User:Liam2520/Sandbox VI
![]() | This user page or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this user page has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This page was last edited by MSGJ (talk | contribs) 18 months ago. (Update timer) |
![]() | This user page is actively undergoing a major edit for a little while. To help avoid edit conflicts, please do not edit this page while this message is displayed. This page was last edited at 14:34, 8 February 2023 (UTC) (18 months ago) – this estimate is cached, . Please remove this template if this page hasn't been edited for a significant time. If you are the editor who added this template, please be sure to remove it or replace it with {{Under construction}} between editing sessions. |
![]() | This page is currently being created It is a new Wikipedia article developing through collaboration and successive edits.To help avoid edit conflicts and other confusion, the creator asks that for a short time this page not be edited unnecessarily, or nominated for deletion during this early stage of development.
|
![]() | This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
The British Trans-Arctic Expedition was a 1968–1969 3,800-mile surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean, from Alaska to Spitsbergen via the geographic North Pole achieved by the four man crew lead by Sir Wally Herbert. This journey was the first time the Arctic Ocean had been crossed solely on surface travel. If Robert Peary's claims on reaching the North Pole in 1909 are false, as most now believe, Herbert and his team are also the first men in history to reach the North Pole by surface travel.
The four-men team spent 476 days on the sea ice in total, using 40 sledge dogs to travel over over 3,700 miles. The North pole was reached on 6 April 1969 after 407 days on arctic ice.
Background
[edit]Expedition Team/Crew?/Personnel?
[edit]- Wally Herbert –
- Allan Gill –
- Roy "Fritz" Koerner –
- Kenneth Hedges –
Expedition
[edit]Parts of Expedition:
First leg to camp
[edit]Winter stay
[edit]Journey to the pole
[edit]On the morning of 5 April 1969, Herbert dead-reckoned that the team had reached 89°59'N, barley a mile from the pole. Presumptively, Herbert sent a message in Morse code to the Queen:
I have the honour to inform Your Majesty that today, 5 April, at 0700 hrs Greenwich Mean Time, the British Trans-Arctic Expedition by dead reckoning reached the North Pole 407 days after setting out from Point Barrow, Alaska. My companions of the crossing party, Allan Gill, Major Kenneth Hedges, RAMC, and Dr Roy [Fritz] Koerner, together with Squadron Leader Church, RAF, our radio relay officer at Point Barrow, are in good health and spirits and hopeful that by forced marches and a measure of good fortune the Expedition will reach Spitsbergen by Midsummer's Day of this year, thus concluding in the name of our Country the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean.
When Gill performed the official measurements, he found out that the crew were actually about seven miles away from the pole. The four of them packed up, and by 9 a.m. ventured north to the pole. The crew travelled at about a mile every four hours, and by stopped to take observations at 0345 GMT on 6 April 1969, which put them at 89°59'N, on longitude 180°. This meant they had passed the north pole about a mile behind their tracks. Herbert described trying to find the north pole like trying to "step on the shadow of a bird that hovering overhead". The crew set up to take some pictures, and a few hours later they set course for the island of Spitsbergen along the Greenwich Meridian.
Later that day, as Herbert rested in his tent, Koerner's tent caught fire, some possessions and clothing was damaged. The crew received a return message from the Queen:
I send my warmest congratulations to you and the other members of The British Trans-Arctic Expedition on reaching the North Pole. My husband and I are delighted that you are well and wish you the best of luck for the rest of your journey.
And one from the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson:
Yours is a feat of endurance and courage which ranks with any in polar history. My colleagues and I send you heartfelt congratulations and our best wishes for a safe and triumphant completion of your journey.
Return to Spitsbergen
[edit]By 6 April, the team had but 60 days to cover a distance 600 nautical miles (((convert))) if they wanted to make it to Spitsbergen in time.
On 26 May 1969[1]
Gallery
[edit]If I can find enough free images...
Reception and Legacy
[edit]Reception at home?
Documentary?
Coincide with the moon landing?
Publicity - newspapers
~
Wally Herbert's pocket sextant used on the expedition was sold at Christie's in 2010 for £4,375.[2]
See also
[edit]- Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition – The first surface crossing of the Antarctic continent.
Sources
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Herbert, Wally; Koerner, Roy M. (1970). "The First Surface Crossing of the Arctic Ocean". The Geographical Journal. 136 (4): 511–533. doi:10.2307/1796181. ISSN 0016-7398.
- ^ "THE BRITISH TRANS-ARCTIC EXPEDITION, 1968-69". www.christies.com. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Across the Top of the World - BBC TV Documentary, 1969
- The First Surface Crossing of the Arctic Ocean in the The Geographical Journal by Wally Herbert and Roy M. Koerner (1970).
External links
[edit][[Category:British Trans-Arctic Expedition]] [[Category:1968 in science]] [[Category:1969 in science]] [[Category:Exploration of the Arctic]] [[Category:Arctic expeditions]] [[Category:Exploration of the Arctic]] [[Category:20th century in the Arctic]] [[Category:1960s in Alaska]] [[Category:1968 in Alaska]] [[Category:1969 in Alaska]] [[Category:North Pole]] [[Category:Geography of the Arctic]] [[Category:Arctic expeditions]] [[Category:Exploration of the Arctic]] [[Category:Polar exploration]] [[Category:Expeditions from the United States]]