1940–2000
Discounting Peary's disputed claim, the first men to set foot at the North Pole are likely to have been members of a Soviet Union party, variously described as including Pavel Gordiyenko and three or five others, or Aleksandr Kuznetsov and 23 others, who landed a plane (or planes) there on 23 April 1948.
On 3 May 1952, US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O Fletcher and Lieutenant William P Benedict, along with scientist Albert P Crary, landed a modified C-47 Skytrain at the North Pole. Some sources consider this (rather than the Soviet mission) to be the first ever landing at the pole.
The US Navy submarine USS Nautilus crossed the North Pole on 3 August 1958, and on 17 March 1959 she surfaced at the pole, becoming the first naval vessel to do so.
Setting aside Peary's claim, the first confirmed surface conquest of the North Pole was that of Ralph Plaisted, Walt Pederson, Gerry Pitzl and Jean Luc Bombardier, who travelled over the ice by snowmobile and arrived on 19 April 1968. The US Air Force independently confirmed their position.
On 6 April 1969 Wally Herbert and companions Allan Gill, Roy Koerner and Kenneth Hedges of the British Trans-Arctic Expedition became the first men to reach the North Pole on foot (albeit with the aid of dog teams and air drops). They continued on to complete the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean – and by its longest axis, from Barrow, Alaska, to Svalbard – a feat that has never been repeated.
The Antarctic
The history of exploration of the Antarctic continent and the quest for the South Pole is far more prolific than that of the Arctic Ocean.
Early exploration
In September 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain in search of a westerly route to the Indies. Sailing down the coast of South America, he discovered the narrow strait passing through to the Pacific Ocean which today bears his name. To the south lies Tierra del Fuego, which the early geographers assumed to be the edge of the southern continent.
Francis Drake passed through the Straits of Magellan in September 1578, only to find himself blown significantly southward due to a tremendous storm in the Pacific. This event proved that Tierra del Fuego was separated from any southern continent, and the passageway came to be known as the ‘Drake Passage’.
The Englishman John Davis discovered the Falkland Islands in August 1592 during a tragic expedition. The crew were forced to kill some 14,000 penguins for food, which were stored as properly as possible, but once the ship reached the Tropics the penguin meat spoiled. Only 16 members of the original crew of 76 ever reached home shores.
The first men to cross the Antarctic Circle, in January 1773, were Englishman Captain James Cook and his crew. On his third voyage, in January 1775, he sailed past South Georgia and discovered the South Sandwich Islands two weeks later.
1820–1899
On 27 January 1820 the Russian Fabian von Bellinghausen became the first person to see the Antarctic continent. In that same year American Nathaniel Palmer, on the Hero, claimed to see the Antarctic Peninsula. Palmer was a member of a sealing fleet from New England. Only 19 years old, he was dispatched from the sealing grounds in the South Shetlands by his commanding officer to search for land to the south.
The next year von Bellinghausen returned to the Antarctic waters and discovered Peter I Island and the Alexander Islands. He completed a circumnavigation of Antarctica, being only the second explorer, after Cook, to do so.
The Belgica in 1897: the first overwintering in Antarctica – the expedition combined the discovery of new territory, a scientific mission and the lure of adventure
In February 1821 American sealer John Davis was probably the first person to land on the continent. From Connecticut, Davis had been searching the South Shetlands for seals.
Englishman James Weddell sailed in 1823 to 74° South. This was the furthest south yet reached, and the sea bears his name today. Except for possibly Margot Morrell, no one was able to penetrate this sea again for 80 years.
The Erebus and Terror, under command of Sir James Ross of the British Royal Navy, left in January 1841 in search of the South Magnetic Pole. He discovered Victoria Land and entered the sea which is known famously now as the Ross Sea. He discovered Ross Island, Mount Erebus and the Ross Ice Shelf.
The voyage of the Belgica (1897–99) can be called the first true scientific Antarctic expedition. In March 1898 Adrien de Gerlache and the international crew on board the ship, including Roald Amundsen and Dr Frederick Cook, become trapped in the pack ice off the Antarctic Pensinsula. They drifted helplessly for a year, becoming the first to survive an Antarctic winter.
Carsten Borchgrevink and crew of the Southern Cross landed at Cape Adare in February 1899. They built huts and became the first to overwinter on the continent.
1900–1947
In February 1902 Swedish geologist Otto Nordenskjöld and five crew members were left on Snow Hill Island, where they spent two winters. It was during this expedition that the first major sledge journey in Antarctica (some 400 miles) took place. Unfortunately, their ship Antarctic was crushed in the ice pack after the sledging team had been left on the island, thereby creating two separate groups of explorers. Miraculously, the second crew was able to survive the winter and find their way back to Snow Hill Island, where the whole party was rescued in 1903 by an Argentinean relief ship.
In November the same year Robert F Scott, Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton struck out for the South Pole. Having left McMurdo Sound and headed south across the Ross Ice Shelf, two months later they found themselves at 82° South suffering from snow blindness and scurvy. Forced to return home, they nonetheless covered 3100 miles.
In October 1908 explorers Ernest Shackleton, Frank Wild, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams attempted to reach the South Pole. Within 30 days they had surpassed Scott's effort of 1903. Within 97 nautical miles of their goal the group were severely ill and undernourished, and so had to abandon their attempt on the pole.
The story of Amundsen and Scott's heroic race to the pole still fascinates today – and both men are commemorated at the South Pole
The victor of the race for the South Pole was Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his four team members. They reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911. Amundsen discovered a new route which took only 57 days. Letters were left for Scott, a Norwegian flag was planted, then they returned to the Bay of Whales.
On 18 January 1912 Robert F Scott, Edward Wilson, Edgar Evans, Henry Bowers and Lawrence Oates reached the South Pole. Unfortunately, Amundsen has beaten them to it. Terribly discouraged after a tortuous journey, all members perished on the return trip. Scott, Wilson and Bowers died in their tent after using up all fuel and food. The three were not discovered until November.
Ernest Shackleton planned to cross the continent, but was forced to abandon this idea as his ship, Endurance, was crushed in the ice of the Weddell Sea in October 1915 after drifting for nine months. The 28 men camped on the floating ice for five more months before an opening in the ice allowed them to take to the boats to Elephant Island in the South Shetlands. Meanwhile, members of Shackleton's Ross shore party laid depots for the ill-fated group, to be used by Shackleton and his party on their trek across the continent. Three members died, but the rest were eventually rescued in 1917.
On 28 November 1929, after a 10-hour flight from their base at the Bay of Whales, Richard E Byrd and three others became the first to fly over the South Pole.
Typical