Southern Cross Expedition

The Southern Cross expedition huts at Cape Adare, photographed in 1992

The Southern Cross Expedition, officially known as the British Antarctic Expedition 1898–1900, was the first British expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, the forerunner of the much more celebrated adventures of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. It was the brainchild of the Norwegian-born, half-British explorer and schoolmaster, Carsten Borchgrevink, who had been one of a party that claimed the first landing on the Antarctic continent at Cape Adare, during a whaling expedition in 1895. On his return, he began to organise a pioneering expedition which he planned would over-winter at Cape Adare, and then make the first explorations of the Antarctic interior. This was, at the time, far beyond the scope of any previous Antarctic voyage. British publisher Sir George Newnes was impressed by this plan, and to the chagrin of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), who were seeking funding for their own Antarctic expedition, agreed to finance Borchgrevink's entire venture.

In February 1899 the expedition's ship Southern Cross landed a shore party of ten, under Borchgrevink, at Cape Adare. The following months proved an arduous experience, due to the severity of the hostile environment, the close confinement, and the reportedly poor leadership skills of Borchgrevink. Inland exploration was largely defeated by the surrounding mountainous and glaciated terrain. During this period the expedition's zoologist, Nicolai Hansen, took ill with an intestinal disorder, and died. In January 1900 Southern Cross returned from New Zealand, to pick up the Cape Adare party and carry out an exploration of the Ross Sea. On 16 February Borchgrevink and two companions landed on the Great Ice Barrier, then sledged approximately 10 miles (16 km) southward, to set a new Farthest South record latitude at 78°50'S.

The expedition was coolly received on its return to England, its pre-emption of the work of the National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition being resented. However, it could claim a notable series of Antarctic "firsts": first to over-winter on the continent, first man-made structures, first use of dogs, first sledge journeys, first ascent of the Great Ice Barrier, and the first Barrier journey to establish the new Farthest South. In time, Borchgrevink would be honoured by the RGS and by other geographical and scientific organisations, but he was never awarded heroic status in the Scott or Shackleton mould, and never returned to the Antarctic. However, among those who recognised the contribution of his expedition to Antarctic exploration was Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole in 1911, who later wrote: "We must acknowledge that, by ascending the Barrier, Borchgrevink opened the way to the south, and threw aside the greatest obstacle to the expeditions that followed".

Background

Born in Oslo in 1864, Carsten Borchgrevink emigrated to Australia in 1888, where he worked on survey teams in the interior, before accepting a provincial schoolteaching appointment in New South Wales. In 1894–95 he joined a commercial expedition, led by Henryk Bull in the whaler Antarctic, which penetrated Antarctic waters and reached Cape Adare, the western portal to the Ross Sea. A party including Bull and Borchgrevink had briefly landed, becoming possibly the first men to set foot on the Antarctic continent—if the 1821 claim of American sealer John Davis is discounted. They also made a brief landing on Possession Island in the Ross Sea, leaving a message in tin box. Borchgrevink was convinced that the Cape Adare location, with its huge penguin rookery providing a ready supply of fresh food and fuel, could serve as a base at which a future expedition could over-winter and subsequently explore the Antarctic interior.

Determined that he would lead such an expedition himself, Borchgrevink spent much of the next three years attempting to gain financial backing, in Australia and England . Despite some encouragement from the Royal Geographical Society, whose International Congress he addressed in 1895, he was initially unsuccessful. The RGS was in fact harbouring plans of its own for a large-scale National Antarctic Expedition, and was in search of funds; Borchgrevink was perceived by RGS president Sir Clements Markham as a foreign interloper. However, Borchgrevink eventually managed to persuade publisher Sir George Newnes (whose business rival Alfred Harmsworth was backing Markham's venture) to meet the full cost of his expedition, some £40,000, equivalent to approximately £3 million (US$5 million) in 2008. This gift infuriated Markham and the RGS, since Newnes's donation, had it come their way, would have been enough "to get the National Expedition on its legs".

Newnes made one stipulation: Borchgrevink's expedition must sail under the British flag, and be styled the British Antarctic Expedition. Borchgrevink readily agreed to this, even though only two of the ten-man shore party, and none of the ship's company, were British. This only increased the hostility and contempt of Markham, who chastised RGS librarian Hugh Robert Mill for attending the Southern Cross expedition launch. In fact, Mill had proposed the success of the expedition in stirring terms, saying that it was a reproach to human enterprise that there were parts of the earth that man had never attempted to reach. He hoped that this reproach would be lifted through "the munificence of Sir George Newnes and the courage of Mr Borchgrevink".

Organisation

Map of Antarctica, showing (red rectangle) the area of work of the Southern Cross Expedition. Cape Adare is in the bottom right corner of the rectangle; the Ross Ice Shelf, or Great Ice Barrier, is shown mid-rectangle.

Expedition objectives

When planning his expedition, Borchgrevink appears to have entertained a mixture of commercial, scientific and geographical objectives. He considered forming a company to exploit the extensive guano deposits that he had observed during his 1894–95 voyage, but this came to nothing. In numerous addresses to scientific societies, he stressed the range of work that could be carried out in a range of disciplines by a resident expedition, including the possibility of establishing the location of the South Magnetic Pole. The expedition's scientists, although generally inexperienced, covered a range of disciplines including magnetism, meteorology, biology, zoology, taxidermy and cartography. The hope also existed, at the planning stage, that the expedition's scientific achievements could be capped by spectacular geographical discoveries, even an attempt to reach the geographical South Pole itself. With no knowledge of the continent's geography, they could not be aware that the site of the base at Cape Adare would rule out any serious exploration of the Antarctic interior.

Ship

For his expedition's ship, Borchgrevink looked to his native Norway. Here he was able to find and purchase a steam whaler, Pollux, that had been built in the yard of the legendary Norwegian shipbuilder Colin Archer. Archer had designed and built Nansen's ship Fram, which had recently returned unscathed from its long drift in the North polar ocean. The ship, whose name Borchgrevink immediately changed to Southern Cross, was barque-rigged, 520 tons gross, and 146 feet (45 m) overall length. Engines were designed to Borchgrevink's specification, and fitted before the ship left Norway. Although Markham cast doubts on her seaworthiness, perhaps to thwart Borchgrevink's departure, the ship fulfilled all that was required of her in Antarctic waters. Like several of the historic polar ships, her post-expedition life was short. She was sold to the Newfoundland Sealing Company, and was lost with all hands in a storm off the Newfoundland coast, in April 1914.

Personnel

The ship's company, under Captain Bernard Jensen, consisted of 19 Norwegian seamen and one Swedish steward. Jensen was an experienced ice navigator in Arctic and Antarctic waters, having been with Borchgrevink on the Antarctic voyage with Bull in 1894–95. The shore party of ten, who were to winter at Cape Adare, consisted of Borchgrevink himself, five scientists, a medical officer, a cook/general assistant and two dog drivers. Of this party, five were Norwegians, two were Englishmen, one was Australian and two, the dog experts, were Samis from Northern Norway, sometimes described in expedition accounts as Lapps or "Finns".

Among the scientists was the Tasmanian Louis Bernacchi, who had studied magnetism and meteorology at the Melbourne Observatory. He had been appointed to the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, 1897–09, but had been unable to take up his post. Bernacchi then travelled to London, on the chance of a place on Borchgrevink's scientific staff. His chronicle of the Southern Cross Expedition, which was published in 1901, was critical of aspects of Borchgrevink's leadership, but defensive of the expedition's scientific achievements. Just over a year after his return, Bernacchi went back to Antarctica as physicist on Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition. Another who was to see further service during the Discovery Expedition was the Englishman William Colbeck, an experienced seaman who held a lieutenant's commission in the Royal Naval Reserve. As preparation for the Southern Cross Expedition he had taken a course in magnetism at Kew Observatory. In 1902–04 he was in command of Discovery's relief ship Morning.

Borchgrevink's assistant zoologist was Hugh Blackwell Evans, a vicar's son from Bristol, who had spent three years on a cattle ranch in Canada and had also been on a sealing voyage to the Kerguelen Islands. The chief zoologist was Nikolai Hansen, a graduate from the University of Christiana. Hansen died during the expedition, leaving a wife and baby daughter born after he left for the Antarctic. Also in the shore party was Herlof Klovstad, the expedition's medical officer, whose previous appointment had been to a lunatic asylum in Bergen. Klovstad died shortly after his return from the Antarctic. The others were Anton Fougner, scientific assistant and general handyman, Kolbein Ellifsen, cook and general assistant, and the two Sami dog-handlers, Per Savio and Ole Must. Savio and Must, at 21 and 20 years of age respectively, were the youngest of the party. Borchgrevink later described Savio as "well-known for his faithful character, hardihood and intelligence".

Voyage

Cape Adare

Southern Cross left London for Hobart, Tasmania, on 23 August 1898, after inspection by HRH the Duke of York, who presented a Union Flag. As well as the ship's and shore parties, she carried Siberian sledge dogs, the first to be used in an Antarctic expedition. After final provisioning in Hobart, she sailed for the Antarctic on 19 December. The Antarctic Circle was crossed on 23 January 1899, after which the ship was caught in the ice, emerging three weeks later. Cape Adare was sighted on 16 February, and the following day Southern Cross was anchored off-shore.

The Adelie penguin rookery at Cape Adare

Cape Adare had been discovered by James Clark Ross during his 1839–43 expedition. It lies at the end of a long promontory; below the Cape is a large triangular shingle foreshore, where Bull and Borchgrevink had made their brief landing in 1895. This foreshore is the site of the largest Adelie penguin rookery on the entire continent, but, as Borchgrevink had remarked in 1895, "On this particular spot, there is ample room for houses, tents and provisions". He was also aware that the abundance of penguins would provide both a winter larder and a fuel source.

Unloading began on 17 February. First ashore were the dogs, 75 in number, with their two Sami handlers, who remained with them and thus became the first men to spend a night on the Antarctic continent. During the next twelve days the rest of the equipment and supplies were landed, and two prefabricated huts were erected, one as living quarters and the other for storage. These were the first buildings erected on the continent. A third structure was contrived from spare materials, to serve as a magetic observation hut. The "living hut" was small to serve as accommodation for ten men, and seemingly precarious—Bernacchi later described it as "fifteen feet square, lashed down by cables to the rocky shore". The dogs were housed in kennels fashioned from packing cases. By 2 March the base, christened "Camp Ridley" after Borchgrevink's English mother's maiden name, was fully established, and the Duke of York's flag raised. That day, Southern Cross departed for Australia, where it was to spend the winter.

Inside the living hut were two small ante-rooms, one used as a photographic dark room, the other for taxidermy. Within the main accommodation area daylight was admitted via a double-glazed and shuttered window and through a small window high on the northern wall. Bunks were fitted around the outer walls, and a table and stove dominated the centre of the hut. During the few brief weeks before winter set in, members of the party made trial sledging journeys on the sea ice in nearby Robertson Bay, surveying the coast and collecting specimens of birds and fish. They also slaughtered seals and penguins for food and fuel. Outside activities were largely curtailed by the onset of severe winter weather, in mid-May.

Antarctic winter

A drawing by Kolbein Ellefsen, the expedition's cook, on the wall of the Cape Adare hut, above his bed

As the winter season took hold, the party was increasingly confined to their cramped living quarters. This proved to be a difficult time; Bernacchi wrote of increasing boredom and irritation: "Officers and men, ten of us in all, found tempers wearing thin". During this period of tension and confinement, Borchegrevink's qualities as a commander were found wanting; he was, wrote Bernacchi, "in many respects...not a good leader". Polar historian Ranulph Fiennes writes that in conditions of "democratic anarchy", dirt, disorder and inactivity were the order of the day.

Borchgrevink was not a trained scientist, and his incompetence with equipment and inability to make simple observations were reportedly of great concern to the some of the party. However, a programme of scientific observations was maintained, exercise was taken outside the hut when the weather permitted, and as a further diversion Savio improvised a sauna in the snowdrifts alongside the hut. A concert was arranged, including lantern slides, songs and readings. During this time there were two near-fatal incidents; in the first, a candle left burning beside a bunk set fire to the hut and caused extensive damage. In the second, three of the party were nearly asphyxiated by coal fumes as they slept.

Winter 1899: Colbeck, Bernacchi and Evans skinning a seal

As winter began, the party was well-supplied with a variety of basic foodstuffs—butter, tea and coffee, herrings, sardines, cheeses, soup, tinned tripe, plum pudding, dry potatoes and vegetables. However, there were soon complaints about the lack of luxuries, Colbeck noting that "all the tinned fruits supplied for the land party were either eaten on the passage or left on board for the crew". There was also a shortage of tobacco, in spite of an intended provision of half a ton (500 kg.). Only a quantity of chewing tobacco was landed.

The zoologist, Nikolai Hansen, had fallen ill during the winter. On 14 October he died, apparently of an intestinal disorder, and became the first person to be buried on the Antarctic continent. The grave was dynamited from the frozen ground at the summit of the Cape. Bernacchi wrote: "There amidst profound silence and peace, there is nothing to disturb that eternal sleep except the flight of seabirds".

As winter gave way to spring, the party prepared for more ambitious inland journeys, using the dogs and sledges. Their chosen location was cut off from the continent's interior by high mountain ranges, and journeys along the coastline were frustrated by unsafe sea ice. These factors severely restricted the extent of their exploration, which was largely confined to the vicinity of Robertson Bay. Here, a small island was discovered, which was called Duke of York Island, after the expedition's patron. A few years later this discovery was derided by members of the Discovery Expedition, who claimed that the island "did not exist", but its position has since been confirmed at 71°38'S, 170°04'E.

Ross Sea exploration

Southern Cross returned to Cape Adare from Australia on 28 January 1900. Borchgrevink began the process of dismantling the camp and transferring its supplies to the ship, but apparently abandoned this idea after a few days, boarded the ship, and on 2 February sailed south into the Ross Sea. Evidence of a hasty and disorderly departure from Cape Adare was noted two years later, when the site was visited by members of the Discovery Expedition, after which Edward Wilson wrote; "...heaps of refuse all around, and a mountain of provision boxes, dead birds, seals, dogs, sledging gear [...] and heaven knows what else".

The edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, or "Great Ice Barrier", where Borchgrevink landed in 1900 to set a new Farthest South record

The first port of call in the Ross Sea was Possession Island, where a tin box left by Borchgrevink and Bull on the 1895 expedition was recovered. They then proceeded southwards, following the Victoria Land coast, discovering further islands, one of which Borchgrevink named after Sir Clements Markham, whose hostility towards the expedition was unchanged by this honour. Southern Cross then sailed on to Ross Island, observed the volcano Mount Erebus, and attempted a landing at Cape Crozier, at the foot of Mount Terror. Here, Borchgrevink and Captain Jensen were almost drowned by a tidal wave caused by a "calving" or breakaway of ice from the adjacent Great Ice Barrier. Following the path of James Clark Ross sixty years previously, they proceeded eastwards along the Barrier edge, to find the inlet where, in 1843, Ross had reached his farthest south. Observations indicated that the Barrier had moved some 30 miles south since Ross's time, which meant that they were already south of Ross's record. However, Borchgrevink wished to make a landing on the Barrier itself. In the vicinity of Ross's inlet he found a spot where the ice sloped down to the sea surface. On 16 February he, Colbeck and Savio landed with dogs and a sledge, and journeyed a few miles south to a point which they calculated as 78°50'S, a new Farthest South record. They were the first persons to travel on the Barrier surface, earning Amundsen's acknowledgement that they had opened the route to the south. Indeed, close to that very spot ten years later, Amundsen would establish his base camp "Framheim", prior to his successful South Pole journey.

On the way northward, Southern Cross halted at Franklin Island, off the Victoria Land coast, and made a series of magnetic calculations. These indicated that the location of the South Magnetic Pole was, as expected, within Victoria Land, but further north and further west than had previously been assumed. They then sailed for home, crossing the Antarctic Circle on 28 February. On 1 April, news of their safe return was sent by telegram from Bluff, New Zealand.

Aftermath

Mount Melbourne, on Victoria Land, at the foot of which Borchgrevink discovered "an excellent camping place"

Southern Cross returned to England in June 1900, to a cool welcome. In geographical circles there was still resentment at Borchgrevink's coup in obtaining the backing of Newnes, but public attention was, in any event, distracted by the preparations for Captain Scott's upcoming Discovery Expedition, due to sail the following year. Borchgrevink, meantime, pronounced his voyage a great success, stating: "The Antarctic regions might be another Klondyke" – in terms of the prospects for fishing, sealing, and mineral extraction. He had proved that it was possible for a resident expedition to survive an Antarctic winter, and had made a series of geographical discoveries. These included the new islands in Robertson's Bay and the Ross Sea, and the first landings on Franklin Island, Coulman Island, Ross Island and the Great Ice Barrier. The survey of the Victoria Land coast had revealed the "important geographical discovery [...] of the Southern Cross Fjord, as well as the excellent camping place at the foot of Mount Melbourne". The most significant exploration achievement was the scaling of the Great Ice Barrier and the journey to "the furthest south ever reached by man".

Borchgrevink's account of the expedition, First on the Antarctic Continent was published the following year; the English edition, much of which may have been embroidered by Newnes's journalists, was criticised for its "journalistic" style and for its bragging tone. The author, "not known for either his modesty or his tact", embarked on a lecture tour of England and Scotland, but the reception was generally poor, perhaps due to his blunt manner and abrupt speech.

Although, as Hugh Robert Mill pointed out, the scientific results were not as great as expected, and were depleted by the unexplained loss of many of Hanson's natural history notes, there were important findings. The meteorological and magnetic conditions of Victoria Land had been recorded for a full year; the location of the South Magnetic Pole had been calculated (though not visited); samples of the continent's natural fauna and flora, and of its geology, had been collected. Borchgrevink also claimed the discovery of new insect and shallow-water fauna species, proving "bi-polarity" (existence of species in proximity to North and South poles).

Borchgrevink eventually received recognition from the geographical establishments in Britain and abroad. The Royal Geographical Society gave him a fellowship, and other medals and honours followed from Norway, Denmark and the United States. However, the expedition's achievements were not widely recognised, perhaps in part due to Markham's relentless attacks on Borchgrevink, who he described as cunning and unprincipled. Scott's biographer David Crane surmises that if Borchgrevink had been a British naval officer, his expedition would have been treated differently in Britain, but "a Norwegian seaman/schoolmaster was never going to be taken seriously". A belated recognition came in 1930, long after Markham's death, when the Royal Geographical Society, presenting Borchgrevink with its Patron's medal, finally admitted that "justice had not been done at the time to the pioneer work of the Southern Cross expedition", and that the magnitude of the difficulties it had overcome had been underestimated.

Sources

• Amundsen, Roald (1976). The South Pole: Vol. I. London: C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 0-903983-47-8.
• Borchgrevink, Carstens (1901). "First on the Antarctic Continent". George Newnes Ltd. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
• Crane, David (2005). Scott of the Antarctic. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-715068-7.
• Fiennes, Ranulph (2003). Captain Scott. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-82697-5.
• Harrowfield, David. "The Southern Cross Expedition". www.anta.canterbury.ac.nz. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
• Huxley, Elspeth (1977). Scott of the Antarctic. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77433-6.
• Jones, Max (2003). The Last Great Quest. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280483-9.
• Paine, Lincoln P. (2000). Ships of Discovery and Explanation. Boston: Mariner Books. ISBN 0-39-598415-7.
• Preston, Diana (1997). A First Rate Tragedy. London: Constable & Co. ISBN 0-09-479530-4.
• Riffenburgh, Beau (2004). Nimrod. London: Bloomsbury Publications. ISBN 0-7475-7253-4.
• Stonehouse, B. (ed) (2002). Encyclopaedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans. New York: John Wiley. ISBN 0-471-986-658. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Wilson, Edward A. (1973). Diary of the Discovery Expedition. London: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-0431-4.
• "Borchgrevink, Carsten Egeberg (1864–1934)". Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
• "Norway's Forgotten Explorer". Antarctic Heritage Trust. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
• "An Antarctic Timeline". www.south-pole.com. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
• "Antarctic Explorers – Carsten Borchgrevink". www.south-pole.com. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
• "The Forgotten Expedition". Antarctic Heritage Trust. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
• "Ships of the Polar Explorers". Cool Antarctica. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
• "USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)". United States Geographic Survey. Retrieved 2008-08-18.

External links

• Borchgevink, Christopher Hawkins (2004). "Carsten Egeborg Borchgrevink (1864-1934) – Polar Explorer" (PDF). Borchgrevink Family Book. Retrieved 2008-08-10.