Photos show the harsh life in the ice more than 100 years ago
Pictures from historical Antarctic expeditions: The harsh life in the ice more than 100 years ago
Group Captain SA Campbell (centre) with the Australian flag at Heard Island on 26 December 1947.
© Source: Unknown
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Sydney. A man reading, stretched out on a cot, covered with a thin blanket, the only source of light a candle, which he balances with the candlestick on his cheek: George Marston, who can be seen in the picture, was the official artist on the Antarctic pioneer’s expeditions Ernest Shackleton.
Marston’s snapshot is one of the motifs that gives an insight into the sometimes harsh life in the ice more than 100 years ago, when researchers still had to do without the modern comforts of electric lights, flashlights and thermal clothing.
Photos show a unique wildlife
In all, the National Archives in Australia’s capital, Canberra, have digitized and restored several hundred such old photos, as well as glass plate negatives and lantern slides, including original photographs by the renowned photographer Frank Hurley. The images are all from the collection of the Australian Antarctic Division, which houses the memorabilia of old British and Australian Antarctic expeditions from the early 20th century.
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Men at work on deck.
© Source: Unknown
“The images provide a unique insight into the difficult conditions faced by the explorers,” said Simon Froude, Director General of the National Archives of Australia. The photos also include “fabulous shots of the unique wildlife and photos that showcase the science and technology of the time.” Portraits of Antarctic explorers Joseph Kinsey, Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson and Frank Stillwell are also included in the collection.
Legendary Expedition
The best pictures come from the photographer and adventurer Frank Hurley, who made several trips to Antarctica. He was also on board the legendary ship “Endurance”, which was crushed in the ice during an expedition by explorer Ernest Shackleton and finally sank in 1915.
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A man in a bathtub during an Antarctic expedition.
© Source: Unknown
The Irish-British Shackleton had once come as close to the South Pole as anyone had ever come in 1909, but 180 kilometers before that he and his three companions had to turn back. Two years later, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen shattered his dreams by becoming the first to reach the South Pole. Shackleton’s next attempt would have been to cross Antarctica by land, but that idea also failed when his ship, the Endurance, was trapped in ice and eventually crushed by the ice masses. The fact that Shackleton and his crew were able to save themselves on ice floes and cross over to Elephant Island in three small boats in April 1916 was already known around the world. To survive, the men had subsisted on penguins and even ate the expedition’s dogs.
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The “Terra Nova” trapped in the ice.
© Source: Herbert George Ponting
Big and small milestones
When a modern expedition came across Shackleton’s sunken ship in Antarctica a year ago, it made world headlines again. The expedition team, led by British archaeologist Mensun Bound, discovered the wreck at a depth of just over 3,000 meters, around four miles from where the former captain had recorded it as the scene of the accident. Bound called the discovery a “milestone in polar history”.
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The artist George Marston.
© Source: Unknown
The photos also include motifs depicting milestones in polar history, for example one picture shows the Australian expedition that raised the Australian flag on Heard Island on December 26, 1947. Numerous photos simply document everyday life under the harsh conditions in the ice. Artist George Marston is an example of this. Other photos show the men working on the deck of one of the research ships, for example, and another photo shows a man in the bathtub. Filling the latter with warm water must have been difficult at the time.
