The four most
important Antarctic explorers were probably Roald
Amundsen, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott,
and Richard E. Byrd.
In December 1911, the first trip
to the South Pole was held. It was held by a Norwegian
scientist, Roald Amundsen, who lived from 1872 to
1928. He was the first person to make it back all the
way to his home. Other scientists could not make it
back, and would die on their way either back to their
ship or on their way back to their homes. It was
surprising to all the people that he made it back. For
more information on Amundsen, go to the
Roald
Amundsen
Linkpage.
The next explorer, Robert Falcon
Scott, and Roald Amundsen were racing to the south
pole. Their teams started at different points and got
there at different times. The first one to get there
was Amundsen, and five weeks later, Scott got there.
Scott's team died on there way back to their ship
because they were wearing wool instead of heavy down
parkas. Amundsen's team wore heavy down parkas and
made it back to their homes. It was a very long and
difficult journey, and it took them almost two years
to do it. They were traveling by foot, on sled, and in
their ships for over 2000 miles!
In 1911, a British trip was led
by Robert Falcon Scott. He reached the South Pole five
weeks after Amundsen. Instead of using regular
materials, like down parkas and other Antarctic winter
equipment, they used wool. Wool is not a very heavy
material. When Scott and his crew were leaving and
hiking back to their ship, wearing wool, they stopped
for a break about a mile from their ship. It was so
cold that they froze to death. Scott was born in 1868
and died in 1912, the year after he came
there.
Another very famous explorer was
Richard E. Byrd. He lived from 1868 to 1957. He was
the first person to accomplish a flight over
Antarctica as an American explorer. After he
accomplished that goal, he worked as a United States
naval officer. There is a part of Antarctica named
after his wife, Marie Byrd, though the place is called
"Marie Byrd Land."
Probably the most famous
explorer of them all is Sir Ernest Shackleton. He was
born on February 17, 1874, and died on January 25,
1922, on South Georgia Island. When he went to
Antarctica for the first time in 1901-1902 with Robert
Falcon Scott (see above), almost no one had gone there
before. He made another trip to Antarctica in
1907-1909.
In 1914, he organized a third
trip to Antarctica. His ship was called the
Endurance. It got stuck in the ice in
1915, which forced Shackleton and his crew to abandon
the ship. Finally, he organized three teams to go in
the three rowboats. In order to rescue his crew,
Shackleton rowed 800 miles to South Georgia Island and
got help there. He managed to get every person on his
crew back safely to England.
For more information on
Explorers, visit a ThinkQuest site made in 1998 by
other kids at Sherwood Elementary School. The site is
called Explorers
of the Millenium.
Also visit TerraQuest.com
for more info on explorers.
Take a picture
walk with the
explorers!
