Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The Commonwealth Trans - Antarctic Expedition ( ctaE ) 1955-1958 was funded by the Commonwealth Expedition, which successfully led the first crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole. The governments of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa denied the costs with the help of donations under the auspices of Elizabeth II. Took over the leadership of the expedition of British explorer Vivian Fuchs, the New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary led a team to help with supplies. Among the members of the team were also scientists who conducted research during the International Geophysical Year. The scientific goal of the expedition was to find out is what kind of thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet along the route and whether the rocky subsoil is below or above sea level. It was found that the rocky ground between the Antarctic Peninsula and Ostantarktika lies largely below sea level, that a strait would be located there without ice.

Preparations

Preparations began in London in 1955. In the southern summer of 1955/56, Fox sailed with a first team from London to Antarctica, where he used the Canadian seal hunting ship Theron. The purpose of the procedural request was to set up the base " Shackleton Base " at the Vahsel Bay on the Weddell Sea, where the Transantarctic expedition would begin. The Theron was, however, like their predecessors, the Endurance of the Endurance expedition and the Germany German Antarctic Expedition of 1911 in the ice under Wilhelm Filchner second. Fortunately, she was able to free himself, despite extensive damage with the help of the oyster float plane that had its way out of the pack ice. Early 1956 returned fox back to London, leaving eight men back to hibernation. The cameraman Derek Williams British present at the first ride created from the resulting footage 1957 short documentary Foothold on Antarctica showing, among other things, the difficulty of the team in the liberation of the pack ice.

The eight men under Kenneth Blaiklock were protected only by tents and a shed. Most goods were left on the ice, about 3 kilometers from the planned location of the base. The first task was to bring all these goods from the bay to the camp and to ensure permanent protection next winter. Once a few basics and some fuel (paraffin) incorporated and the dogs were safely tied up, the men began to build their hut. This proved to be far more difficult than expected; not only were the eight man enough to perform the heavy tasks with reasonable use, even the weather was much colder and windier than expected. As the skeleton of the hut was built, it was decided to set up the crates to the wall and roof panels around the building site. Then, however, came on a snow storm that lasted longer than a week, the temperature fell to -20 ° C, and the driving snow around the base made ​​any outside work impossible. The men studied in their shed protection and slept in their tents, which constantly ran the risk of being covered by wind-blown snow. When the wind finally laid, the scene had changed beyond recognition. The huge boxes with the wall panels were all gone under meters deep snowdrifts; the unfinished cottage itself was full of snow. Far worse, however, was that the men only found water, as they were looking on the pack ice for the remaining goods. The ice was broken and had taken all the goods with him. They had lost many supplies of food and fuel, as well as several cabins and a tractor.

After this setback, the men had to work hard and try to get to the snow- boxes, which was achieved by snow tunnel; coincidentally, the tunnel proved to be useful in order to protect the dogs from the strict conditions. The group survived with some difficulty; day survived the eight members in the tractor shed, at night they slept in their double tents. Winter temperatures often fell well below -30 ° C. The " Shackleton Base" proved to be extremely windy place, what outdoor work could be very uncomfortable, the goods of the danger lying in the snow exposed to be snowed in and caused a constant risk of getting lost.

Despite all the difficulties survived the eight winter in relatively good health and eventually built the cottage ready. Only a roof panel could not be found in the snow.

They also managed to make a few trips to get seal meat for the dogs and to explore the route to the south. They used dogs and a Weasel tractor while the Snocat Halftrack never worked properly - apparently someone had let a mother in one of the 12 cylinder fall.

Expedition

In December 1956 Fox returned with the Danish ship Magga Dan and additional inventories, and the southern summer of 1956/57 was spent, the " Shackleton Base" to expand and build a smaller base of about 480 km in southern Germany.

After even the winter of 1957 had been spent in the " Shackleton Base", Fox broke in November 1957 finally on the actual expedition. A twelve - man team would travel with specially adapted tractors and tracked vehicles. On the journey, the team was engaged in scientific research, including seismic and gravimetric measurements. So all was ignited 30 km up to 50 km blasting to determine information about the subsurface from the echo.

Meanwhile, Hillary's team had set up the Scott Base at the other end of the continent at McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea, which would be Fuchs ' final destination. The men used modified Ferguson TE20 tractors and were responsible for planning the route and the system a number of depots along the Skelton Glacier and the Polar Plateau towards the South Pole. They should support fox on the last part of his journey. Other members of the support group led in the area around the Ross Sea and Victoria Land by geological researches.

It was not originally planned that Hillary would be as far as the South Pole travel, but when he had finished the depot system, he saw the opportunity to the British to forestall and continued south until he reached the South Pole on January 3, 1958 where the U.S. Amundsen -Scott South Pole Station was recently set up in the air. Hillarys group was only the third (after Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott 1911 1912), which reached the Pole overland. He also was first achieved at this point of land vehicles.

Fox reached the South Pole on 19 January 1958 by the other side and met Hillary. Fox drove over land, where he followed the scale of Hillary Depot line, while Hillary's men flew back in a U.S. aircraft to Scott Base and fox on a part of the return journey accompanied later. The group met on March 2, 1958 in Scott Base after they had completed the historic crossing of Antarctica over 3473 km previously unexplored snow and ice in 99 days. A few days later left the members of the expedition to Antarctica on the New Zealand Navy ship Endeavour towards New Zealand.

Although large quantities of supplies were hauled overland, both groups were also supported by light aircraft and were often used by aerial reconnaissance for route planning and the depot system. Additional logistical support was provided by U.S. personnel. Both groups also had dog teams with him, which were used for trips in the course of field work and as backup in case of failure of the mechanical transport. In December 1957, four members of the expedition flew one of the aircraft - a de Havilland Otter - on an eleven-hour, 2300 km 's leading non-stop Trans- Polar flight of the " Shackleton Base" over the pole to Scott Base.

Fuchs was beaten later knighted for his success. The next crossing of Antarctica should be made only in 1981.