The discovery of the South Pole - a centuries-old dream of polar explorers - at its final stage in the summer of 1912 took on the character of an intense competition between the expeditions of two countries - Norway and Great Britain. For the first it ended in triumph, for others - in tragedy. But, despite this, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, who led them, forever went down in the history of the exploration of the sixth continent.
The first explorers of the southern polar latitudes
The conquest of the South Pole began back in those years when people only vaguely realized that somewhere on the edge of the Southern Hemisphere there should be land. The first of the navigators who managed to approach it was sailing in the South Atlantic and in 1501 reached the fiftieth latitude.
This was the era when accomplishments Briefly describing his stay in these previously inaccessible latitudes (Vespucci was not only a navigator, but also a scientist), he continued his journey to the shores of a new, recently discovered continent - America - which today bears his name.
A systematic exploration of the southern latitudes in the hope of finding an unknown land was undertaken almost three centuries later by the famous Englishman James Cook. He managed to get even closer to it, reaching the seventy-second parallel, but his further advance to the south was prevented by Antarctic icebergs and floating ice.
Discovery of the sixth continent
Antarctica, the South Pole, and most importantly - the right to be called the discoverer and pioneer of ice-bound lands and the fame associated with this circumstance haunted many. Throughout the 19th century there were continuous attempts to conquer the sixth continent. Our navigators Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who were sent by the Russian Geographical Society, the Englishman Clark Ross, who reached the seventy-eighth parallel, as well as a number of German, French and Swedish researchers took part in them. These enterprises were crowned with success only at the end of the century, when the Australian Johann Bull had the honor of being the first to set foot on the shores of the hitherto unknown Antarctica.
From that moment on, not only scientists, but also whalers, for whom the cold seas represented a wide fishing area, rushed to the Antarctic waters. Year after year, the coast was developed, the first research stations appeared, but the South Pole (its mathematical point) still remained out of reach. In this context, the question arose with extraordinary urgency: who will be able to get ahead of the competition and whose national flag will be the first to fly at the southern tip of the planet?
Race to the South Pole
At the beginning of the 20th century, attempts were made repeatedly to conquer this inaccessible corner of the Earth, and each time the polar explorers managed to get closer to it. The climax came in October 1911, when the ships of two expeditions at once - the British, led by Robert Falcon Scott, and the Norwegian, led by Roald Amundsen (the South Pole was an old and cherished dream for him), almost simultaneously headed for the shores of Antarctica. They were separated only by a few hundred miles.
It is curious that at first the Norwegian expedition did not intend to storm the South Pole. Amundsen and his crew were heading to the Arctic. It was the northern tip of the Earth that was in the plans of the ambitious navigator. However, on the way, he received a message that he had already submitted to the Americans - Cook and Peary. Not wanting to lose his prestige, Amundsen abruptly changed course and turned south. Thus, he challenged the British, and they could not help but stand up for the honor of their nation.
His rival Robert Scott, before devoting himself to research, served for a long time as an officer in Her Majesty's Navy and gained sufficient experience in command of battleships and cruisers. After retiring, he spent two years on the coast of Antarctica, taking part in the work of a scientific station. They even made an attempt to break through to the Pole, but having advanced a very significant distance in three months, Scott was forced to turn back.
On the eve of the decisive assault
The teams had different tactics for achieving the goal in the unique Amundsen-Scott race. The main means of transport for the British were Manchurian horses. Short and hardy, they were perfectly suited to the conditions of polar latitudes. But, besides them, travelers also had at their disposal the traditional dog sleds in such cases and even a completely new product of those years - motor sleighs. The Norwegians relied in everything on the proven northern huskies, who had to pull four sledges, heavily loaded with equipment, throughout the entire journey.
Both faced a journey of eight hundred miles each way, and the same amount back (if they survived, of course). Ahead of them awaited glaciers, cut by bottomless cracks, terrible frosts, accompanied by blizzards and blizzards and completely excluding visibility, as well as frostbite, injuries, hunger and all kinds of deprivation inevitable in such cases. The reward for one of the teams was supposed to be the glory of discoverers and the right to hoist the flag of their power on the pole. Neither the Norwegians nor the British doubted that the game was worth the candle.
If he was more skillful and experienced in navigation, then Amundsen was clearly superior to him as an experienced polar explorer. The decisive transition to the pole was preceded by wintering on the Antarctic continent, and the Norwegian managed to choose a much more suitable place for it than his British colleague. Firstly, their camp was located almost a hundred miles closer to the end point of the journey than the British, and secondly, Amundsen laid out the route from there to the Pole in such a way that he managed to bypass areas where the most severe frosts raged at this time of year and incessant snowstorms and blizzards.
Triumph and defeat
The Norwegian detachment managed to complete the entire intended journey and return to the base camp, meeting it during the short Antarctic summer. One can only admire the professionalism and brilliance with which Amundsen led his group, following with incredible accuracy the schedule he himself had drawn up. Among the people who trusted him, there were not only no deaths, but even no serious injuries.
A completely different fate awaited Scott's expedition. Before the most difficult part of the journey, when there were one hundred and fifty miles left to the goal, the last members of the auxiliary group turned back, and the five English explorers themselves harnessed themselves to the heavy sledges. By this time, all the horses had died, the motor sleds were out of order, and the dogs were simply eaten by the polar explorers themselves - they had to take extreme measures to survive.
Finally, on January 17, 1912, as a result of incredible efforts, they reached the mathematical point of the South Pole, but terrible disappointment awaited them there. Everything around bore traces of the rivals who had been here before them. The imprints of sledge runners and dog paws could be seen in the snow, but the most convincing evidence of their defeat was the tent left between the ice, above which the Norwegian flag fluttered. Alas, they missed the discovery of the South Pole.
Scott left notes in his diary about the shock that the members of his group experienced. The terrible disappointment left the British in complete shock. They all spent the next night without sleep. They were burdened by the thought of how they would look into the eyes of those people who, for hundreds of miles along the icy continent, freezing and falling into cracks, helped them reach the last section of the path and undertake a decisive, but unsuccessful assault.
Catastrophe
However, no matter what, we had to gather our strength and return. Eight hundred miles of return lay between life and death. Moving from one intermediate camp with fuel and food to another, the polar explorers catastrophically lost strength. Their situation became more and more hopeless every day. A few days later, death visited the camp for the first time - the youngest of them and seemingly physically strong, Edgar Evans, died. His body was buried in the snow and covered with heavy ice floes.
The next victim was Lawrence Oates, a dragoon captain who went to the Pole, driven by a thirst for adventure. The circumstances of his death are very remarkable - having frozen his hands and feet and realizing that he was becoming a burden to his comrades, he secretly left his accommodation at night and went into impenetrable darkness, voluntarily dooming himself to death. His body was never found.
There were only eleven miles left to the nearest intermediate camp when a snowstorm suddenly arose, completely excluding the possibility of further advance. Three Englishmen found themselves captive in ice, cut off from the rest of the world, deprived of food and any opportunity to warm themselves.
The tent they pitched, of course, could not serve as any reliable shelter. The air temperature outside dropped to -40 o C, respectively, inside, in the absence of a heater, it was not much higher. This insidious March blizzard never released them from its embrace...
Posthumous lines
Six months later, when the tragic outcome of the expedition became obvious, a rescue group was sent to search for polar explorers. Among the impassable ice, she managed to discover a snow-covered tent with the bodies of three British explorers - Henry Bowers, Edward Wilson and their commander Robert Scott.
Among the belongings of the victims, Scott's diaries were found, and, what amazed the rescuers, bags of geological samples collected on the slopes of rocks protruding from the glacier. Incredibly, the three Englishmen stubbornly continued to drag these stones even when there was practically no hope of salvation.
In his notes, Robert Scott, having detailed and analyzed the reasons that led to the tragic outcome, highly appreciated the moral and strong-willed qualities of the comrades who accompanied him. In conclusion, addressing those into whose hands the diary would fall, he asked to do everything so that his relatives would not be left to the mercy of fate. Having dedicated several farewell lines to his wife, Scott bequeathed to her to ensure that their son received an appropriate education and was able to continue his research activities.
By the way, in the future his son Peter Scott became a famous ecologist who devoted his life to protecting the planet’s natural resources. Born shortly before the day when his father set off on the last expedition of his life, he lived to a ripe old age and died in 1989.
caused by tragedy
Continuing the story, it should be noted that the competition between two expeditions, the result of which for one was the discovery of the South Pole, and for the other - death, had very unexpected consequences. When the celebrations on the occasion of this undoubtedly important geographical discovery ended, the congratulatory speeches fell silent and the applause ended, the question arose about the moral side of what happened. There was no doubt that indirectly the cause of the death of the British was the deep depression caused by Amundsen's victory.
Direct accusations against the recently honored winner appeared not only in the British, but also in the Norwegian press. A completely reasonable question was raised: did Roald Amundsen, experienced and very experienced in exploring extreme latitudes, have the moral right to involve the ambitious, but lacking the necessary skills, Scott and his comrades in the competitive process? Wouldn't it be more correct to invite him to unite and implement his plans with common efforts?
Amundsen's riddle
How Amundsen reacted to this and whether he blamed himself for unwittingly causing the death of his British colleague is a question that remains forever unanswered. True, many of those who knew the Norwegian explorer closely claimed that they saw clear signs of his mental turmoil. In particular, evidence of this could be his attempts at public justification, which were completely out of character for his proud and somewhat arrogant nature.
Some biographers are inclined to see evidence of unforgiven guilt in the circumstances of Amundsen's own death. It is known that in the summer of 1928 he went on an Arctic flight, which promised him certain death. The suspicion that he foresaw his own death in advance is aroused by the preparation he made. Not only did Amundsen put all his affairs in order and pay off his creditors, he also sold off all his property, as if he had no intention of returning.
The sixth continent today
One way or another, he discovered the South Pole, and no one will take this honor away from him. Today, large-scale scientific research is being conducted at the southern tip of the Earth. In the very place where triumph once awaited the Norwegians, and the greatest disappointment for the British, today there is the Amundsen-Scott international polar station. Its name invisibly unites these two intrepid conquerors of extreme latitudes. Thanks to them, the South Pole on the globe is perceived today as something familiar and quite within reach.
In December 1959, an international treaty on Antarctica was concluded, initially signed by twelve states. According to this document, any country has the right to conduct scientific research throughout the continent south of the sixtieth latitude.
Thanks to this, today numerous research stations in Antarctica are developing the most advanced scientific programs. Today there are more than fifty of them. Scientists have at their disposal not only ground-based means of monitoring the environment, but also aviation and even satellites. The Russian Geographical Society also has its representatives on the sixth continent. Among the operating stations there are veterans, such as Bellingshausen and Druzhnaya 4, as well as relatively new ones, Russkaya and Progress. Everything suggests that great geographical discoveries do not stop today.
A brief history of how brave Norwegian and British travelers, defying danger, strove for their cherished goal, can only in general terms convey all the tension and drama of those events. It is wrong to consider their fight only as a struggle of personal ambitions. Undoubtedly, the primary role in it was played by the thirst for discovery and the desire, built on true patriotism, to establish the prestige of his country.
History and present
The station is located at an altitude of 2835 above sea level, on a glacier that nearby reaches a maximum thickness of 2850 m (). The average annual temperature is about −49 °C; varies from −28 °C in December to −60 °C in July. Average wind speed - 5.5 m/s; Gusts up to 27 m/s were recorded.
Foundation of the station (1957-1975)
The original station - now called "Old Pole" (eng. Old Pole) - was founded in 1956-1957. an 18-man US Navy expedition that landed here in October 1956 and wintered there for the first time in Antarctic history in 1957. Since climatic conditions were previously unknown, the base was built underground to overcome any worst weather conditions. The lowest temperature in 1957 was recorded at −74 °C (−102 °F). Surviving such low temperatures, combined with low humidity and low air pressure, is only possible with proper protection.
The station, abandoned in 1975, is covered with snow (like any structure at the South Pole) at a rate of 60-80 mm per year. Now it is buried quite deeply and is completely closed to visitors, since all the wooden floors have been crushed by the snow.
On January 4, 1958, the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition arrived at the station with the famous mountaineer Edmund Hillary. It was the first expedition to use road transport and the first to reach the Pole by land, since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912. The expedition moved from the New Zealand station of Scott Base.
Dome (1975-2003)
An aerial photograph of Amundsen-Scott Station taken around 1983. The central dome is visible, as well as various containers and supporting buildings.
The main entrance to the dome is located below the snow level. Initially, the dome was built on the surface, but then gradually sank into the snow.
The aluminum unheated “tent” is a landmark of the pole. There was even a post office, a shop and a pub.
Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow and the design of the dome was not the most successful. A huge amount of fuel was wasted to remove snow, and delivery of a liter of fuel costs $7.
The equipment from 1975 is completely outdated.
New scientific complex (since 2003)
The unique design on stilts allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. The sloped shape of the bottom of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which helps blow snow away. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles and then it will be possible to jack up the station twice (this increases the service life of the station from 30 to 45 years).
Construction materials were delivered by Hercules aircraft from McMurdo Station on the shore and only during daylight hours. More than 1000 flights were made.
The complex contains:
- 11-kilometer low-frequency antenna for observing and predicting celestial and cosmic storms,
- the tallest 10-meter telescope at the pole, rising 7 floors up and weighing 275 thousand kg
- drilling rig (depth - up to 2.5 km) for studying neutrinos.
On January 15, 2008, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of the new modern complex. The station can accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.
Activity
In summer, the station's population is usually more than 200 people. Most of the staff leave by mid-February, leaving only a few dozen people (43 in 2009) overwintering, mostly support staff plus a few scientists who maintain the station during the several months of Antarctic night. Winterers are isolated from the rest of the world from mid-February to the end of October, during which time they face many dangers and stress. The station is completely self-sufficient in winter, supplied with power from three generators running on JP-8 aviation fuel.
Research at the station includes sciences such as glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmospheric physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and biomedical research. Most scientists work in low-frequency astronomy; the low temperature and low humidity of polar air, combined with altitudes of over 2,743 m (9,000 ft), cause the air to be much clearer at some frequencies than is normal elsewhere, and the months of darkness allow sensitive equipment to operate continuously.
Events
In 1991, Michael Palin visited the base during the 8th and final episode of his BBC television documentary Pole to Pole.
In 1999, while spending the winter, doctor Jerry Nielsen discovered that she had breast cancer. She had to give herself chemotherapy with drugs dropped in July and then was flown out after the first plane landed in mid-October.
In January 2007, the station was visited by a group of Russian high officials, including FSB chiefs Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Pronichev. The expedition, led by polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, took off from Chile on two Mi-8 helicopters and landed at the South Pole.
TV show aired on September 6, 2007 Man Made National Geographic Channel with an episode about the construction of a new building here.
November 9, 2007 program Today NBC, with co-author Ann Curry, reported via satellite phone, which was broadcast live from the South Pole.
On Christmas Day 2007, two base employees got into a drunken fight and were evacuated.
In popular culture
The station has featured prominently in a number of science fiction television series, including the film The X-Files: Fight for the Future.
Station at the South Pole called Snowcap Base was the site of the first Cybermen invasion of Earth in the 1966 series Doctor Who The Tenth Planet.
In film White mist(2009) takes place at Amundsen-Scott Station, although the buildings in the film are completely different from the real ones.
Time zone
At the South Pole, sunset and sunrise are theoretically visible only once a year, at the autumn and spring equinoxes respectively, but due to atmospheric refraction, the sun remains above the horizon for more than four days each time. There is no solar time here; there is no daily maximum or minimum height of the sun above the horizon. The station uses New Zealand time (GMT +12 hours or +13 hours in summer time) as all flights to McMurdo Station originate from Christchurch and therefore all official travel from the poles passes through New Zealand.
Caroline Alexander
A century ago, Briton Robert Scott lost and Norwegian Roald Amundsen won the battle for the South Pole. Why did Amundsen win?
“Visibility is poor. Terrible wind from the south. Minus 52 Celsius. Dogs do not tolerate cold well. It’s hard for people to move in frozen clothes, it’s difficult to regain strength - they have to spend nights in the cold... It’s unlikely that the weather will improve.”
The famous Norwegian Roald Amundsen made this brief entry in his diary on September 12, 1911, when his expedition was heading to the South Pole.
The conditions were harsh even for Antarctica, and it is not surprising - the Norwegians set out on a campaign from their base too early, even before the onset of the polar spring and relatively favorable weather. As a result, the dogs died, it was impossible to walk without them, and the people had frostbitten feet and could recover no earlier than in a month. What made Amundsen, an experienced and prudent traveler with a brilliant polar career behind him, act so imprudently?
Captivated by dreams. Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was born in 1872 into a wealthy family of shipowners and sailors. Already at the age of 25, as the second mate on the Belgica ship, he participated in a scientific Antarctic expedition. And when the Belgica got stuck in the ice, its crew members inevitably became the world’s first winterers in Antarctica.
The sailors, unprepared for such a turn of events, survived mainly thanks to the efforts of Amundsen and the doctor Frederick Cook (who later, alas, tarnished his good name with unsubstantiated claims that he was the first to conquer the North Pole and Mount McKinley).
Amundsen kept a diary, even then approaching the issue of organizing winter quarters with interest. “As for the tent, it is convenient in terms of shape and size, but too unstable in strong winds,” he noted in February 1898. In the future, persistently, year after year, the Norwegian will inventively improve his polar equipment. And the unscheduled hard winter, overshadowed by despair and illness of the crew, only strengthened him in his desire to fulfill his old dream.
This dream began in childhood, when the future polar explorer read how John Franklin’s expedition died in search of the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. For many years this story haunted the Norwegian. Without abandoning his navigator career, Amundsen began simultaneously planning an Arctic expedition. And in 1903, the dream finally began to come true - Amundsen sailed north on the small fishing vessel Gjoa with six crew members (Franklin took 129 people with him). The purpose of the expedition was to find the Northwest Passage from east to west from Greenland to Alaska, and also to determine the current coordinates of the north magnetic pole (they change over time).
The Gjoa team, carefully preparing to conquer the Northwest Passage, worked in the Arctic for three whole winters - and eventually managed to navigate the ship among the islands, shoals and ice of the Canadian Arctic archipelago to the Beaufort Sea, and then the Bering Sea. No one has ever succeeded in doing this before. “My childhood dream came true at that moment,” Amundsen wrote in his diary on August 26, 1905. “I had a strange feeling in my chest: I was exhausted, my strength had left me - but I could not hold back my tears of joy.”
Teach me, native. However, the energy left the enterprising Norwegian for only a short time. Even during the expedition on the schooner "Joa", Amundsen had the opportunity to observe the way of life of the Netsilik Eskimos, learning the secrets of survival in the harsh Arctic. “There is a joke that Norwegians are born with skis on their feet,” says polar historian Harald Jolle, “but there are a lot of important skills and abilities besides skis.” Therefore, not only Amundsen, but also other European travelers diligently adopted the experience of the aborigines. Thus, another Norwegian, Amundsen’s senior contemporary and comrade, the great polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, learned from the Sami, the indigenous northern people of Norway, how to dress correctly, move through the snowy desert and get food in the cold. After the expedition to the Gjoa, Amundsen could tell how to travel in the harshest regions: loose clothing made of reindeer skin, in which the body breathes and retains heat; fur shoes, dog sleds, snowshoes. The Norwegian polar explorer also learned how to build Eskimo dwellings - ice caves and igloos. And Amundsen could now put all this knowledge into practice: he enthusiastically prepared to conquer the North Pole. But suddenly, for some reason, he abruptly changed the geographical vector and rushed to the extreme south.
It was probably due to the news that reached the Norwegian: Robert Peary had already visited the North Pole. Whether Piri actually visited there has not yet been established, but Amundsen only wanted to be the first everywhere.
It must be said that the South Pole, not yet conquered in those days, was the cherished dream of all discoverers, and the race for it, in terms of the intensity of passions, anticipated the space race. Roald Amundsen dreamed that conquering the South Pole would bring him not only fame, but also money for future expeditions.
For many months, Amundsen and his team stocked up on everything they needed, carefully thinking through every little detail, strictly selecting provisions, clothing, and equipment. In January 1911, Roald Amundsen, a 38-year-old seasoned, experienced polar explorer, sets up a base camp in the Antarctic Welsh Bay. Although he had stepped onto hitherto unexplored ground, snow and ice were spread out around him - an element well known to him. And suddenly - this mysterious false start in September, which jeopardized the entire expedition.
Amundsen VS Scott. And the reason was simple: at the same time, a British Antarctic expedition under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott was preparing to go to the South Pole. Today we know that one of the expeditions was destined for a brilliant victory, while the other was destined for defeat and painful, tragic death. What determined the outcome of the battle for the pole?
What if Scott ends up first? — this thought drove Amundsen forward. But the Norwegian would not have become great if his ambition had not been combined with prudence. Having set out on a campaign prematurely in September 1911, four days later he adequately assessed the situation, said to himself “stop” and decided to “go back as soon as possible and wait for the real spring.”
In his diary, Amundsen wrote: “To stubbornly continue the journey, risking losing people and animals - I cannot allow this. To win the game, you need to act wisely.” Returning to the Framheim base (named after his ship Fram, which means "forward" in Norwegian), Amundsen was in such a hurry that two of the participants reached the camp even a day later than him. “This is not an expedition. This is panic,” Hjalmar Johansen, the most experienced polar explorer on the team, told him.
Amundsen did not take Hjalmar into the new detachment, which on October 20 set off for the second assault on the Pole. Amundsen and his four companions followed four loaded sleighs on skis. Each sleigh weighing 400 kilograms was pulled by a team of 13 dogs. People and animals had to travel more than 1,300 kilometers, descending and climbing monstrous chasms in glaciers (received emotional names from grateful Norwegians, such as the Devil's Glacier), passing abysses and ice in the Queen Maud Mountains and then conquering the Polar Plateau. Every second the weather threatened with another dangerous surprise.
But everything turned out well. “So we have arrived,” Amundsen wrote in his diary on December 14, 1911, right on time.
Leaving “Polheim” (as the team members dubbed the camp at the South Pole), Amundsen wrote a letter on notepaper to King Haakon VII of Norway “and a couple of lines to Scott, who, in all likelihood, will be the first to get here after us.” This letter ensured that even if something happened to Amundsen's people, the world would still know about his achievement.
Scott, having reached the Pole a month later than Amundsen, found this letter and nobly kept it - but could not personally hand it over. All five members of the British team died on the way back. The search team found the letter a year later next to Scott's body.
It is difficult to compare, in the words of the legendary chronicler of the British expedition, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Amundsen’s “business operation” and Scott’s “first-class tragedy.” One of the members of the English team, having frostbitten feet, secretly went into a deadly snowstorm so that his comrades would not have to carry him. The other, already exhausted, did not throw away the rock samples. Scott and the last two members of his squad did not reach the food warehouse only 17 kilometers.
And yet, in order to find out the reasons for this tragedy, we can try to understand the differences between the approaches of Scott and Amundsen. Amundsen brought dogs with him; Scott - pony and motor sleigh. Amundsen moved on skis - he and his team were great skiers - Scott could not boast of this. Amundsen prepared three times more supplies than Scott - Scott suffered from hunger and scurvy. The preparation of the Norwegian expedition is evidenced by the fact that it left extra supplies on the way back. On January 26, 1912, the Norwegians triumphantly returned to base - the British walked for another two months after this date, when the weather became truly unbearable.
Some of Scott's mistakes can be understood if we remember that he relied on the experience of his predecessors - his compatriot and rival Ernest Shackleton used ponies as draft force and almost reached the South Pole. And we must not lose sight of the fact that the British, having discovered the news of Amundsen’s primacy at the Pole, were in an extremely depressed state of mind, which may have fatally affected the resources of their bodies.
However, many researchers believe that the fundamental difference between Amundsen and Scott is determined not by the details of the organization, but by the general approach to equipping the expedition: in one case professional, in the other amateur. If a Norwegian goes on a hike, he is obliged to provide everything in order to return safe and sound. For the British, it was about struggle, heroism and overcoming. They relied not on professionalism, but on fortitude. Today such a view would be considered irresponsible. “The way Amundsen prepared for his expeditions is an example for me to follow,” says Borge Ousland, the Norwegian explorer who was the first to cross Antarctica alone. “He was always ready to learn from others. He clearly defined the problem and looked for ways to solve it.”
Life is in the Arctic. Having won the race for the Pole, Amundsen had no intention of resting on his laurels. In July 1918, he returned to the Arctic to fulfill his promise to Nansen and engage in scientific work: to study the movement of floating ice on the schooner Maud.
But his soul yearned for global discoveries, and in the 1920s, following the trends of the times, Amundsen made several unsuccessful attempts to fly over the North Pole. And only in 1926, the airship "Norway" (pilot - Italian Umberto Nobile, commander - Amundsen) crossed the Arctic by air for the first time in history.
But financially, Amundsen turned out to be much less fortunate than his charismatic compatriot and mentor Nansen: neither books nor lectures brought the polar explorer the expected material well-being. Embittered by lack of money, he quarreled with friends, including Nobile. But when the airship Nobile disappeared somewhere over the Arctic in May 1928, Amundsen, who was preparing for his wedding, persuaded his friends to give him money for a search plane and rushed to the Arctic, where search parties from all over the world were then sent. Nobile's team was then rescued by Soviet sailors.
And shortly before this, in the Arctic, searching not for another unexplored point on the Earth, but for a man, his friend and rival, the famous discoverer Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen went missing.
Routes of the expeditions of Scott and Amundsen
Amundsen and Scott: teams and equipment
nat-geo.ru
Scott vs. Amundsen: The Story of the Conquest of the South Pole
Ivan Siyak
The rivalry between the British and Norwegian expeditions, who sought to reach the center of Antarctica, is one of the most dramatic geographical discoveries in the history.
In 1909, the South Pole remained the last of the major geographical trophies not taken. It was expected that the United States would enter into a fierce battle over it with the British Empire. However, the leading American polar explorers Cook and Peary at that time focused on the Arctic, and the British expedition of Captain Robert Scott on the Terra Nova vessel received a temporary head start. Scott was in no hurry: the three-year program included extensive scientific research and methodical preparation for the trip to the Pole.
These plans were confused by the Norwegians. Having received a message about the conquest of the North Pole, Roald Amundsen did not want to be the second there and secretly sent his ship "Fram" to the South. In February 1911, he already received British officers at a camp on the Ross Glacier. “There is no doubt that Amundsen’s plan is a serious threat to ours,” Scott wrote in his diary. The race has begun.
Captain Scott
Roald Amundsen
In the preface to his memoirs, one of the members of the Terra Nova expedition later wrote: “For scientific research, give me Scott; for a jerk to the pole - Amundsen; pray to Shackleton for salvation.”
Perhaps a penchant for the arts and sciences is one of the few reliably known positive qualities of Robert Scott. His literary talent was especially evident in his own diary, which became the basis for the myth of a hero who fell victim to circumstances.
Cracker, unsociable, human-function - Roald Amundsen was created to achieve results. This planning maniac called adventures the unfortunate consequence of poor preparation.
Team
The composition of Scott's expedition shocked the polar explorers of that time, numbering 65 people, including the Terra Nova crew, twelve scientists and cameraman Herbert Ponting. Five people set off on the trip to the Pole: the captain took with him the cavalryman and groom Ots, the head of the scientific program Wilson, his assistant, the caretaker Evans, and at the last moment the sailor Bowers. This spontaneous decision is considered fatal by many experts: the amount of food and equipment, even skis, was designed only for four.
Captain Scott's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Amudsen's team could win any of the modern winter ultramarathons. Nine people landed with him in Antarctica. There were no mental workers - these were, first of all, physically strong men who had a set of skills necessary for survival. They were good skiers, many knew how to drive dogs, were qualified navigators, and only two did not have polar experience. The five best of them went to the Pole: the path for Amundsen's teams was paved by the Norwegian cross-country champion.
Roald Amundsen's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Equipment
Like all Norwegian polar explorers of that time, Amundsen was a proponent of studying Eskimo ways of adapting to extreme cold. His expedition dressed in anoraks and kamikki boots, improved during the winter. “I would call any polar expedition without fur clothing inadequately equipped,” wrote the Norwegian. On the contrary, the cult of science and progress, burdened by the imperial “white man's burden,” did not allow Scott to benefit from the experience of the Aborigines. The British wore suits made of wool and rubberized fabric.
Modern research - in particular, blowing in a wind tunnel - has not revealed a significant advantage of one of the options.
On the left is Roald Amundsen's equipment, on the right is Scott's.
Transport
Amundsen's tactics were both effective and brutal. His four 400-kilogram sleigh with food and equipment was pulled by 52 Greenland huskies. As they moved toward their goal, the Norwegians killed them, fed them to other dogs, and ate them themselves. That is, as the load decreased, the transport, which was no longer needed, itself turned into food. 11 huskies returned to base camp.
Dog team on Roald Amundsen's expedition. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
Scott's complex transportation plan included the use of a motorized sled, Mongolian ponies, a team of Siberian huskies, and a final push on his own feet. An easily predictable failure: the sleigh quickly broke down, the ponies were dying of cold, there were too few huskies. For many hundreds of kilometers, the British themselves harnessed themselves to the sleigh, and the load on each one reached almost a hundredweight. Scott considered this rather an advantage - in the British tradition, the researcher had to reach the goal without “outside help.” Suffering turned achievement into feat.
Motorized sleds on Scott's expedition
Top: Mongolian ponies on Scott's expedition. Below: The Brits are pulling the weight
Food
Scott's failed transportation strategy led his people to starvation. By dragging a sled on their feet, they significantly increased the duration of the journey and the amount of calories required for such physical activity. At the same time, the British were unable to carry the required amount of provisions.
The quality of the food also affected. Unlike Norwegian biscuits, which contained wholemeal flour, oatmeal and yeast, British biscuits were made from pure wheat. Before reaching the Pole, Scott's team suffered from scurvy and nervous disorders associated with vitamin B deficiency. They did not have enough food for the trip back and did not have enough strength to reach the nearest warehouse.
About the nutrition of the Norwegians, it will be enough to say that on the way back they began to throw away excess food to lighten the sleigh.
Stop. Expedition of Roald Amundsen. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
To the Pole and back
The distance from the Norwegian base to the pole was 1,380 kilometers. It took Amundsen's team 56 days to complete it. Dog sleds made it possible to carry away more than one and a half tons of payload and create supply warehouses along the way for the return journey. On January 17, 1912, the Norwegians reach the South Pole and leave a Pulheim tent there with a message to the King of Norway about conquering the Pole and a request to Scott to deliver it to its destination: “The way home is very far, anything can happen, including something that will deprive us of the opportunity to personally report our journey." On the way back, Amundsen's sleigh became faster, and the team reached the base in 43 days.
Roald Amundsen's team at the South Pole. Photo by the Norwegian National Library
A month later, Amundsen's pulheim at the pole is found by the British, who have traveled 1,500 kilometers in 79 days. “Terrible disappointment! I feel pain for my faithful comrades. The end of all our dreams. It will be a sad return,” Scott wrote in his diary. Disappointed, hungry and sick, they wander back to the coast for another 71 days. Scott and his last two surviving companions die in a tent from exhaustion, 40 kilometers short of reaching the next warehouse.
Defeat
In the autumn of the same 1912, a tent with the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers was found by their comrades from the Terra Nova expedition. The last letters and notes lie on the captain’s body, and Amundsen’s letter to the Norwegian king is kept in his boot. After the publication of Scott's diaries, an anti-Norwegian campaign unfolded in his homeland, and only imperial pride prevented the British from directly calling Amundsen a murderer.
However, Scott’s literary talent turned defeat into victory, and placed the painful death of his companions above the perfectly planned breakthrough of the Norwegians. “How can you equate Amundsen’s business operation with Scott’s first-class tragedy?” - contemporaries wrote. The primacy of the “stupid Norwegian sailor” was explained by his unexpected appearance in Antarctica, which disrupted the preparation plans of the British expedition, and the ignoble use of dogs. The death of the gentlemen from Scott's team, who by default were stronger in body and spirit, was explained by an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances.
It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the tactics of both expeditions were subjected to critical analysis, and in 2006 their equipment and rations were tested in the most realistic BBC experiment in Greenland. The British polar explorers were not successful this time either - their physical condition became so dangerous that doctors insisted on evacuation.
Last photo of Scott's team
birds.depositphotos.com
Amundsen-Scott Station, named after the discoverers of the South Pole, amazes with its scale and technology. In a complex of buildings around which there is nothing but ice for thousands of kilometers, there is literally its own separate world. They didn’t reveal all the scientific and research secrets to us, but they gave us an interesting tour of the residential blocks and showed us how polar explorers live...
Initially, during construction, the station was located exactly at the geographic south pole, but due to ice movement over several years, the base shifted to the side by 200 meters:
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This is our DC-3 aircraft. In fact, it was heavily modified by Basler and almost all of its components, including avionics and engines, are new:
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The plane can land both on the ground and on ice:
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This photo clearly shows how close the station is to the historical South Pole (group of flags in the center). And the lone flag on the right is the geographic South Pole:
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Upon arrival, we were met by a station employee and gave us a tour of the main building:
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It stands on stilts, just like many houses in the north. This was done to prevent the building from melting the ice underneath and “floating.” In addition, the space below is well blown by winds (in particular, the snow under the station has not been cleared even once since its construction):
Entrance to the station: you need to climb two flights of stairs. Due to the thinness of the air, this is not easy to do:
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Residential blocks:
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At the Pole, during our visit, it was -25 degrees. We arrived in full uniform - three layers of clothing, hats, balaclavas, etc. - and then we were suddenly met by a guy in a light sweater and Crocs. He said that he was used to it: he had already survived several winters and the maximum frost he experienced here was minus 73 degrees. For about forty minutes, while we were walking around the station, he walked around looking like this:
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The inside of the station is simply amazing. Let's start with the fact that it has a huge gym. Popular games among employees are basketball and badminton. To heat the station, 10,000 gallons of aviation kerosene per week are used:
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Some statistics: 170 people live and work at the station, 50 people stay in the winter. They feed for free in the local canteen. They work 6 days a week, 9 hours a day. Everyone has a day off on Sunday. The cooks also have a day off and everyone, as a rule, eats what was left uneaten in the refrigerator from Saturday:
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There is a room for playing music (in the title photo), and in addition to the sports room, there is a gym:
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There is a room for trainings, conferences and similar events. When we passed by, there was a Spanish lesson going on:
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The station is two-story. On each floor it is pierced by a long corridor. Residential blocks go to the right, scientific and research blocks go to the left:
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Conference hall:
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There is a balcony next to it, with a view of the station’s outbuildings:
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Everything that can be stored in unheated rooms lies in these hangars:
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This is the Ice cube neutrino observatory, with which scientists catch neutrinos from space. Briefly, it works like this: The collision of a neutrino and an atom produces particles known as muons and a flash of blue light called Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. In transparent Arctic ice, IceCube's optical sensors will be able to recognize it. Usually, for neutrino observatories, they dig a shaft at depth and fill it with water, but the Americans decided not to waste time on trifles and built an Ice cube at the South Pole, where there is plenty of ice. The size of the observatory is 1 cubic kilometer, hence, apparently, the name. Project cost: $270 million:
Theme "made a bow" on the balcony overlooking our plane:
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Throughout the base there are invitations to seminars and master classes. Here's an example of a writing workshop:
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I noticed the palm tree garlands attached to the ceiling. Apparently there is a longing for summer and warmth among the employees:
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Old station sign. Amundsen and Scott are two discoverers of the pole who conquered the South Pole almost simultaneously (well, if you look at it in a historical context) with a month difference:
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In front of this station there was another one, it was called "Dome". in 2010 it was finally dismantled and this photo shows the last day:
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Recreation room: billiards, darts, books and magazines:
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Scientific laboratory. They didn’t let us in, but they opened the door slightly. Pay attention to the trash cans: separate waste collection is practiced at the station:
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Fire departments. Standard American system: everyone has their own closet, in front of them is a completely finished uniform:
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You just need to run up, jump into your boots and put on:
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Computer Club. Probably, when the station was built, it was relevant, but now everyone has laptops and comes here, I think, to play games online. There is no Wi-Fi at the station, but there is personal Internet access at a speed of 10 kb per second. Unfortunately, they didn’t give it to us, and I never managed to check in at the pole:
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Just like in the ANI camp, water is the most expensive commodity at the station. For example, it costs one and a half dollars to flush a toilet:
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Medical Center:
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I looked up and looked at how perfectly the wires were laid out. Not like it happens here, and especially somewhere in Asia:
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The station houses the most expensive and most difficult to find souvenir shop in the world. A year ago, Evgeniy Kaspersky was here, and he did not have cash (he wanted to pay with a card). When I went, Zhenya gave me a thousand dollars and asked me to buy everything in the store. Of course, I filled my bag with souvenirs, after which my fellow travelers began to quietly hate me, since I created a queue for half an hour.
By the way, in this store you can buy beer and soda, but they sell them only to station employees:
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There is a table with South Pole stamps. We all took our passports and stamped them:
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The station even has its own greenhouse and greenhouse. Now there is no need for them, since there is communication with the outside world. And in winter, when communication with the outside world is interrupted for several months, employees grow their own vegetables and herbs:
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Each employee has the right to use the laundry once a week. He can go to the shower 2 times a week for 2 minutes, that is, 4 minutes a week. I was told that they usually save everything and wash it once every two weeks. To be honest, I already guessed from the smell:
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Library:
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And this is a corner of creativity. There is everything you can imagine: sewing threads, paper and paints for drawing, prefabricated models, cardboard, etc. Now I really want to go to one of our polar stations and compare their life and amenities:
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At the historic South Pole there is a stick that has not changed since the days of the discoverers. And the marker for the geographic South Pole is moved every year to adjust for ice movement. The station has a small museum of knobs accumulated over the years:
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In the next post I will talk about the South Pole itself. Stay Tuned!
Many people dreamed of reaching the South Pole, among them the French navigator Jean-Baptiste Charcot, a famous explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic (he died in 1936 during another expedition to Greenland).
Nansen also dreamed of being the first to reach the pole in Antarctica, intending to go to the southern polar seas on his beloved Fram. In 1909 Englishman Ernest Shackleton and his comrades penetrated into the very heart of the continent and were forced to turn to the coast just 100 miles from the Pole due to an acute shortage of food.
In October 1911, in the frosty Antarctic spring, two expeditions, Norwegian and British, rushed to the South Pole almost simultaneously. One was led by Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), a polar explorer who had already spent the winter on a ship in Antarctic waters at the end of the 19th century. And he managed to become famous in the Arctic, having overcome the labyrinth of the Canadian archipelago on the tiny boat “Yoa” in 1903-1906.
The second is Captain First Rank, Commander of the Order of Victoria, Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912). Scott was a naval officer who managed to command both cruisers and battleships in his time.
At the very beginning of the 20th century, he spent two years on the Antarctic coast, leading a research wintering camp. A small detachment led by Scott attempted to penetrate into the interior of the continent, and in three months they managed to advance almost 1000 miles towards the pole. Returning to his homeland, he began to prepare for the next expedition. When their ship "Tera Nova" was on the way to Antarctica, the British learned that the "Fram" was heading there at full speed with the Amundsen expedition on board and the goal of the Norwegians was the same South Pole!
The further competition went under the motto: “who will win?” Amundsen extremely skillfully chose the place of wintering and future launch - as much as 100 miles closer to the pole than Scott. On their route, which passed at an angle to the route of the British, Amundsen’s people did not encounter either terrible cold or deadly prolonged snowstorms. The Norwegian detachment completed the round trip in a much shorter time, without going beyond the short Arctic summer. And here we can only pay tribute to the organizer of the expedition.
And so, on January 17, 1912, Robert Scott and his comrades arrived at the geographic point of the South Pole. Here they saw the remains of someone else's camp, traces of sledges, dog paws and a tent with a flag - exactly a month before them, their rival reached the Pole. With his characteristic brilliance, without a single casualty, without serious injuries, following the route schedule he had drawn up almost to the minute (and, what looks absolutely fantastic, predicting the timing of the return to the coastal base with the same accuracy), Amundsen demonstrated another and far from my last achievement.
The following entry appeared in Scott’s diary: “The Norwegians were ahead of us. A terrible disappointment, and I feel pain for my faithful comrades. None of us could sleep as a result of the blow we received...”
The British detachment set off on the return journey, following from one intermediate warehouse with food and fuel to another. But they were stopped forever by the endless March snowstorm.
Their bodies were discovered more than seven months later by a rescue team that went out to search for them. Next to Scott's body was a bag containing diaries and farewell letters. There were also 35 pounds of samples collected during the route on the rocks framing the Antarctic glaciers. The British continued to carry these stones even when death was already staring them in the eye.
The last line in the diary was a phrase that later spread throughout the world: “For God’s sake, don’t leave our loved ones...”
Admitting to his wife that there was no chance of salvation, Robert Scott asked her to interest their son in natural history, so that in the future he would continue his work as a traveler-naturalist. Dr. Peter Scott (he was not even a year old when his father set off on his last expedition) became an outstanding biologist and ecologist, one of the leaders of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
On the coast of the mainland near the base of the British expedition, on the top of a high hill facing the majestic ice Ross Barrier, a three-meter cross made of Australian eucalyptus rose.
On it is a gravestone inscription in memory of the five victims and the final words of the classic of British poetry: “Fight, seek, find and do not give up!”
Amundsen, having learned about the death of Scott and his companions, wrote: “I would sacrifice glory, absolutely everything, to bring him back to life. My triumph is overshadowed by the thought of his tragedy. It haunts me!”
Amundsen and Scott, Scott and Amundsen... Today, at the very point that brought a great victory to one and a fatal defeat to the other, an Antarctic station called Amundsen-Scott is conducting scientific research.
