[Leica] Re: Polar exploration

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

This is a long post with only minimal photographic relevance but I hope 
it will correct some misinformation recently posted. I did use a Leica 
camera to take many pictures in Norway, including many shots of the 
Fram and Geoa, which I will post shortly. So please forgive me for 
wasting bandwidth.

During a uncomfortable portion of my obligatory military service stint 
I was stationed in Ft. Churchill, Canada. Winter temperatures ranged 
down to 50 below zero and your spit would freeze before it hit the 
ground. When it was really cold, it would explode with a loud cracking 
sound before it hit. During the long winter night, our main 
entertainments were shooing polar bears away from the garbage dump and 
reading the books in the base library. They had a magnificent 
collection of books on Artic exploration. All we needed to do to 
experience the rigors of winter in the north country was to walk from 
the mess hall to the barracks. Baby, it was cold outside. Fortunately 
we had mechanized Snow Tracs to get around but some of the locals still 
used dog sleds. About an hour of sledding in sub zero weather was all I 
could handle. How the explorers could do it for 12 hours a day is more 
than I can imagine. The only upside of my experience was that I learned 
to cross country ski, a sport which I have now practiced for over 40 
years. Why Scott didn't ski to the pole is beyond me.

Now about the use of motorized sledges on Scott's Tera Nova expedition, 
Michael Barne, a veteran of the DISCOVERY EXPEDITION, had designed a 
new sledge. Although these sledges failed on their initial tryout in 
Norway, Scott took them with him to the Antartic, hoping to use them to 
ferry large amounts of supplies to depots. He planned to use ponies to 
dash for the pole, man hauling the sleds for only the final lap. The 
first two motor sledges were unloaded and immediately put to work 
hauling stores to the new camp. As the third, and largest, sledge was 
unloaded and hauled by twenty men towards the shore, it broke through 
the ice and sank in sixty fathoms of seawater.

On the initial days of transfering supplies to depots nearer to the 
pole, one machine gave out just beyond Safety Camp while the other had 
to be abandoned a mile beyond Corner Camp. Scott's reliance on ponies 
was also misguided. The ponies would prove an equally weak link. It is 
true that Shackleton took nineteen ponies with him on his NIMROD 
EXPEDITION, but only four survived to set out on the journey towards 
the Pole. Of these, one had to be shot at the second depot; another 
gave up
at the third; and by the time they reached the foot of the Beardmore 
Glacier only one was left. That one fell into a crevace. Had the 
weather not been unusually mild, Shackleton would had suffered as badly 
as Scott. He made the right decision to return 100 miles short of the 
Pole.

Amundsen, a very experienced Arctic explorer despite his character 
flaws, had lived with the Esquimos and was well acquainted with the 
rigors of overland Artic travel. His use of dogs and skis was exactly 
right. The final dash to the Pole was largely without incident. One of 
the reasons that he was reviled in the English press is that HE ATE HIS 
DOGS as the load lightened. Or rather he fed them to the remaining 
dogs. Unlike Indonesians, a proper Englishman would as soon eat a dog 
as a Hindu would eat a cow. I can testify that letters protesting 
Amundsen's butchery still come into the London Times on the anniversary 
of Scott's death.

My wife is Norwegian and comes from a sailing and shipyard family - so 
every time we visit her home country we get a full rundown on the lives 
and loves of the various explorers. Seems they were all a pretty 
raunchy bunch, although gifted in many ways. As far as the Norwegians 
are concerned, Nansen is at the top of the heap. But not for his 
exploration. He was Norwegian cross country skiing champion for eight 
years in a row and as an 18 year old set a speed skating record for the 
mile. In Norway, ski champions are Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Wayne 
Gretsky and Michael Jordan rolled into one. Nansen trained as a neuro 
physiologist and published frequently in medical journals. He was the 
first to cross Greenland on skis. He was a staunch patriot and was 
instrumental in freeing Norway from Swedish domination. Nansen was 
Norway's first ambassador to London. Finally he won the Nobel Prize for 
his work with Russian refugees after WW1. Who cares if he bonked 
Kathleen Scott, even through, at the time,  he was married and had 
several children. Certainly not the Norwegians. Unfortunately he never 
reached either pole.

Amundsen is grudgingly given second place in Norway's pantheon of polar 
explorers although, objectively speaking, his exploration record is 
significantly greater than Nansen's. He was the first to complete the 
Northern Passage, drifting and sailing from the North Sea to the Bering 
Strait in a boat not much larger than my own Willard motorsailer. The 
boat, the Geoa is on display outside the Fram Museum. Inside the museum 
is, of course the Fram. The boat that Nansen had constructed to sail to 
the North Pole and Amundsen borrowed for his South Pole exploration. 
Amundsen's expedtion to the South Pole was masterfully planned and 
executed. More important, he succeeded while the much more elaborate 
Scott venture failed. Norwegians tend to ignore the fact that he 
defrauded his backers, violated his promise to Nansen, and had a very 
abrasive personality that annoyed most of those who befriended him. In 
1928 he died with his mucklucks on attempting to rescue the ill fated 
Nobile "Italia" airship expedition to the North Pole. A fitting 
passing.

Shackleton seems to occupy a unique place in the annals of polar 
exploration. At least according to the Norwegian scholars I met. He is 
regarded as a man of unsurpassed courage, great leadership ability but 
a lousy explorer. He was blessed with amazing luck where it really 
counted. As a sailor, I am most impressed with his 800 mile voyage 
though the Southern Ocean in a boat that I would find unsuitable for an 
afternoon trip in the Irish Sea. On the other hand, many would question 
the poor planning that led to the loss of the Endurance and made such a 
sea voyage necessary. Incidentally, Shackleton is not to be credited 
with the amazing photos of the Endurance expedition. He wanted to 
abandon the heavy glass plates and movie film. All credit must be given 
to Australian photographer Frank Hurley who risked his life rescuing 
the films from the sinking hull of the Endurance. He later convinced 
Shackleton that the photos would be the only record of the failed 
voyage.

A few years ago, my birthday gift from my kids was a coffee table book 
"South with the Endurance", a beautifully printed collection of Frank 
Hurley's photographs of the voyage. If you don't have it, you should 
get it.

Scott is now regarded, at least in Norway, as the flip side of Amundsen 
and Shackleton. A poor planner, an inept explorer, an incompetent 
leader, and unlucky to boot. He is regarded as a necessary contrast to 
the better qualities of the other guys. But the Brits still revere him.

Regards,


Larry Z