Adventures of the Blackgang
Thalassophilia, Nautical History, Culture, and Art
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- Antarctic Attitude -
Crew member W. F. Howard on board RRS Discovery
caption: “at Adeli (sic) Land Dec 28th 1931”set:
British Australian & New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition 1930-1931
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Map: Maps of Shackleton’s 1907-1909 Antarctic Expedition originally posted to the BIG Map Blog.
(via bigmapblog-blog)
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n306_w1150 by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843. v.1. plates
London: Reeve Brothers,1844-60.
biodiversitylibrary.org/item/48091(via scientificillustration)
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Nephtyidae polychaetes found off the coast of Palmer Peninsula, Antarctic, c. 1962 (by Smithsonian Institution)
Summary: SIA RU007231, Box 139, Folder “Palmer Peninsula Survey, 1962-1963”. Taken during underwater specimen collecting during Waldo Schmitt’s work on the Palmer Peninsula, 1962-1963.
(via mudwerks)
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Captain Lawrence Oates (1880-1912), English Antarctic explorer and all-time hero of the self-sacrificing understatement.
When their polar expedition had failed and his ill health was compromising his three companions’ chances of survival, Oates simply said to them, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time’, then walked away into the frozen wilderness.
Brave, gorgeous and a gentleman to the very end. Wow.
(And can I just take a moment to recommend ‘The White Darkness’ by Geraldine Mccaughrean, the ultimate history crush novel.)
Please excuse threeoranges and I. We are both having what is colloquially known as A Right Royal Conniption because of this post…and how strongly we agree with this particular selection.
YES INDEED.
I recall very clearly a memorable conversation that Oates had with Nelson and me one evening in my dark-room, during the winter of 1911. The point was raised as to what a man should do if he were to break down on the Polar journey, thereby becoming a burden to others. Oates unhesitatingly and emphatically expressed the opinion that there was only one possible course — self-sacrifice. He thought that a pistol should be carried, and that “If anyone breaks down he should have the privilege of using it.’ (Herbert Ponting, The Great White South, p.288)
(via coldisthesea)
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“Amundsen on board Fram in 1910 as the vessel makes her journey through the tropics, heading south to the Antarctic.”
(via coldisthesea)
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Group of men at side of vessel
Description: Photograph (Cinematograph Film) entitled “With Captain Robert Falcon Scott [Royal Navy] to the South Pole (British Antarctic Expedition)”. Group of men at side of vessel by Herbert Ponting (1870-1935).
Date: c.1907
This image shows a single frame from the very short (3-4 frame) sections of nitrate film stock accessioned at The National Archives from Herbert Ponting’s footage of the Antarctic. For preservation reasons copies were made of the original nitrate negatives and these were used to produce modern black and white Kodak prints of the clips which we have scanned for the web. The quality of the resultant images is variable.
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Scottish Antarctic Explorer, Commander J.R. Stenhouse, aboard the Discovery, 1925
In 1925, the Antarctic explorer, U-boat killer and treasure hunter, J.R. Stenhouse, took command of Captain Scott’s old ship, the “Discovery”, during the National Oceanographic Expedition.
Previously, Stenhouse had commanded the “Aurora” on Shackleton’s ill-fated “Endurance” expedition of 1914-17, and had then hunted U-boats and fought the Bolsheviks in North Russia during WWI.
Stenhouse would later seek pirate gold on R.L. Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” and pioneer Antarctic tourism before finally dying for his country in WWII. For full details of Stenhouse’s extraordinary career, see “Ice Captain: The Life of J.R. Stenhouse” by Stephen Haddelsey.
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Frank Hurley washing cinematograph film on the “Aurora”
Format: Silver gelatin photonegative
Notes: First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Frank Hurley visited the Antarctic six times between 1911 and 1932. For more information and pictures, visit Discover Collections: Hurley’s Antarctica on the State Library of NSW’s website: www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/natural_world/anta…
From the collections of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales www.sl.nsw.gov.au
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The Photos of Herbert Ponting (more)
photographer on Robert Falcon Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic, 1910
He is best known as the expedition photographer and cinematographer for Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pole (1910-1913). In this role, he captured some of the most enduring images of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
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Herbert Ponting
photographer on Robert Falcon Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic, 1910
He is best known as the expedition photographer and cinematographer for Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pole (1910-1913). In this role, he captured some of the most enduring images of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
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turnofthecentury > theshipthatflew:
Herbert George Ponting, A Cavern in an Iceberg; Scott’s Last Expedition, The British Antarctic Expedition, 1910
Herbert Ponting was the official photographer for Captain Scott’s tragic final expedition, enduring sub-zero temperatures to document this uncharted environment. In The Great White South (1921), he recalled discovering this cavern: ‘A fringe of long icicles hung at the entrance of the grotto and passing under these I was in the most wonderful place imaginable. From the outside, the interior appeared quite white and colourless, but, once inside, it was a lovely symphony of blue and green.’ (source)