Tag

Antarctic history

Mikhail Lazarev

By Polar Explorers
MIKHAIL LAZAREV (1788 – 1851) Mikhail Lazarev was a Russian naval officer and explorer. Lazarev took part in the discovery of Antarctica and numerous islands, as a commander of the ship Mirnyi and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen's deputy, on the 1819–1821 Russian naval expedition. The expedition circumnavigated Antarctica; was the…
Read More

Sir Douglas Mawson

By Polar Explorers
SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON (1882–1928) Douglas Mawson is one of Australia’s best-known Antarctic explorers. Born in England but raised in Australia, he gained degrees in mining engineering and geology and became a lecturer in minerology and petrology at the University of Adelaide in 1906. He explored particularly hostile regions of East…
Read More

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz

By Polar Explorers
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885-1966) Chester William Nimitz, Sr. was a fleet admiral of the United States Navy. As Chief of Naval Operations 1945-47, Nimitz was instrumental in the approval and deployment of the Operation Highjump, the largest Antarctic expedition ever organized. Naval Career and World War II Nimitz was…
Read More

Nils Otto Nordenskjöld

By Polar Explorers
Otto Nordenskjöld, a Swedish geologist and academic, came from a prominent family of scientists, explorers and humanitarians. He was one of the first geographers with a scholarly background to explore and research in Antarctica.
Read More

Captain Lawrence “Titus” Oates

By Polar Explorers
Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates (1880 – 1912) Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who accompanied Captain Robert Scott to the South Pole during the Terra Nova Expedition. On the return journey Oates, afflicted with gangrene and frostbite, walked from his tent into…
Read More
A sepia-toned portrait of a man in a formal military uniform with epaulettes, medals, and a high collar. He has short hair and a serious expression, facing slightly to the right—evoking early Antarctic explorers bound for the South Pole.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott

By Polar Explorers, Polar History
CAPTAIN ROBERT FALCON SCOTT, CVO, RN (1868 –1912) Robert F. Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). On the first Antarctic expedition, Scott set a new southern record by…
Read More
A sepia-toned portrait of a serious-looking man in a suit and tie with slicked-back hair; signed Ernest H. Shackleton Oct 1909 in black ink, evoking his legendary South Pole expeditions to Antarctica.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

By Polar Explorers, Polar History
Ernest Shackleton was one of the most celebrated explorers of the Heroic Age. He led the 1907-09 Nimrod Antarctic expedition, which pioneered a route to the South Pole and reached latitude 88° 23'. His return to Antarctica in 1914 was intended to achieve the first trans-Antarctic crossing, but instead resulted…
Read More

Captain Frank Worsley

By Polar Explorers
Captain Frank Arthur Worsley (1872-1943) New Zealander Frank Worsley captained the Endurance during Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. He is best remembered for navigating the expedition party to safety after the Endurance was crushed by ice floes in the Weddell Sea. Worsley also took part in Shackleton's final expedition…
Read More