson on the Fram, and Robert Falcon Scott on the Terre Nova. Amundson’s team reached the Pole on Dec. 14, 1911. Scott’s Expedition reached it 33 days later, then died from starvation and exposure on the return journey. 

Shackleton went on to make two further expeditions. The first began in December 1914 with 27 men to cross the entirety of the continent, but his ship The Endurance became trapped in sea ice in Feb. 1915. The men tried everything to free her, but in October she was crushed by the shifting ice and slowly sank over the next three weeks. His men were able to rescue three small boats and carry them across the ice. They spent months on an ice floe, and finally rowed for 7 days to Elephant Island in April 1916 when their ice broke up.

Most of the men waited there while Shackleton and five others crossed 800 miles of the treacherous Southern Ocean (aka – crossing the Drake Channel – as mentioned above) over 17 days to a whaling station on an open boat, alerting them to a need for rescue. Unfortunately, due to the coming winter, it would be three months before his men could be rescued and brought to Punta Arenas in Chile on Sept. 3, 1916. Amazingly, the Endurance did not lose a single crewmember. Shackleton’s last trip to the Southern Continent in 1921 was to map its coastline and possible find a navigable route around the continent, but he died in early 1922, ending the journey and much of the energy behind the exploration. 

Decades later, countries set up scientific stations in Antarctica, most working together despite political differences.