An exhibit at New York's American Museum of Natural History, "Race to the End of the Earth," chronicles the 100-year-old race to the South Pole. It captivated the world because, as an introductory film explains, Antarctica was the "last great geographical prize on Earth."
Norwegian Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) and Royal Navy Capt. Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) were both seasoned explorers in 1910. Scott's first attempt at the South Pole in 1902 brought him world-wide acclaim. Amundsen made a name for himself a year later on a three-year navigation of the Northwest Passage. It was there that Amundsen learned how to handle sled dogs and dress for the subzero temperatures, two skills that would prove essential in Antarctica.
The entrance to the exhibit sets the tone with cool temperatures, iridescent blue lighting reminiscent of the inside of an igloo, and the sounds of penguins and other Antarctic wildlife. After a brief introduction to Amundsen and Scott, visitors learn the history and facts of the "windiest, coldest, highest desert on Earth."
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American Museum of Natural History/D. Finnin
An underground workroom where Roald Amundsen's crew could do maintenance sheltered from the cold..
'Race to the End of the Earth'
American Museum of Natural History
Through Jan. 2
Early maps in the 1500s showed Terra Australis Nondum Cognita ("Southern land as yet unknown") extending all the way up to the temperate zones, parts of which were falsely believed to be hospitable to plants, animals and people. Some believed the poles were open at both ends, allowing access to a whole other interior world. But as mariners ventured farther south, the estimated size of the unknown continent shrank. The facts, as we know them today, are that the land mass is 5.5 million square miles, or about 1.5 times the size of the continental U.S.; winds can gust up to 185 miles per hour; the coldest recorded temperature was minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit; the average elevation is 7,100 feet above sea level; and the average precipitation is less than two inches a year.
Scott's expedition set out from Cardiff, Wales, on June 15, 1910, with a crew of 65 aboard the Terra Nova, a former whaling ship. Amundsen departed from Oslo on June 3, 1910, with a crew of 18 aboard the Fram and was initially headed to the North Pole. But when news came that the North Pole had been conquered, Amundsen turned his focus to the South Pole; he didn't tell his crew until October 1910, when they reached Madeira, that he planned to go south instead of north. Shortly thereafter, Scott, who thought he had the south all to himself, received a courtesy telegram from Amundsen: "Beg leave inform you proceeding Antarctica." The race was on.
There are detailed blueprints of both ships, as well as profiles of the crew members. In fact, visitors are encouraged to randomly pick up one of the small postcards devoted to individual crew members and to look for him in photographs and displays throughout the exhibit.
Both teams set up base camps on the Ross Ice Shelf in January 1911. It was summer, but not enough time remained to make a dash to the pole before the harsh winter set in. So the two teams busied themselves making permanent base camps, both of which are re-created here.
The British camp comprised wooden huts complete with books, pipes, pictures from home, even a player piano. The Norwegians traveled much lighter. They, too, built huts, and dubbed their little outpost "Framheim." But they also dug ice caves in which they set up workshops to prepare gear for the 900-mile trek (one way). The Norwegians were there, the exhibit makes clear, merely to reach the South Pole. The British explorers were also interested in science. These two distinct attitudes played no small role in the eventual outcome.
The Norwegians set up camp 70 miles closer to the pole and set out first, on Sept. 8, 1911, with a five-man team on four sleds pulled by four teams of 13 dogs each. By contrast, the British set off on Oct. 24 with 16 men, 12 sledges and two experimental motorized sledges. They had just 22 dogs and 10 ponies. Three ponies had already died of cold and hunger during the winter. Two others fell through the ice and were eaten by killer whales. Scott, in fact, wrote in his diary that he was concerned about the Norwegians' superior dog handling. He was right.
The Norwegians also chose to wear mostly fur clothing; the Brits opted for wool. Both sets of clothes are on display here, along with plaques explaining their advantages and shortcomings. In short, the Norwegians fared much better with the fur outfits because their natural animal skins provided better insulation against the sub-zero temperatures. Amundsen, on his Northwest Passage journey, had also learned from the Inuit how to dress for these conditions.
On the walls of the gallery are timelines of each expedition. The Norwegians started out too soon and were turned back by a late winter storm. But after that, their trip was relatively uneventful. The dogs worked well, the furs kept the men warm, and they reached the pole in just 57 days. Photos show them looking remarkably healthy and fresh, like they'd just gone out on the local pond for the day.
By contrast, the British expedition was plagued from the start. The men were only 51 miles from base camp when the motors on their sledges started to fail. They shot the first pony for food on day 24; ate the last on day 39. They were trapped for four days by a blizzard. On Day 80, they saw the Norwegian flag in the distance and realized that they'd lost. To add insult to injury, Amundsen left a letter for Norwegian King Haakon VII and asked Scott to deliver it.
Unfortunately, Scott would never make it back. While the Norwegian crew was pulling into Tasmania in March 1912, the British were slowly dying on the ice, plagued by snowstorms, slow travel and ever-dwindling supplies. A few days later (no one knows the exact date), Scott and his remaining crew perished. In the spring, a British team found their bodies still inside their shelter bags. The last entry of Scott's diary reads: "We shall stick it out to the end but we are getting weaker of course and the end cannot be far . . ."
All of this is told well here, with photos, interactive diaries, and plenty of interesting artifacts. Among them are Amundsen's 12-gauge shotgun, his skis and a Norwegian sled. Some pieces are on loan from museums in Norway, but a remarkable number are from the museum's own collection. From the British, there's a pair of heavy steel-spiked overboots—an early precursor to crampons—that didn't work well at all. A metaphor, sad to say, for the entire expedition
