Academic literature on the topic 'Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) http'

ABSTRACTIn December 1913 Sir Ernest Shackleton released a prospectus and announced The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. His goal was to undertake the first crossing of Antarctica from the Weddell Sea via the polar plateau to McMurdo Sound on the Ross Sea. The journey had already been attempted by Wilhelm Filchner whose shipDeutschland, had become beset in the Weddell Sea ice for nine months in 1912. Shackleton aimed ‘to make all possible scientific observations on [the Trans-Antarctic] journey; to carry on similar work by parties operating from the two bases on the Weddell and Ross Seas [and] to carry on scientific work, and travel unknown portions of the coastline, by the two ships of the expedition’(Shackleton 1913: 3). WithEndurancea continental crossing party of six led by Shackleton would begin from the Weddell Sea and a supporting depot laying party led byNimrodveteran Lieutenant Aeneas L.A. Mackintosh RNR, with the auxiliary barquentineAurorabased in McMurdo Sound. Unbeknown to each party, both experienced problems beyond their control.Endurancewas holed and sank in the Weddell Sea andAuroralocked in ice, although damaged, reached New Zealand. Here the ship was repaired and then undertook a relief expedition with Shackleton as a passenger, to McMurdo Sound. In spite of these major setbacks each party conducted valuable scientific observations.When Shackleton published his bookSouth(Shackleton 1919) on the expedition, compiled with New Zealand journalist and friend Edward Saunders, with exception of accounts on the Ross Sea party sledging and drift of the shipAurora, no recognition was given to work undertaken by the four Ross Sea party scientists and an assistant. Later publications have focused on the depot-laying, while books on Antarctic science have largely overlooked the science undertaken.The purpose of this paper is to make this better known, and to give credit to the four scientists involved. The science conducted although primarily concerned with meteorological observations, also covers limited glaciological observations including the ablation of lake ice, solution of glacier ice in salt water, tidal recordings, collection of zoological and other specimens, along with the use of improvised equipment to undertake observations. The science achieved was secondary to the field work. The Ross Sea party science was done however, under conditions not normally conducive for such field work with health issues a major contributing factor. A lack of funding, equipment, personality problems, concern forAuroraand crew, uncertainty of Shackleton's Antarctic crossing and their own relief, led to depression, sleeplessness and insomnia.

ABSTRACTThe loss of the expedition ship SY Endurance, and the subsequent dispersal of staff and crew, resulted in very little scientific information emerging from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914–1917. Among surviving records were the charts and diaries maintained by the ship's master, F.A. Worsley. During the voyage in January 1915 along the ice cliffs of the Weddell Sea coast, Worsley recorded the ship's daily progress, soundings and trawling and dredging activities, and also daily encounters with seals, whales and seabirds, On 12 January he noted a group of fledgling emperor penguin chicks (Aptenodytes forsteri) on an ice foot, clearly a remnant of what was then only the third-known breeding colony of the species. Shackleton's first published account of the expedition mentioned the chicks only in a brief note (one that was omitted from later editions), and no further report covering Worsley's observations appeared in scientific literature. In consequence the discovery of the breeding colony and records of emperor penguin distribution along the Weddell Sea coast have since been overlooked by avian biologists, regrettably including the present author. This paper discusses the identity of the colony, Worsley's observations that foreshadowed the later discovery of more breeding concentrations along the coast, and a possible reason why colonies occur at points of particular glaciological disturbance.

AbstractSir Ernest Henry Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (ITAE) 1914–1917, consisted of two parties – a Weddell Sea party led by Shackleton with Endurance, and a supporting Ross Sea depot-laying party, led by Captain Aeneas L.A. Mackintosh with Aurora. The purpose of this research paper is to consider why the Ross Sea party contracted scurvy and the Weddell Sea party did not. The authors suggest that for the Ross Sea shore party there was ineffectual leadership, insufficient medical care and sledging with excessive loads, and an inadequate diet for sledging, in both energy and vitamin C content. In their second season, depletion of vitamin C was again evident with one person dying. The Weddell Sea party, ably led by Shackleton, not only faced the arduous task of sledging heavy stores and moving camps in thick snow, but also had to haul three boats over pressure ridges, before reaching open water and rowing to Elephant Island. Here, the men lived almost exclusively on a fresh meat diet and were not affected by scurvy. This is the final paper for the trilogy commemorating the Ross Sea party centenary (the others are Harrowfield, 2013, 2015).