-
Captian James Cook
Captain James Cook and his crew were the first people to cross the Atarctic circle, although they never saw Antarctica itself. -
James Weddell
British seal hunter, James Weddell sailed futher south than anyone had ever gone before - 345 kilometres further south Cooks expedition fifty years before. The waters that he reached are now called the Weddell Sea. -
Sir James Clark Ross
Following orders to discover the south magnetic pole, British Royal Navy Commander, Sir James Clark Ross, Reached the sea now named after him. He also discovered the Ross Island, Mount Erebus ( named after the Ross ship) and the Ross Ice Shelf. -
Norwegian Carstens Borchgrevink
Norwegian Carstens Borchgrevink set sail from tasmania, southern Australia to lead the British Antarctic Expedition even though there were only three British members of the crew. They were the first group to spend winter on the Antarctic mainland. They were also the first to use teams of dogs to transport them across the ice. -
Otto Nordenskjold
A Swedish geologist, Otto Nordenskjold, and five other men undertook the first exploration by sledge. Nordenskjold's team covered 650 km but in the meantime their ship was crushed and written off by ice. They spent two winters stranded on Antarctica before rescued by an Argentinian ship in 1903 -
Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton had another go at reaching the South Pole, this time accompanied by Frank Wild, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams. Although they got further than Scott's team illness and hunger forced them to give up just 180 km from their destination -
Lieutenant Nobu Shirase
Lieutenant Nobu Shirase led the first Japanese Expedition to Antarctica. They got as far as Coulman Island before heavy storms and treacherous ice in the water forced them to abandon their expedition. -
Norwegian Roald Amundsen
Norwegian Roald Amundsen and four other men were the first to reach the South Pole thanks to a new route that only took them 57 days. Amundsen planted a Norwegian flag and wrote two letters- one for the Kingof Norway, and one for the British Antarctic Expedition team led by Robert F. Scott. -
Robert F. Scott
Robert F. Scott, Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton set off for the South Pole. They covered 5,000 km but snow blindness and illness forced them to give up after two months. -
Robert F. Scott, Edward Wilson,Edgar Evans and Lawrence Oates
Robert F. Scott, Edward Wilson,Edgar Evans and Lawrence Oates finally reached the South Pole only to discover that the Norwegian, Amundsen had got there 33 days earlier. Scott and his companions all died on their return journey. -
Ernest Shackleton
Ernset Shackleton led a team that intended to be the rirst to cross Antarctica from coast to coast by sledge. But their ship, 'Endurance', was crushed by ice and snak in the Weddell Sea. -
Douglas Mawson
With Australian explorer, Douglas Mawson in charge, the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition established a base on Antarctica.
