Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Encyclopedia
The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) was a Commonwealth
-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole
. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's
and Scott's
respective parties in 1911 and 1912.
In keeping with the tradition of polar expeditions of the 'heroic age' the CTAE was a private venture, though it was supported by the governments of the United Kingdom
, New Zealand
, United States
, Australia
and South Africa
, as well as many corporate and individual donations, under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II
. It was headed by British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs
, with New Zealand
er Sir Edmund Hillary
leading the New Zealand Ross Sea Support team. The New Zealand party included scientists participating in International Geophysical Year
(IGY) research while the UK IGY team were separately based at Halley Bay.
Fuchs was knight
ed for his accomplishment. The second crossing of the continent did not happen until 1981, during the Transglobe Expedition
led by Ranulph Fiennes
.
on the Weddell Sea
, from which the trans-Antarctic expedition would begin. The Theron, like its immediate forbears, the Endurance
(1914 Shackleton
's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
) and the Deutschland (Filchner
's German Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1911), was trapped in the ice. Fortunately, despite sustaining considerable damage, she was able to free herself with the help of the Auster Antarctic floatplane
that scouted a way out. In early 1956 Fuchs sailed back to London, leaving eight men to over-winter at Shackleton.
The eight men of the advance party, led by Kenneth Blaiklock, were left on the ice, having only tents and a packing crate as shelter. Most of the stores were left on the bay ice, some two miles (3 km) from the site of where the base was to be set up. Their first task was to get all these stores from the bay ice to the base and to try to build some permanent shelter for the oncoming winter. Once a modicum of food and a little fuel (paraffin
) had been brought up and the dogs safely tethered by the base, the men started to build their hut. This proved to be far more difficult than had been envisaged – not only were the eight men insufficient in number to carry out the heavy tasks easily but the weather at Shackleton proved to be colder and much windier than had been anticipated. When the skeleton of the hut was complete, it was decided to position the crates containing the wall and roof panels around the building site. Then disaster struck. A blizzard blew up; it lasted for more than a week, the temperature dropped to −20 °C and the drift around the base made it impossible to do any work outside. The men sheltered in their crate and slept in their tents which were constantly in danger of getting buried by the drift. When finally the wind subsided the scene had changed out of all recognition. The giant crates of wall panels had all disappeared under many feet of drift and the unfinished hut itself was full of snow. But worse still, when the men went to look for the remaining stores on the bay ice, they found nothing but water. The bay ice had broken off taking all the remaining stores with it. Much food and fuel a couple of huts and a tractor had all gone to sea.
This major set-back condemned the men to a lot of hard work, trying to retrieve the crates which they did by tunnelling under the snow; incidentally the tunnels proved to be useful kennels for the dogs protecting them from the unexpectedly severe winter conditions at Shackleton.
The party of eight survived the winter with some difficulty living by day in the tractor crate and sleeping in their tents, two men to each tent. The winter temperatures often fell well below −30 °C but worse than this was the wind. Shackleton proved to be a very windy place, this made work outdoors unpleasant, all stores lying in the snow tended to get buried and there was a constant danger of their getting lost.
Despite all these vicissitudes, the eight survived the winter in reasonably good health and finally completed the building of the hut save for one hole in the roof the panel for which was never recovered from its icy resting place.
They managed to take a number of journeys to collect seals for the dogs and to scout a route to the south. They used dogs and the Weasel tractor
, while the one Snocat that they had never functioned properly as it seemed that someone had dropped a nut into one of its eight cylinders.
After spending the winter of 1957 at Shackleton Base, Fuchs finally set out on the trans-continental journey in November 1957, with a twelve-man team travelling in six vehicles; three Sno-Cat
s, two Weasels
and one specially adapted Muskeg tractor
. En route, the team were also tasked with carrying out scientific research including seismic soundings and gravimetric readings.
In parallel Hillary's team had set up Scott Base
which was to be Fuchs' final destination on the opposite side of the continent at McMurdo Sound
on the Ross Sea
. Using three converted Massey Ferguson TE20 tractors
and one Weasel
(abandoned part-way), Hillary and his three men (Ron Balham, Peter Mulgrew
and Murray Ellis), were responsible for route-finding and laying a line of supply depots up the Skelton Glacier
and across the Polar Plateau on towards the South Pole
, for the use of Fuchs on the final leg of his journey. Other members of Hillary's team carried out geological surveys around the Ross Sea and Victoria Land
areas.
It was not originally intended that Hillary would travel as far as the South Pole, but when he had completed laying supply depots he saw the opportunity to beat the British and continued south, reaching the Pole where the US Amundsen-Scott Station
had recently been established by air on January 3, 1958. Hillary's party was just the third (preceded by Amundsen
in 1911 and Scott
in 1912) to reach the Pole overland. Hillary's arrival also marked the first time that land vehicles had ever reached the Pole.
Fuchs' team reached the Pole from the opposite direction on 19 January 1958, where they met up with Hillary. Fuchs then continued overland, following the route that Hillary had laid, while Hillary flew back to Scott Base in a US plane (he would later rejoin Fuchs by plane for part of the remaining overland journey). The overland party finally arrived at Scott Base on March 2, 1958, having completed the historic crossing of 3,473 km (2,158 miles) of previously unexplored snow and ice in 99 days. A few days later the expedition members left Antarctica for New Zealand on the New Zealand naval ship, Endeavour. The ship was captained by Harry Kirkwood.
Although large quantities of supplies were hauled overland, both parties were also equipped with light aircraft and made extensive use of air support for reconnaissance and supply depoting. Additional logistical help was provided by US personnel who were working in Antarctica at that time. Both parties also took dog teams which were used for field work trips and backup in case of failure of the mechanical transportation though the dogs were not taken all the way to the Pole. In December 1957 four men from the expedition flew one of the planes a de Havilland Canada Otter
on an eleven hour, 1430 miles (2,301.4 km) non-stop trans-polar flight across the Antarctic continent from Shackleton Base via the Pole to Scott Base, following roughly the same route as Fuchs' overland party.
NZ Post
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
. It was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland for 46 years, preceded only by Amundsen's
Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott...
and Scott's
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
respective parties in 1911 and 1912.
In keeping with the tradition of polar expeditions of the 'heroic age' the CTAE was a private venture, though it was supported by the governments of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, as well as many corporate and individual donations, under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. It was headed by British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs
Vivian Fuchs
Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs FRS was an English explorer whose expeditionary team completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958.- Biography :...
, with New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
er Sir Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
leading the New Zealand Ross Sea Support team. The New Zealand party included scientists participating in International Geophysical Year
International Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...
(IGY) research while the UK IGY team were separately based at Halley Bay.
Fuchs was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed for his accomplishment. The second crossing of the continent did not happen until 1981, during the Transglobe Expedition
Transglobe Expedition
In 1979, adventurers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles R. Burton set out to make the first circumpolar navigation, traveling the world "vertically" traversing both of the poles. Starting from Greenwich in the United Kingdom, they went south, arriving at the South Pole on December 17, 1980. Over the...
led by Ranulph Fiennes
Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE , better known as Ranulph Fiennes, is a British adventurer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer. Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years including a period on counter-insurgency service while...
.
Preparations
Preparations began in London in 1955. Over the southern summer of 1955–56 Fuchs sailed with an advance party from London to Antarctica in the Canadian sealer Theron, with the purpose of establishing Shackleton Base near Vahsel BayVahsel Bay
Vahsel Bay is a bay about 7 miles wide in the western part of the Luitpold Coast, Antarctica.This bay receives the flow of the Schweitzer Glacier and Lerchenfeld Glacier. It was discovered by the German Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1912, led by Wilhelm Filchner...
on the Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea
The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is...
, from which the trans-Antarctic expedition would begin. The Theron, like its immediate forbears, the Endurance
Endurance (1912 ship)
The Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...
(1914 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...
's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...
) and the Deutschland (Filchner
Wilhelm Filchner
Wilhelm Filchner was a German explorer.At the age of 21, he participated in his first expedition, which led him to Russia. Two years later, he travelled alone and on horseback through the Pamir Mountains, from Osh to Murgabh to the upper Wakhan to Tashkurgan and back...
's German Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1911), was trapped in the ice. Fortunately, despite sustaining considerable damage, she was able to free herself with the help of the Auster Antarctic floatplane
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
that scouted a way out. In early 1956 Fuchs sailed back to London, leaving eight men to over-winter at Shackleton.
The eight men of the advance party, led by Kenneth Blaiklock, were left on the ice, having only tents and a packing crate as shelter. Most of the stores were left on the bay ice, some two miles (3 km) from the site of where the base was to be set up. Their first task was to get all these stores from the bay ice to the base and to try to build some permanent shelter for the oncoming winter. Once a modicum of food and a little fuel (paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
) had been brought up and the dogs safely tethered by the base, the men started to build their hut. This proved to be far more difficult than had been envisaged – not only were the eight men insufficient in number to carry out the heavy tasks easily but the weather at Shackleton proved to be colder and much windier than had been anticipated. When the skeleton of the hut was complete, it was decided to position the crates containing the wall and roof panels around the building site. Then disaster struck. A blizzard blew up; it lasted for more than a week, the temperature dropped to −20 °C and the drift around the base made it impossible to do any work outside. The men sheltered in their crate and slept in their tents which were constantly in danger of getting buried by the drift. When finally the wind subsided the scene had changed out of all recognition. The giant crates of wall panels had all disappeared under many feet of drift and the unfinished hut itself was full of snow. But worse still, when the men went to look for the remaining stores on the bay ice, they found nothing but water. The bay ice had broken off taking all the remaining stores with it. Much food and fuel a couple of huts and a tractor had all gone to sea.
This major set-back condemned the men to a lot of hard work, trying to retrieve the crates which they did by tunnelling under the snow; incidentally the tunnels proved to be useful kennels for the dogs protecting them from the unexpectedly severe winter conditions at Shackleton.
The party of eight survived the winter with some difficulty living by day in the tractor crate and sleeping in their tents, two men to each tent. The winter temperatures often fell well below −30 °C but worse than this was the wind. Shackleton proved to be a very windy place, this made work outdoors unpleasant, all stores lying in the snow tended to get buried and there was a constant danger of their getting lost.
Despite all these vicissitudes, the eight survived the winter in reasonably good health and finally completed the building of the hut save for one hole in the roof the panel for which was never recovered from its icy resting place.
They managed to take a number of journeys to collect seals for the dogs and to scout a route to the south. They used dogs and the Weasel tractor
M29 Weasel
The M29 Weasel was a World War II tracked vehicle, built by Studebaker, designed for operation in snow.-Design and development:The idea for the Weasel came from the work of British inventor Geoffrey Pyke in support of his proposals to attack Axis forces and industrial installations in Norway...
, while the one Snocat that they had never functioned properly as it seemed that someone had dropped a nut into one of its eight cylinders.
Expedition
In December 1956 Fuchs returned on Danish Polar vessel Magga Dan with additional supplies, and the southern summer of 1956–1957 was spent consolidating Shackleton Base and establishing the smaller South Ice Base about 300 miles (482.8 km) inland to the south.After spending the winter of 1957 at Shackleton Base, Fuchs finally set out on the trans-continental journey in November 1957, with a twelve-man team travelling in six vehicles; three Sno-Cat
Sno-Cat
The Tucker Sno-Cat is a tracked vehicle or a family of tracked vehicles for snow conditions.Different models have been used for expeditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic during the second half of the 20th century...
s, two Weasels
M29 Weasel
The M29 Weasel was a World War II tracked vehicle, built by Studebaker, designed for operation in snow.-Design and development:The idea for the Weasel came from the work of British inventor Geoffrey Pyke in support of his proposals to attack Axis forces and industrial installations in Norway...
and one specially adapted Muskeg tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
. En route, the team were also tasked with carrying out scientific research including seismic soundings and gravimetric readings.
In parallel Hillary's team had set up Scott Base
Scott Base
Scott Base is a research facility located in Antarctica and is operated by New Zealand. It was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica...
which was to be Fuchs' final destination on the opposite side of the continent at McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound
The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...
on the 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...
. Using three converted Massey Ferguson TE20 tractors
Ferguson TE20
The Ferguson Model TE20 was a British agricultural tractor. It was Harry Ferguson's most successful design, commonly known as the Little Grey Fergie. It was manufactured from 1946 to 1956...
and one Weasel
M29 Weasel
The M29 Weasel was a World War II tracked vehicle, built by Studebaker, designed for operation in snow.-Design and development:The idea for the Weasel came from the work of British inventor Geoffrey Pyke in support of his proposals to attack Axis forces and industrial installations in Norway...
(abandoned part-way), Hillary and his three men (Ron Balham, Peter Mulgrew
Peter Mulgrew
Peter David Mulgrew was a New Zealand mountaineer, yachtsman and businessman. He died in the crash of the ill-fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, an Antarctic sightseeing flight that slammed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board...
and Murray Ellis), were responsible for route-finding and laying a line of supply depots up the Skelton Glacier
Skelton Glacier
Skelton Glacier is a large glacier flowing from the polar plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf at Skelton Inlet on the Hillary Coast, south of Victoria Land, Antarctica.-Discovery and naming:...
and across the Polar Plateau on towards the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
, for the use of Fuchs on the final leg of his journey. Other members of Hillary's team carried out geological surveys around the Ross Sea and 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...
areas.
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the American scientific research station on the high plateau of Antarctica. This station is located at the southernmost place on the Earth, the Geographic South Pole, at an elevation of 2,835 meters above sea level.The original Amundsen-Scott Station was...
had recently been established by air on January 3, 1958. Hillary's party was just the third (preceded by 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....
in 1911 and 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...
in 1912) to reach the Pole overland. Hillary's arrival also marked the first time that land vehicles had ever reached the Pole.
Fuchs' team reached the Pole from the opposite direction on 19 January 1958, where they met up with Hillary. Fuchs then continued overland, following the route that Hillary had laid, while Hillary flew back to Scott Base in a US plane (he would later rejoin Fuchs by plane for part of the remaining overland journey). The overland party finally arrived at Scott Base on March 2, 1958, having completed the historic crossing of 3,473 km (2,158 miles) of previously unexplored snow and ice in 99 days. A few days later the expedition members left Antarctica for New Zealand on the New Zealand naval ship, Endeavour. The ship was captained by Harry Kirkwood.
Although large quantities of supplies were hauled overland, both parties were also equipped with light aircraft and made extensive use of air support for reconnaissance and supply depoting. Additional logistical help was provided by US personnel who were working in Antarctica at that time. Both parties also took dog teams which were used for field work trips and backup in case of failure of the mechanical transportation though the dogs were not taken all the way to the Pole. In December 1957 four men from the expedition flew one of the planes a de Havilland Canada Otter
De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but was overall a larger aircraft.-Design and...
on an eleven hour, 1430 miles (2,301.4 km) non-stop trans-polar flight across the Antarctic continent from Shackleton Base via the Pole to Scott Base, following roughly the same route as Fuchs' overland party.
Commemoration
The expedition was commemorated in a 2007 5-stamp set issued by NZ post. The stamps highlight air transport (the 50c) showing the single-engine Mk. VII Auster and Beaver. Mr James Bates is pictured before the Auster; the role of the Sledge ($1.00); Dog team ($1.50), mechanized Tractor ($2.00) caching supplies and ultimately reaching the Pole on 4 January 1958, and HMNZS Endeavour ($2.50) which carried the Ross Sea support party and equipment.NZ Post