Carstens Borchgrevink
Encyclopedia
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1 December 1864 – 21 April 1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar
explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel. He was the precursor of Robert Falcon Scott
, Ernest Shackleton
, Roald Amundsen
and other more famous names associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
. He began his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, from which he brought back a collection of the first specimens of vegetable life within the Antarctic Circle.
In 1898–1900 Borchgrevink led the British-financed Southern Cross Expedition
, which in 1899 became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier
since the expedition of Sir James Ross
nearly sixty years previously. Borchgrevink landed on the Barrier with two companions and made the first sledge journey on its surface, setting a new Farthest South
record at 78°50'S. On its return to England, notwithstanding its array of "firsts", the expedition was received with only moderate interest by the public and by the British geographical establishment, whose attention was fixed on Scott's upcoming National Antarctic Expedition
. Borchgrevink's colleagues were critical of his leadership, and his own accounts of the expedition were regarded as journalistic and unreliable.
After the Southern Cross Expedition, Borchgrevink was one of three scientists sent to the Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society
, to report on the aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster. Thereafter he settled in Oslo
, leading a life mainly away from public attention. His pioneering work was subsequently recognised and honoured by several countries, and in 1912 he received a handsome tribute from Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole. In 1930 Britain's Royal Geographical Society
finally acknowledged Borchgrevink's contribution to polar exploration and awarded him its Patron's Medal. The Society admitted in its citation that justice had not previously been done to his work with the Southern Cross Expedition.
, the son of a Norwegian lawyer, nobleman Henrik Christian Borchgrevink, and an English mother Annie, née Ridley. The family lived in the Uranienborg
neighbourhood, where Roald Amundsen, an occasional childhood playmate, also grew up. Borchgrevink was educated at Gjerstsen College, Oslo, and later (1885–88) at the Royal Forestry School at Tharandt
, Saxony, in Germany.
According to historian Roland Huntford
, Borchgrevink was of a restless nature, with a passion for adventure which took him, after his forestry training, to Australia. For four years he worked with government surveying teams in Queensland
and New South Wales
before settling in the small town of Bowenfels
, where he became a teacher in languages and natural sciences at Cooerwull Academy
. His initial interest in polar exploration developed from reading press reports about the work of local scientists on the first Australian Antarctic Exploration Committee. This organisation, founded in 1886, was investigating the establishment of permanent scientific research stations in the Antarctic regions. These plans were not realised; it was a revival of interest in commercial whaling in the early 1890s that gave Borchgrevink the opportunity, in 1894, to sign up for a Norwegian expedition to Antarctica.
, a Norwegian businessman and entrepreneur who, like Borchgrevink, had settled in Australia in the late 1880s. Bull planned to make a sealing and whaling voyage into Antarctic waters. After failing to interest Melbourne's learned societies in a cost-sharing venture of a commercial–scientific nature, he returned to Norway to organise his expedition there. He met Svend Foyn
, the 84-year-old "father of modern whaling" and inventor of the harpoon gun. With Foyn's help he acquired the whaler Kap Nor ("North Cape"), which he renamed Antarctic
. Bull hired an experienced whaling captain, Leonard Kristensen, and with a crew and a small scientific team left Norway in September 1893. When Borchgrevink learned that Antarctic was due to visit Melbourne in September 1894, he hurried there hoping to find a vacancy. He was fortunate; William Speirs Bruce
, later an Antarctic expedition leader in his own right, had intended to join Bull's expedition as a natural scientist but could not reach the ship before it left Norway. This created an opening for Borchgrevink, who met Bull in Melbourne and persuaded him to take him on as a deck-hand and part-time scientist.
During the following months, Antarctic's sealing activities around the sub-Antarctic islands were successful, but whales proved difficult to find. Bull and Kristensen decided to take the ship further south, to areas where the presence of whales had been reported by earlier expeditions. The ship penetrated a belt of pack ice and sailed into the Ross Sea
, but whales were still elusive. On 17 January 1895 a landing was made at Possession Island, where Sir James Clark Ross had planted the British flag in 1841. Bull and Borchgrevink left a message in a canister there, as future proof of their presence. On the island Borchgrevink found a lichen
, the first plant life discovered south of the Antarctic Circle. On 24 January the ship reached the vicinity of Cape Adare
, at the northern extremity of the Victoria Land
coastline of the Antarctic mainland. Ross's 1841 expedition been unable to land here, but as Antarctic neared the cape, conditions were calm enough for a boat to be lowered. A party including Bull, Kristensen, Borchgrevink and others then headed for a shingled foreshore
below the cape. Exactly who went ashore first became a matter of dispute, with both Kristensen and Borchgrevink contending for the honour along with a 17-year-old New Zealand seaman, Alexander von Tunzelmann
, who said that he had "leapt out to hold the boat steady". The party claimed this as the first landing on the Antarctic mainland, although they may have been preceded by the American whaling captain John Davis, on the Antarctic Peninsula
in 1821, or by other whaling expeditions.
While ashore at Cape Adare, Borchgrevink collected further specimens of rocks and lichens, the latter of which would prove of great interest to the scientific community, which had doubted the ability of vegetation to survive so far south. He also made a careful study of the foreshore, assessing its potential as a site where a future expedition might land and establish winter quarters. When Antarctic reached Melbourne, Bull and Borchgrevink left the ship. Each hoped to raise funds for a further Antarctic expedition, but their efforts were unsuccessful. An animosity developed between them, possibly because of their differing accounts of the voyage on the Antarctic; each emphasised his own role without fully acknowledging that of the other.
, the Royal Geographical Society's librarian, who was present at the Congress, reported reactions to the speech: "His blunt manner and abrupt speech stirred the academic discussions with a fresh breeze of realism. Nobody liked Borchgrevink very much at that time, but he had a dynamic quality and a set purpose to get out again to the unknown South that struck some of us as boding well for exploration". The Congress did not, however, endorse Borchgrevink's ideas, instead passing a general resolution in support of Antarctic exploration, proposing that "the various scientific societies throughout the world should urge, in whatever way seems to them most effective, that this work be undertaken before the close of the century".
For the next two years Borchgrevink travelled in Europe and in Australia, seeking support and backing for his expedition ideas without success. One of those with whom he sought to join forces was William Speirs Bruce, who was planning his own Antarctic expedition. Their joint plans foundered when Borchgrevink, who had severed relations with Henryk Bull, learned that Bruce was in discussions with him; "I regret therefore that we cannot collaborate", wrote Borchgrevink to Bruce. He also discovered that the Royal Geographical Society had been harbouring its own plans for an Antarctic expedition since 1893. Under the influence of its president, Sir Clements Markham
, this RGS project was envisaged not only as a scientific endeavour, but as an attempt to relive the former glories of Royal Naval polar exploration. This would eventually develop into the National Antarctic Expedition, under Captain Scott, and it was these plans that attracted the interest of the learned societies rather than Borchgrevink's more modest proposals. Markham was fiercely opposed to private ventures that might divert financial support from his project, and Borchgrevink found himself starved of practical help: "It was up a steep hill", he wrote, "that I had to roll my Antarctic boulder."
, a leading British magazine publisher and cinema pioneer whose portfolio included the Westminster Gazette
, Tit-Bits
, Country Life
and the Strand Magazine
. It was not unusual for publishers to support exploration—Newnes's great rival Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) had recently financed Frederick Jackson
's expedition to Franz Josef Land
, and had pledged financial backing to the National Antarctic Expedition. Newnes was sufficiently impressed by Borchgrevink to offer the full costs of his proposed expedition—around £40,000, (at least £3 million in 2008 values). This generosity infuriated Sir Clements Markham and the geographical establishment, who saw Borchgrevink as a penniless Norwegian nobody who had secured British money which they believed ought to have been theirs. Markham maintained an attitude of hostility and contempt towards Borchgrevink, and chastised Mill for attending the launch of his expedition.
Newnes stipulated that the expedition should sail under a British flag, and should be styled the "British Antarctic Expedition". In the event, of the total party of 29, only two were British, with one Australian and the rest Norwegian. Despite this, Borchgrevink would attempt to emphasise the expedition's British character, flying the personal flag of the Duke of York
and taking 500 bamboo poles with miniature Union Jacks for, as he put it, "purpose of survey and extension of the British Empire".
With funding assured, Borchgrevink purchased the whaling ship Pollux, renamed her Southern Cross
, and had her fitted out for Antarctic service. Southern Cross sailed from London on 22 August 1898, and after a three-week pause in Hobart
, Tasmania, reached Cape Adare on 17 February 1899. Here, on the site which Borchgrevink had described to the Congress, the expedition set up the first ever shore base on the Antarctic continent—in the midst of a penguin colony. It was named "Camp Ridley" in honour of Borchgrevink's mother. On 2 March the ship departed for New Zealand to winter there, leaving a shore party of 10 with their provisions, equipment and 70 dogs. These were the first dogs brought to the Antarctic; likewise, the expedition pioneered the use there of the Primus stove
, invented in Sweden six years earlier. Dogs and the Primus would be staples of every Antarctic expedition that followed during the Heroic Age.
Louis Bernacchi
, the party's Australian physicist, was later to write: "In many respects, Borchgrevink was not a good leader". Borchgrevink was evidently no autocrat, but without the framework of an accepted hierarchy, according to Bernacchi a state of "democratic anarchy" prevailed, with "dirt, disorder and inactivity the order of the day". Furthermore, as winter developed, Borchgrevink's hopes that Cape Adare would escape the worst Antarctic weather proved false; in fact he had chosen a site which was particularly exposed to the freezing winds blown northwards from the inland ice. As time progressed, tempers wore thin; the party became irritable and boredom set in. There were accidents: a candle left burning caused extensive fire damage, and on another occasion several members of the party were almost asphyxiated by fumes from the stove. Borchgrevink did attempt to establish a routine, and scientific work was carried on throughout, but as he wrote himself, referring to the general lack of fellowship: "The silence roars in one's ears". Further dampenening morale, the group's zoologist, Nicolai Hansen
, fell ill, failed to respond to treatment, and died on 14 October.
When winter ended and sledging activity became possible, Borchgrevink's assumptions about an easy route to the interior proved false; the glaciated mountain ranges adjoining Cape Adare precluded any travel inland, restricting exploration to the immediate area around the cape. However, Borchgrevink's basic expedition plan—to overwinter on the Antarctic continent and carry out scientific observations there—had been achieved. When Southern Cross returned at the end of January 1900, Borchgrevink decided to abandon the camp, although there were sufficient fuel and provisions left to last another year. Instead of returning home directly, Southern Cross sailed south until it reached the Great Ice Barrier
, discovered by Sir James Clark Ross during his 1839–43 voyage and later renamed in his honour. No one had visited the Barrier since then, and Ross had been unable to effect a landing. Borchgrevink discovered an inlet in the Barrier edge; in later years this would be named the "Bay of Whales" by Shackleton. Here, on 16 February 1900, Borchgrevink, William Colbeck
and the Sami
dog-handler Per Savio made the first ascent of the Barrier and, with dogs and sledges, travelled 10 miles (16 km) south to set a new Farthest South record at 78°50'S. Southern Cross visited other Ross Sea
islands before turning for home, reaching New Zealand on 1 April. Borchgrevink then took a steamer to England, arriving early in June.
Hailing his expedition as a great success, Borchgrevink spoke of "another Klondyke", an abundance of fish, seals and birds, and of "quartz, in which metals are to be seen". In his book he listed the expedition's main achievements: proof that an expedition could live on Victoria Land over winter; a year's continuous magnetic and meteorological observations; an estimate of the current position of the South Magnetic Pole; discoveries of new species of insects and shallow-water fauna; coastal mapping and the discovery of new islands; the first landing on Ross Island
and, finally, the scaling of the Great Ice Barrier and the sledging to 78°50'S, "the furthest south ever reached by man". However, in reality, the choice of the winter site at Cape Adare had ruled out any serious geographical exploration of the Antarctic interior. The scientific results were less than had been anticipated, due in part to the loss of some of Nikolai Hansen's natural history notes. Borchgrevink may have been responsible for this loss; he would later be involved in a dispute with Hansen's former employers, London's Natural History Museum
, over these missing notes and other specimens collected by Hansen.
During the years following his return Borchgrevink was honoured by the American Geographical Society
, and was made a Knight of St Olaf by his own sovereign, King Oscar II of Sweden. In 1929, the Parliament of Norway decided to give Borchgrevink a stipend
of 3,000 Norwegian krone
r. Later he received equivalent honours from Denmark and Austria, but in England his work was for many years largely disregarded, despite Mill's acknowledgement of "a dashing piece of pioneer work, useful in training men for later service". Historian David Crane suggests that if Borchgrevink had been a British naval officer, England would have taken his achievements more seriously.
(NGS) to report on the after-effects of the catastrophic eruptions of Mount Pelée
, on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique
. These eruptions, in May 1902, had destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre
, with enormous loss of life. Borchgrevink visited the island in June, when the main volcanic activity had subsided, and found the mountain "perfectly quiet", and the islanders recovered from their panic. However, he did not think that Saint-Pierre would ever be inhabited again. He reported a narrow escape when, at the foot of the mountain, a jet of steam came out of the ground over which he and his party had just passed: "If it had struck any one of us we would have been scalded to death". He later presented his report to the NGS in Washington.
Although he remained out of the limelight, Borchgrevink retained his interest in Antarctic matters, visiting Captain Scott shortly before the Terra Nova sailed on Scott's last Antarctic expedition in June 1910. When news of his fate reached the outside world, Borchgrevink paid tribute to Scott: "He was the first in the field with a finely organised expedition and the first who did systematic work on the great south polar continent". In a letter of condolence to John Scott Keltie, the Royal Geographical Society's secretary, Borchgrevink said of Scott: "He was a man!"
In Norway Borchgrevink divided opinion; Roald Amundsen was a long-time friend and supporter, whereas Fridtjof Nansen
, according to Scott, spoke of him as a "tremendous fraud". When Amundsen returned from his South Pole conquest in 1912 he paid full tribute to Borchgrevink's pioneering work: "We must acknowledge that in ascending the Barrier, Borchgrevink opened the way to the south and threw aside the greatest obstacle to the expeditions that followed".
During his remaining years Borchgrevink lived quietly. In 1930 came belated recognition from London—the Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Patron's Medal, proclaiming that the magnitude of the difficulties overcome by Borchgrevink had initially been underestimated: "It was only after the work of Scott's Northern Party [...] that we were able to realise the improbability that any explorer could do more in the Cape Adare district than Mr Borchgrevink had accomplished. It appeared, then, that justice had not been done at the time to the pioneer work of the Southern Cross expedition, which had been carried out under the British flag and at the expense of a British benefactor."
Carsten Borchgrevink died in Oslo on 21 April 1934. Despite his "somewhat obsessive desire to be first", and his limited formal scientific training, he has been acknowledged as a pioneer in Antarctic work and as a forerunner for later, more elaborate expeditions. A number of geographical features in Antarctica commemorate his name, including the Borchgrevink Coast of Victoria Land, between Cape Adare and Cape Washington
, the Borchgrevink Glacier
and Glacier Tongue in Victoria Land, and the Borchgrevinkisen glacier in Queen Maud Land
. His name is also carried by the small Antarctic fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki
. His expedition's accommodation hut still stands at Cape Adare, and is under the care of The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust
, which acts as guardian to this hut and to those of Scott and Shackleton elsewhere on the continent. The Borchgrevink hut was designated by the Trust as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 159 in 2002. In June 2005 the Trust adopted a management plan for its future maintenance and accessibility.
Geographical pole
A geographical pole is either of the two points—the north pole and the south pole—on the surface of a rotating planet where the axis of rotation meets the surface of the body...
explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel. He was the precursor of Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
, Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
, Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
and other more famous names associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration defines an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen...
. He began his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, from which he brought back a collection of the first specimens of vegetable life within the Antarctic Circle.
In 1898–1900 Borchgrevink led the British-financed Southern Cross Expedition
Southern Cross Expedition
The Southern Cross Expedition, officially known as the British Antarctic Expedition 1898–1900, was the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton...
, which in 1899 became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
since the expedition of Sir James Ross
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
nearly sixty years previously. Borchgrevink landed on the Barrier with two companions and made the first sledge journey on its surface, setting a new Farthest South
Farthest South
Farthest South was the term used to denote the most southerly latitudes reached by explorers before the conquest of the South Pole in 1911. Significant steps on the road to the pole were the discovery of lands south of Cape Horn in 1619, Captain James Cook's crossing of the Antarctic Circle in...
record at 78°50'S. On its return to England, notwithstanding its array of "firsts", the expedition was received with only moderate interest by the public and by the British geographical establishment, whose attention was fixed on Scott's upcoming National Antarctic Expedition
Discovery Expedition
The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier...
. Borchgrevink's colleagues were critical of his leadership, and his own accounts of the expedition were regarded as journalistic and unreliable.
After the Southern Cross Expedition, Borchgrevink was one of three scientists sent to the Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, to report on the aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster. Thereafter he settled in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, leading a life mainly away from public attention. His pioneering work was subsequently recognised and honoured by several countries, and in 1912 he received a handsome tribute from Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole. In 1930 Britain's Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
finally acknowledged Borchgrevink's contribution to polar exploration and awarded him its Patron's Medal. The Society admitted in its citation that justice had not previously been done to his work with the Southern Cross Expedition.
Early life
Carsten Borchgrevink was born in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, the son of a Norwegian lawyer, nobleman Henrik Christian Borchgrevink, and an English mother Annie, née Ridley. The family lived in the Uranienborg
Uranienborg, Norway
Uranienborg is a neighborhood in the borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway.-History:Originally a rural area in the former municipality Aker, it was incorporated into Christiania city in 1859. The property used to have a wonderful view, and it was therefore named after the famous observatory...
neighbourhood, where Roald Amundsen, an occasional childhood playmate, also grew up. Borchgrevink was educated at Gjerstsen College, Oslo, and later (1885–88) at the Royal Forestry School at Tharandt
Tharandt
Tharandt is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, 9 miles southwest of Dresden, on the Dresden-Reichenbach railway.It has a Protestant Church, a hydropathic establishment, and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded by Heinrich Cotta in 1811 together with its...
, Saxony, in Germany.
According to historian Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers. He lives in Cambridge, and was formerly Scandinavian correspondent of The Observer, also acting as their winter sports correspondent...
, Borchgrevink was of a restless nature, with a passion for adventure which took him, after his forestry training, to Australia. For four years he worked with government surveying teams in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
before settling in the small town of Bowenfels
Bowenfels, New South Wales
Bowenfels is a small town on the western outskirts of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia.-History:The town was founded in the 1830s to service travellers along the new road to Bathurst, which opened in 1832. The town was the first settlement in the valley and pre-dated Lithgow by 40 years...
, where he became a teacher in languages and natural sciences at Cooerwull Academy
Cooerwull Academy
The Cooerwull Academy was an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Bowenfels, a small town on the western outskirts of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia....
. His initial interest in polar exploration developed from reading press reports about the work of local scientists on the first Australian Antarctic Exploration Committee. This organisation, founded in 1886, was investigating the establishment of permanent scientific research stations in the Antarctic regions. These plans were not realised; it was a revival of interest in commercial whaling in the early 1890s that gave Borchgrevink the opportunity, in 1894, to sign up for a Norwegian expedition to Antarctica.
Whaling voyage
The expedition that Borchgrevink joined was organised by Henryk BullHenryk Bull
Henryk Bull was a Norwegian businessman and shipping magnate. Henry Bull was one of the pioneers in the exploration of Antarctica.-Biography:...
, a Norwegian businessman and entrepreneur who, like Borchgrevink, had settled in Australia in the late 1880s. Bull planned to make a sealing and whaling voyage into Antarctic waters. After failing to interest Melbourne's learned societies in a cost-sharing venture of a commercial–scientific nature, he returned to Norway to organise his expedition there. He met Svend Foyn
Svend Foyn
Svend Foyn was a Norwegian whaling and shipping magnate who pioneered revolutionary methods for hunting and processing whales. Svend Foyn introduced the modern harpoon gun and brought whaling into a modern age....
, the 84-year-old "father of modern whaling" and inventor of the harpoon gun. With Foyn's help he acquired the whaler Kap Nor ("North Cape"), which he renamed Antarctic
Antarctic (ship)
The Antarctic was a Swedish steamship built in Drammen, Norway in 1871. She was used on several research expeditions to the Arctic region and to Antarctica through 1898-1903. In 1895 the first confirmed landing on the mainland of Antarctica was made from this ship.-The ship:Antarctic was a barque...
. Bull hired an experienced whaling captain, Leonard Kristensen, and with a crew and a small scientific team left Norway in September 1893. When Borchgrevink learned that Antarctic was due to visit Melbourne in September 1894, he hurried there hoping to find a vacancy. He was fortunate; William Speirs Bruce
William Speirs Bruce
William Speirs Bruce was a London-born Scottish naturalist, polar scientist and oceanographer who organised and led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the South Orkney Islands and the Weddell Sea. Among other achievements, the expedition established the first permanent weather station...
, later an Antarctic expedition leader in his own right, had intended to join Bull's expedition as a natural scientist but could not reach the ship before it left Norway. This created an opening for Borchgrevink, who met Bull in Melbourne and persuaded him to take him on as a deck-hand and part-time scientist.
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
, but whales were still elusive. On 17 January 1895 a landing was made at Possession Island, where Sir James Clark Ross had planted the British flag in 1841. Bull and Borchgrevink left a message in a canister there, as future proof of their presence. On the island Borchgrevink found a lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
, the first plant life discovered south of the Antarctic Circle. On 24 January the ship reached the vicinity of Cape Adare
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is the northeastern most peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape separates the Ross Sea to the east from the Southern Ocean to the west, and is backed by the high Admiralty Mountains...
, at the northern extremity of the Victoria Land
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
coastline of the Antarctic mainland. Ross's 1841 expedition been unable to land here, but as Antarctic neared the cape, conditions were calm enough for a boat to be lowered. A party including Bull, Kristensen, Borchgrevink and others then headed for a shingled foreshore
Shingle beach
A shingle beach is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles. Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from two to 200 mm diameter....
below the cape. Exactly who went ashore first became a matter of dispute, with both Kristensen and Borchgrevink contending for the honour along with a 17-year-old New Zealand seaman, Alexander von Tunzelmann
Alexander von Tunzelmann
Alexander Francis Henry von Tunzelmann , a New Zealand crew member of on the Norwegian whaling ship Antarctic was part of the first group to set foot on the mainland of Antarctica—at Cape Adare on 24 January 1895....
, who said that he had "leapt out to hold the boat steady". The party claimed this as the first landing on the Antarctic mainland, although they may have been preceded by the American whaling captain John Davis, on the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
in 1821, or by other whaling expeditions.
While ashore at Cape Adare, Borchgrevink collected further specimens of rocks and lichens, the latter of which would prove of great interest to the scientific community, which had doubted the ability of vegetation to survive so far south. He also made a careful study of the foreshore, assessing its potential as a site where a future expedition might land and establish winter quarters. When Antarctic reached Melbourne, Bull and Borchgrevink left the ship. Each hoped to raise funds for a further Antarctic expedition, but their efforts were unsuccessful. An animosity developed between them, possibly because of their differing accounts of the voyage on the Antarctic; each emphasised his own role without fully acknowledging that of the other.
International Geographical Congress 1895
To promote his ideas for an expedition that would overwinter on the Antarctic continent at Cape Adare, Borchgrevink hurried to London, where the Royal Geographical Society was hosting the Sixth International Geographical Congress. On 1 August 1895 he addressed the conference, giving an account of the Cape Adare foreshore as a location where a scientific expedition might establish itself for the Antarctic winter. He described the site as "a safe situation for houses, tents and provisions", and said there were indications that in this place "the unbound forces of the Antarctic Circle do not display the full severity of their powers". He also suggested that the interior of the continent might be accessible from the foreshore by an easy route—a "gentle slope". He ended his speech by declaring his willingness to lead an expedition there himself. Hugh Robert MillHugh Robert Mill
Hugh Robert Mill was a Scottish geographer and meteorologist who was influential in the reform of geography teaching, and in the development of meteorology as a science. Educated in Scotland, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1883...
, the Royal Geographical Society's librarian, who was present at the Congress, reported reactions to the speech: "His blunt manner and abrupt speech stirred the academic discussions with a fresh breeze of realism. Nobody liked Borchgrevink very much at that time, but he had a dynamic quality and a set purpose to get out again to the unknown South that struck some of us as boding well for exploration". The Congress did not, however, endorse Borchgrevink's ideas, instead passing a general resolution in support of Antarctic exploration, proposing that "the various scientific societies throughout the world should urge, in whatever way seems to them most effective, that this work be undertaken before the close of the century".
Seeking support
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS was an English geographer, explorer, and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for a further 12 years...
, this RGS project was envisaged not only as a scientific endeavour, but as an attempt to relive the former glories of Royal Naval polar exploration. This would eventually develop into the National Antarctic Expedition, under Captain Scott, and it was these plans that attracted the interest of the learned societies rather than Borchgrevink's more modest proposals. Markham was fiercely opposed to private ventures that might divert financial support from his project, and Borchgrevink found himself starved of practical help: "It was up a steep hill", he wrote, "that I had to roll my Antarctic boulder."
Sir George Newnes
During his search for backers, Borchgrevink met Sir George NewnesGeorge Newnes
Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...
, a leading British magazine publisher and cinema pioneer whose portfolio included the Westminster Gazette
Westminster Gazette
The Westminster Gazette was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope and Saki, and travel writing by Rupert Brooke. One of its editors was caricaturist and political cartoonist...
, Tit-Bits
Tit-Bits
Tit-Bits was a British weekly magazine founded by George Newnes on 22 October 1881 until 18 July 1984, when it was taken over by Associated Newspapers' Weekend, which itself closed in 1989. The last editors were David Hill and Brian Lee...
, Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
and the Strand Magazine
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
. It was not unusual for publishers to support exploration—Newnes's great rival Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) had recently financed Frederick Jackson
Frederick George Jackson
Frederick George Jackson , British Arctic explorer, was educated at Denstone College and Edinburgh University.-Biography:...
's expedition to Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land
Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land, or Francis Joseph's Land is an archipelago located in the far north of Russia. It is found in the Arctic Ocean north of Novaya Zemlya and east of Svalbard, and is administered by Arkhangelsk Oblast. Franz Josef Land consists of 191 ice-covered islands with a...
, and had pledged financial backing to the National Antarctic Expedition. Newnes was sufficiently impressed by Borchgrevink to offer the full costs of his proposed expedition—around £40,000, (at least £3 million in 2008 values). This generosity infuriated Sir Clements Markham and the geographical establishment, who saw Borchgrevink as a penniless Norwegian nobody who had secured British money which they believed ought to have been theirs. Markham maintained an attitude of hostility and contempt towards Borchgrevink, and chastised Mill for attending the launch of his expedition.
Newnes stipulated that the expedition should sail under a British flag, and should be styled the "British Antarctic Expedition". In the event, of the total party of 29, only two were British, with one Australian and the rest Norwegian. Despite this, Borchgrevink would attempt to emphasise the expedition's British character, flying the personal flag of the Duke of York
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and taking 500 bamboo poles with miniature Union Jacks for, as he put it, "purpose of survey and extension of the British Empire".
Winter in Antarctica
Southern Cross (ship)
Southern Cross has been the name of a succession of ships serving the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church and the Church of the Province of Melanesia. She succeeded the Undine, a 21-ton schooner built at Auckland and in service from 1849 to 1857...
, and had her fitted out for Antarctic service. Southern Cross sailed from London on 22 August 1898, and after a three-week pause in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania, reached Cape Adare on 17 February 1899. Here, on the site which Borchgrevink had described to the Congress, the expedition set up the first ever shore base on the Antarctic continent—in the midst of a penguin colony. It was named "Camp Ridley" in honour of Borchgrevink's mother. On 2 March the ship departed for New Zealand to winter there, leaving a shore party of 10 with their provisions, equipment and 70 dogs. These were the first dogs brought to the Antarctic; likewise, the expedition pioneered the use there of the Primus stove
Primus stove
The Primus stove, the first pressurized-burner kerosene stove, was developed in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm, Sweden. The stove was based on the design of the hand-held blowtorch; Lindqvist’s patent covered the burner, which was turned upward on the stove...
, invented in Sweden six years earlier. Dogs and the Primus would be staples of every Antarctic expedition that followed during the Heroic Age.
Louis Bernacchi
Louis Bernacchi
Louis Charles Bernacchi , a physicist and astronomer, is best known for his role in several expeditions to the Antarctic.-Early life:...
, the party's Australian physicist, was later to write: "In many respects, Borchgrevink was not a good leader". Borchgrevink was evidently no autocrat, but without the framework of an accepted hierarchy, according to Bernacchi a state of "democratic anarchy" prevailed, with "dirt, disorder and inactivity the order of the day". Furthermore, as winter developed, Borchgrevink's hopes that Cape Adare would escape the worst Antarctic weather proved false; in fact he had chosen a site which was particularly exposed to the freezing winds blown northwards from the inland ice. As time progressed, tempers wore thin; the party became irritable and boredom set in. There were accidents: a candle left burning caused extensive fire damage, and on another occasion several members of the party were almost asphyxiated by fumes from the stove. Borchgrevink did attempt to establish a routine, and scientific work was carried on throughout, but as he wrote himself, referring to the general lack of fellowship: "The silence roars in one's ears". Further dampenening morale, the group's zoologist, Nicolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen was a Norwegian zoologist and Antarctic explorer. Nicolai Hansen was a member of the Southern Cross Expedition lead by Carsten Borchgrevink to Antarctica and he became the first person to be buried in Antarctica.Nicolai Hansen was born in Kristiansund in Møre og Romsdal county,...
, fell ill, failed to respond to treatment, and died on 14 October.
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
, discovered by Sir James Clark Ross during his 1839–43 voyage and later renamed in his honour. No one had visited the Barrier since then, and Ross had been unable to effect a landing. Borchgrevink discovered an inlet in the Barrier edge; in later years this would be named the "Bay of Whales" by Shackleton. Here, on 16 February 1900, Borchgrevink, William Colbeck
William Colbeck (seaman)
William Colbeck was a British seaman who distinguished himself on two Antarctic expeditions.-Biography:Educated at Hull Grammar School, Colbeck served a merchant navy apprenticeship between 1886 and 1890, earning his second mate's certificate in 1890, first mate's certificate in 1892, master's in...
and the Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
dog-handler Per Savio made the first ascent of the Barrier and, with dogs and sledges, travelled 10 miles (16 km) south to set a new Farthest South record at 78°50'S. Southern Cross visited other Ross Sea
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
islands before turning for home, reaching New Zealand on 1 April. Borchgrevink then took a steamer to England, arriving early in June.
Return and reception
The reception afforded to the expedition on its return to England was lukewarm. Public attention was firmly fixed on the forthcoming national expedition, to which Robert Falcon Scott had just been appointed commander, rather than on a venture which appeared British only in name. In spite of the Southern Cross Expedition's achievements there was still resentment in geographical circles—harboured especially by Sir Clements Markham—that Borchgrevink's acceptance of Newnes's gift had deprived the National Antarctic Expedition of money. Furthermore, Bruce complained that Borchgrevink had appropriated plans that he had developed but been forced to abandon. Borchgrevink's credibility was not helped by the boastful tone sounded in various articles which were published in Newnes's magazines, nor by the journalistic style of his rapidly-written expedition account, First on the Antarctic Continent, the English edition of which appeared in 1901.Ross Island
Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...
and, finally, the scaling of the Great Ice Barrier and the sledging to 78°50'S, "the furthest south ever reached by man". However, in reality, the choice of the winter site at Cape Adare had ruled out any serious geographical exploration of the Antarctic interior. The scientific results were less than had been anticipated, due in part to the loss of some of Nikolai Hansen's natural history notes. Borchgrevink may have been responsible for this loss; he would later be involved in a dispute with Hansen's former employers, London's Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, over these missing notes and other specimens collected by Hansen.
During the years following his return Borchgrevink was honoured by the American Geographical Society
American Geographical Society
The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
, and was made a Knight of St Olaf by his own sovereign, King Oscar II of Sweden. In 1929, the Parliament of Norway decided to give Borchgrevink a stipend
Stipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...
of 3,000 Norwegian krone
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
r. Later he received equivalent honours from Denmark and Austria, but in England his work was for many years largely disregarded, despite Mill's acknowledgement of "a dashing piece of pioneer work, useful in training men for later service". Historian David Crane suggests that if Borchgrevink had been a British naval officer, England would have taken his achievements more seriously.
Mount Pelée disaster
In summer 1902 Borchgrevink was one of three geographers invited by the National Geographic SocietyNational Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
(NGS) to report on the after-effects of the catastrophic eruptions of Mount Pelée
Mount Pelée
Mount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of the island and French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava....
, on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. These eruptions, in May 1902, had destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre
Saint-Pierre, Martinique
Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...
, with enormous loss of life. Borchgrevink visited the island in June, when the main volcanic activity had subsided, and found the mountain "perfectly quiet", and the islanders recovered from their panic. However, he did not think that Saint-Pierre would ever be inhabited again. He reported a narrow escape when, at the foot of the mountain, a jet of steam came out of the ground over which he and his party had just passed: "If it had struck any one of us we would have been scalded to death". He later presented his report to the NGS in Washington.
Retirement
On his return from Washington, Borchgrevink virtually retired into private life. On 7 September 1896, he married an English bride, Constance Prior Standen, with whom he settled in Slemdal, in Oslo, where two sons and two daughters were born. Borchgrevink devoted himself mainly to sporting and literary activities, producing a book entitled The Game of Norway. On two occasions he apparently considered returning to the Antarctic; in August 1902 he stated his intention to lead a new Antarctic expedition for the NGS, but nothing came of this, and a later venture, announced in Berlin in 1909, was likewise stillborn.Although he remained out of the limelight, Borchgrevink retained his interest in Antarctic matters, visiting Captain Scott shortly before the Terra Nova sailed on Scott's last Antarctic expedition in June 1910. When news of his fate reached the outside world, Borchgrevink paid tribute to Scott: "He was the first in the field with a finely organised expedition and the first who did systematic work on the great south polar continent". In a letter of condolence to John Scott Keltie, the Royal Geographical Society's secretary, Borchgrevink said of Scott: "He was a man!"
In Norway Borchgrevink divided opinion; Roald Amundsen was a long-time friend and supporter, whereas Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
, according to Scott, spoke of him as a "tremendous fraud". When Amundsen returned from his South Pole conquest in 1912 he paid full tribute to Borchgrevink's pioneering work: "We must acknowledge that in ascending the Barrier, Borchgrevink opened the way to the south and threw aside the greatest obstacle to the expeditions that followed".
During his remaining years Borchgrevink lived quietly. In 1930 came belated recognition from London—the Royal Geographical Society awarded him its Patron's Medal, proclaiming that the magnitude of the difficulties overcome by Borchgrevink had initially been underestimated: "It was only after the work of Scott's Northern Party [...] that we were able to realise the improbability that any explorer could do more in the Cape Adare district than Mr Borchgrevink had accomplished. It appeared, then, that justice had not been done at the time to the pioneer work of the Southern Cross expedition, which had been carried out under the British flag and at the expense of a British benefactor."
Death and commemoration
Cape Washington
Cape Washington is a prominent cape, 275 m, marking the south extremity of the cove which separates Wood Bay and Terra Nova Bay, in Victoria Land. It separates the Borchgrevink Coast to the north from the Scott Coast to the south...
, the Borchgrevink Glacier
Borchgrevink Glacier
Borchgrevink Glacier is a large glacier in the Victory Mountains, Victoria Land, draining south between Malta Plateau and Daniell Peninsula, and thence projecting into Glacier Strait, Ross Sea, as a floating glacier tongue. It was named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition,...
and Glacier Tongue in Victoria Land, and the Borchgrevinkisen glacier in Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land
Queen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. The latitudinal...
. His name is also carried by the small Antarctic fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki
Bald notothen
The bald notothen is a cryopelagic fish of the Southern Ocean. Antifreeze proteins in its blood prevent it freezing in the sub-zero water temperatures of Antarctica...
. His expedition's accommodation hut still stands at Cape Adare, and is under the care of The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Currently the Antarctic Heritage Trust consists of two partners, the Antarctic Heritage Trust which was formed in 1987 and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, founded in 1993...
, which acts as guardian to this hut and to those of Scott and Shackleton elsewhere on the continent. The Borchgrevink hut was designated by the Trust as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 159 in 2002. In June 2005 the Trust adopted a management plan for its future maintenance and accessibility.