The South pole; an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the "Fram," 1910-1912, by Roald Amundsen; tr. from the Norwegian by A.G. Chater. With maps and numerous illustrations.

McMurdo Station, Antarctica, is a US Federal research facility operated year-round by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its primary mission is to support scientific research, but it also provides logistical air and ground support for South Pole Station, seasonal field sites and nearby stations operated by other countries. It is the largest station in Antarctica, supporting up to 1,200 people. While McMurdo Station has a long scientific legacy, the facility also has an interesting architectural and engineering history that spans 60 years and has its antecedents in the ‘heroic age’ of exploration (1898–1916) and the Little America expeditions (1929–1958). Here, I describe the history of the built environment of McMurdo Station to clarify how it evolved from a temporary air station in the late 1950s to its current role as the flagship research facility of the US Antarctic Research Program (USAP). This historical review may provide insights that are useful as the station continues to transform and evolve, allowing it to continue its scientific mission into the 21st century.

“…2. Amundsen's base, Framheim, at the Bay of Whales was built in 1911 and is an example of a British-style Antarctic hut. Photo from The South Pole by Roald Amundsen 1913: 206. …”

Section: Early Explorers and The Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

A history of McMurdo Station through its architecture

Davis

2017

“…Two years before the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, its leader Adrien De Gerlache appointed the Polish exile Henryk Arçtowski (1871–1958) scientific deputy-leader and geologist, meteorologist and oceanographer (Machowski 1998a). Arçtowski, described by Roald Amundsen as ‘an all-round man’ (1912: 19), was well immersed in south polar issues (Raraty 1998). In preparation for the expedition he undertook studies in glaciology in Switzerland, which gave him his first field experience in an ice environment.…”

Section: Ice Bound and Iceberg: Belgian Antarctic German Deep Sea Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tension between emotive/aesthetic and analytic/scientific motifs in the work of amateur visual documenters of Antarctica's Heroic Era

Millar

2017

Visual documenters made a major contribution to the recording of the Heroic Era of Antarctic exploration. By far the best known were the professional photographers, Herbert Ponting and Frank Hurley, hired to photograph British and Australasian expeditions. But a great number of images – photographs and artworks – were also produced by amateurs on lesser known European expeditions and a Japanese one. These amateurs were sometimes designated official illustrators, often scientists recording their research. This paper offers a discursive examination of illustrations from the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897–1899), German Deep Sea Expedition (1898–1899), German South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901–1903), French Antarctic Expedition (1903–1905) and Japanese Antarctic Expedition (1910–1912), assessing their representations of exploration in Antarctica in terms of the tension between emotive/aesthetic and systematic analytic/scientific motifs. Their depictions were influenced by their illustrative skills and their ‘ways of seeing’, produced from their backgrounds and the sponsorship needs of the expedition.

“…In contrast to the previous year, preparations for Christmas Eve were extremely limited, and for their meal the Norwegians made a bag of pulverised biscuit, served with a sausage of dried milk, and a dish of porridge: ‘I doubt whether anyone at home enjoyed his Christmas dinner so much as we did that morning in the tent. One of Bjaaland's cigars to follow brought a festival spirit over the whole camp’ (Amundsen 1912, I: 140–141).…”

Section: Christmas Dinner In Antarcticamentioning

confidence: 99%

Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 1818–1912

McCorristine

Mocellin²

2016

In this article we survey descriptions of Christmas celebrations contained in the diaries and narratives of polar explorers (mostly British) from 1818 to 1912. We find that Christmas was a time almost universally associated with the display of positive emotions, although this was in the context of increased amounts of stress associated with the challenges of over-wintering at high latitudes. Firstly, we argue that Christmas was crucial to the well-being of expedition participants because it opened emotional channels that enabled them to cope with stress. Secondly, we argue that Christmas revealed a play space in which certain types of normally deviant behaviour were welcomed. Thirdly, we argue that Christmas was a major nutritional event for over-wintering crew members, satisfying a need for calories that was rarely met in the everyday rations.