Discovery of the South Pole. Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott

Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott. People began to guess that somewhere in the extreme south of the Southern Hemisphere there was land back in ancient times, although there could be no talk of any voyages to the southern high latitudes. However, already in 1501 the famous Amerigo Vespucci, after whom both Americas are named, visited the fiftieth latitudes of the South Atlantic. Almost three centuries later, the famous English navigator James Cook began a systematic search for Terra Australis Incognita - the Unknown Southern Land. During his second circumnavigation of the world in 1772 - 1775, he crossed the Antarctic Circle three times, reaching the 72nd parallel. He never saw the continent of Antarctica, but he managed to become intimately acquainted with the floating ice and mighty Antarctic icebergs.

In January 1820, the sailors of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition on the sailing sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” under the command of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev saw, as it seemed to them, the outlines of an unknown land, but they could not get closer to it. This was done 20 years later by the Englishman James Clark Ross. His expedition on the durable wooden sailing ships “Erebus” and “Terror” reached the 78th parallel and opened the continuous coastline of the sixth continent of the Earth, finally acquired by humanity. The first reliable map of Antarctica included Wilkes Land, Victoria Land, the giant ice Ross Barrier, and two high volcanoes among the snow and ice, named after the expedition ships.

In 1895, the first person to set foot on the Antarctic coast was an Australian of Norwegian origin, Heinrich Johann Bull. Three years later, another Norwegian member of his expedition, Carsten Borchgrevink, stayed here for the first winter in the history of the mainland. But by this time, both whalers and explorers from many European countries had already rushed into Antarctic waters. The British, Belgians, Swedes, Germans, and French are storming the newly found continent with no less excitement than in about the same years the high-latitude Arctic - Nordenskiöld and Nansen, Russian polar explorers and American fanatics of the North Pole. And very quickly the question arises: who will be the first to reach the other pole - the South.

Unlike the Arctic, here in Antarctica, the answer to this question came almost instantly: already in December 1911, the national flag of Norway flew at the cherished point of the South Pole.

Here are the paradoxes that happen: man reached the South Pole just a few years after his appearance in Antarctica, while the famous “races” in the Arctic continued for almost a hundred years in a row. But the first documented “polar” event in the North was the flight of the airship “Norge” in 1926. Almost the entire history of record achievements in the Central Arctic in the 20s and 30s is associated with airplanes and airships. In Antarctica, it was people on skis, accompanied by dog sleds and horses harnessed to sleighs, who “conquered” the pole unconditionally, once and for all, and an airplane piloted by the already well-known American polar explorer Richard Byrd first flew over the South Pole only in November 1929.

Many people have dreamed about the South Pole. Among them is the French navigator Jean-Baptiste Charcot, a famous explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic (he died in 1936 during another expedition to Greenland). Nansen also dreamed of a polar triumph in Antarctica, intending to head to the southern polar seas on his beloved Fram. In 1909, the Englishman Ernst Shackleton and his comrades penetrated into the very heart of the mainland and were forced to turn to the coast just a hundred miles from the Pole due to an acute shortage of food. And in October 1911, in the frosty Antarctic spring, two expeditions, Norwegian and British, rushed to the South Pole almost simultaneously. One was led by Roald Amundsen (he had already wintered on a ship in Antarctic ships at the end of the 19th century and managed to become famous in the Arctic, having crossed the "Yoa" labyrinth of the Canadian archipelago in 1903 - 906), second - captain of the 1st rank, holder of the Order of Victoria Robert Falcon Scott. Scott was a naval officer who managed to command both cruisers and battleships in his time. At the very beginning of the 20th century, he spent two years on the Antarctic coast, leading a research wintering camp. The small detachment he led then attempted to penetrate deep into the continent, and in three months Scott advanced almost a thousand miles towards the Pole. As soon as he returned to his homeland, he began to prepare for the next expedition, and although he was by no means a fanatic of the Pole, a passionate desire to reach this point quickly took possession of his thoughts and the hearts of his comrades. But when their ship “Terra Nova” was already on the way to Antarctica, the British learned that the “Fram” was heading there at full speed with the Amundsen expedition on board and the goal of the Norwegians was the same single and indivisible South Pole.

Representatives of Russia took part in the events of those days. The young talented oceanographer Alexander Kuchin conducted research on the Fram; among the English winterers were Dmitry Girev and groom Anton Omelchenko. All three, however, did not participate in the record-breaking campaigns.)

At first, Amundsen did not intend to go to the Southern Hemisphere at all. He borrowed Nansen's Fram in order to repeat his previous drift and certainly reach the North Pole on skis. But then there were reports that the Americans Cook and Peary had already done this. The Norwegian, who wanted to maintain his polar prestige, instantly changed plans and turned the Fram to the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, he issued an open challenge to Scott, and further competition was under the motto: “Who will win?”

The British chose the short and hardy Manchurian horses as their main means of transport, although they also had dogs and even motor sleighs - a novelty for that time. There were 800 miles of travel to the South Pole along terrible glaciers broken by bottomless cracks; on this route (plus the same amount back to the coast!) they were faced with forty-degree frosts even at the height of the Antarctic summer, a ferocious snowstorm with a complete loss of visibility, all kinds of hardships and injuries , frostbite, death of all horses, breakdown of engine parts. When 150 miles remained to the goal, the last members of the escort group turned back, and five Englishmen, harnessed to heavy sledges with luggage, entered the finishing curve, winding among the cracks and icy chaos of the Antarctic highlands.

The Norwegians made the main bet on dogs - 52 selected huskies pulled four sledges with equipment. When the animals were exhausted, they were fed to their more resilient relatives (people also did not refuse dinner from their recent four-legged friends...). Amundsen extremely skillfully chose the place of wintering and future launch - a full hundred miles closer to the pole than Scott. On their route, which passed at an angle to the route of the British, Amundsen’s people did not encounter either terrible cold or deadly prolonged snowstorms. The Norwegian detachment completed the round trip in a shorter period of time, without leaving the Antarctic summer, and here one can only pay tribute again and again to the organizer of the expedition, his talent as a skilled navigator and lookout. On January 17, 1912, Robert Scott and his comrades sailed to the mathematical point of the South Pole. Here they saw the remains of someone else’s camp, traces of a sled, dog paws and a tent with a flag - exactly a month before them, their rival reached the pole. With his characteristic brilliance, without a single casualty, without serious injuries, following the route schedule he had drawn up almost to the minute (and, what looks absolutely fantastic, predicting the timing of the return to the coastal base with the same accuracy), Amundsen demonstrated another and far from my last achievement. A heartbreaking entry appeared in Scott's diary: “The Norwegians were ahead of us. A terrible disappointment, and I feel pain for my faithful comrades. None of us could sleep as a result of the blow we received.”

The British detachment set off on the return journey, from one intermediate warehouse with food and fuel to another. People quickly lost strength.

The youngest and strongest of them, Edgar Evans, died unexpectedly. The captain of the dragoon regiment, Lawrence Ots, froze his hands and feet and, realizing that he had become a burden to others, left the tent at one of the nights, voluntarily going to his death. The three survivors were stuck on the road for a long time due to severe snowstorms. It was 11 miles to the nearest auxiliary depot, where food and warmth awaited them, only 11 of the 1600 they walked almost entirely round trip! But they were stopped forever by the endless March snowstorm. The bodies of Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Dr. Edward Wilson and Robert Scott were discovered more than seven months later by a rescue team searching for them.

Next to Scott's body was a bag containing diaries and farewell letters. There were also 35 pounds of geological samples collected during the route on the rocks framing the Antarctic glaciers. The British continued to drag these stones until their last breath, when death was already looking them in the eyes.

In his last diary entries and letters, Robert Scott carefully analyzed the causes of the disaster that befell them. He gave the highest moral assessment to each of his companions. It is said about one of them: “He died as he lived - a brave, true man and the most steadfast of friends. And not a single word of reproach to me for stirring up this whole mess.” About another: “The more difficult it became for us, the brighter his indomitable spirit shone for us, and so he remained to the end - cheerful, full of hope and unshakable.” The last line in the diary was a phrase that later spread throughout the world: “For God’s sake, do not leave our loved ones.”

Captain Scott writes to his wife and friends: “We have been to the Pole and we will die like gentlemen. I only feel sorry for the women we leave behind”; “We could cope if we left the sick”; “If we had survived, what a story I would have told about the firmness, endurance and courage of my comrades! My uneven lines and our dead bodies must tell this story.”

Admitting to his wife that there was no chance of salvation, Robert Scott asked her to interest their son in natural history so that he could continue his work as a traveler-naturalist in the future. Dr. Peter Scott, who died in the 90s (who was not even a year old when his father went on an expedition from which he never returned), became an outstanding biologist and ecologist, one of the leaders of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

As soon as the news of the death of five Englishmen reached the rest of the world, the story of the competition between the two expeditions received a loud resonance. Many not only in Great Britain, but also in Norway, Amundsen’s homeland, thought about the moral side of his action. Undoubtedly, the appearance of a competitor who had hitherto hidden his true intentions, his victory, which turned into defeat for Scott, could not but affect the mood of the unfortunate Englishmen. Having received a terrible blow at the pole, they could no longer help but think about how they would look into the eyes of their friends, who for many months in a row, suffering from malnutrition, cold, polar darkness, falling into glacial cracks, losing their way in a snowstorm, not sparing themselves, they were prepared and were not successful.

The bodies of three Englishmen were buried by members of the search party in the eternal snows of Antarctica. The bodies of Evans and Oates, despite all the efforts of their comrades, were never found. And on the coast of the mainland, near the base of the British expedition, on the top of a high hill facing the majestic ice Ross Barrier, a three-meter cross made of Australian eucalyptus rose.

On it is a tombstone in memory of the five victims. And - the final words of the poem by the classic of British poetry of the 19th century, Alfred Tennyson, “Ulysses”: “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield!” (which translated from English means: “Fight and search, find and don’t give up!”). Much later, with the publication of Veniamin Kaverin’s novel “Two Captains,” these very words became the life motto of millions of readers, a loud call for Soviet polar explorers of different generations.

Did Amundsen forgive himself for what happened in the scorching cold summer of 1911–1912 in Antarctica? Probably still hasn’t forgiven me. Otherwise, in subsequent years he would not have made excuses before world public opinion - after all, he was proud and proud.

If he had forgiven, who knows whether he would have flown to certain death in the Arctic summer of 1928? Then, just before the departure of the Latham, Amundsen finished with all earthly affairs. I sold my things, paid off my creditors (almost for the first time in my life) and went to save my enemy. 1 hour 40 minutes after the plane took off, communication with it was lost - it died somewhere in the Barents Sea. A few months later, waves washed one of the Latham's floats onto the northern coast of Norway.

If Amundsen had forgiven himself, he would not have written, upon learning of the death of Scott and his companions, words amazing in their frankness and power: “I would sacrifice fame, absolutely everything, to bring him back to life. My triumph is overshadowed by the thought of his tragedy. She's stalking me!

Amundsen and Scott, Scott and Amundsen. Today, at the very point that brought a great victory to one and a fatal defeat to another, the Amundsen-Scott Antarctic station is conducting scientific research. The South Pole and a wise geographical map forever united former rivals who had gone into immortality.

The point of intersection of the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation with its surface in the Southern Hemisphere. Located at an altitude of 2800 m in the Polar Plateau of Antarctica. The South Pole was first reached by the Norwegian expedition of R. Amundsen in 1911. EdwART. Explanatory Naval ... Marine Dictionary

SOUTH POLE, the point of intersection of the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation with its surface in the Southern Hemisphere. It is located within the Polar Plateau of Antarctica at an altitude of 2800 m. For the first time, a Norwegian expedition led by R. reached the South Pole... ... Modern encyclopedia

The point of intersection of the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation with its surface in the Southern Hemisphere. It is located within the Polar Plateau of Antarctica at an altitude of 2800 m. The South Pole was first reached by a Norwegian expedition led by R. Amundsen in 1911... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

South Pole- The point of intersection of the Earth’s rotation axis with the earth’s surface in the Southern Hemisphere... Dictionary of Geography

South Pole- pietų polius statusas T sritis fizika atitikmenys: engl. antarctic pole; south pole vok. Südpol, m rus. south pole, m pranc. pôle Sud, m … Fizikos terminų žodynas

South Pole- South Pole … Russian spelling dictionary

The point at which the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation intersects its surface in the Southern Hemisphere. Any other point on the Earth's surface is always in the northern direction in relation to the South. Located on the mainland of Antarctica, closer to... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

The point at which the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation intersects its surface in the South. hemispheres. It is located on the Antarctic continent, on the Polar Plateau, at an altitude of 2800 m. The thickness of the ice in the southern region exceeds 2800 m, i.e. bedrock lies... ... Geographical encyclopedia

The point of intersection of the imaginary axis of rotation of the Earth with its surface in the South. hemispheres. Located within the Polar Plateau of Antarctica at altitude. 2800 m. For the first time U.P. reached nor. exp. under hand R. Amundsen in 1911 ... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

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South Pole. Amundsen v. Scott, Ousland Björn. The race to the South Pole was akin to a dramatic thriller, in which the forces of nature decided to compete with strong men, testing their strength, technical means and dogs. In the new...

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the era of geographical discoveries on Earth was practically over. All the tropical islands were mapped, and tireless explorers traveled the length and breadth of Africa and South America.

There were only two points left unconquered by people - the North and South Poles, which were difficult to reach due to the barren icy desert surrounding them. But in 1908-09, two American expeditions (F. Cook and R. Peary) to the North Pole took place. After them, the only worthy goal remained the South Pole, located on the territory of the continent covered with eternal ice - Antarctica.

History of Antarctic exploration

Many researchers sought to visit the southernmost point of the globe. The beginning was made by the famous Amerigo Vespucci, whose ships reached the fiftieth latitude in 1501, but were forced to turn away due to ice. More successful was the attempt of J. Cook, who reached 72 degrees south latitude in 1772-75. He, too, was forced to turn back before reaching the Pole because of the mighty ice and icebergs that threatened to crush the fragile wooden ship.

The honor of discovering Antarctica belongs to the Russian sailors F. Bellingshausen and M. Lazarev. In 1820, two sailing sloops came close to the shore and recorded the presence of a previously unknown continent. 20 years later, the expedition of J.K. Rossa circumnavigated Antarctica and mapped its coastline, but still did not land on land.

The first person to set foot on the southernmost continent was the Australian explorer G. Buhl in 1895. From that time on, reaching the South Pole became a matter of time and preparedness of the expedition.

Conquest of the South Pole

The first attempt to reach the South Pole took place in 1909 and was unsuccessful. The English explorer E. Shackleton did not reach it for about a hundred miles and was forced to turn back because he ran out of food. In the polar spring of 1911, two expeditions set off to the South Pole at once - an English one led by R. Scott and a Norwegian one led by R. Amundsen.

Over the next few months, the eternal ice of Antarctica witnessed the grandiose triumph of one of them and the no less grandiose tragedy of the other.

The tragic fate of R. Scott's expedition

British naval officer Robert Scott was an experienced polar explorer. A few years earlier, he had already landed on the shores of Antarctica and spent about three months here, walking through the icy desert for about a thousand miles. This time he was determined to reach the Pole and plant the British flag at this point. His expedition was well prepared: Manchurian horses, accustomed to the cold, were chosen as the main draft force; there were also several dog sleds and even a technical novelty - a motor sleigh.

R. Scott's expedition had to travel about 800 miles to reach the South Pole. It was a terrible route, full of ice hummocks and deep cracks. The air temperature almost all the time did not exceed 40 degrees below zero; a snowstorm was a frequent occurrence, during which visibility did not exceed 10-15 meters.

On the way to the Pole, all the horses died from frostbite, then the snowmobile broke down. Before reaching the final point about 150 km, the expedition split up: only five people went further, harnessed to sledges loaded with luggage, the rest turned back.

Having overcome unimaginable difficulties, the five explorers reached the South Pole - and then Scott and his companions suffered a terrible disappointment. At the southernmost point of the planet there was already a tent with the Norwegian flag flying at the top. The British were late - Amundsen was ahead of them by a whole month.

They were not destined to make it back. One of the English researchers died of illness, the second had frostbite on his hands and chose to leave himself, getting lost in the ice, so as not to become a burden to the others. The three remaining, including R. Scott himself, froze in the snow, not reaching only eleven miles to the last of the intermediate warehouses with food, which they left along the route to the Pole. A year later, their bodies were discovered by a rescue expedition sent after them.

Roald Amundsen - discoverer of the South Pole

The dream of the Norwegian traveler Roald Amundsen for many years was the North Pole. The expeditions of Cook and Peary were quite dubious in terms of effectiveness - neither one nor the other could reliably confirm that they had reached the northernmost point of the planet.

Amundsen spent a long time preparing for the expedition, selecting the necessary equipment and supplies. He immediately decided that in the northern latitudes there was nothing better than dog sleds in terms of endurance and speed of movement. Having already set sail, he learned about Scott's expedition, which set off to conquer the South Pole, and decided to also go south.

Amundsen's expedition chose a good place for landing on the mainland, which was one hundred miles closer to the pole than the starting point of Scott's expedition. Four dog teams, consisting of 52 huskies, pulled sleds with everything they needed. In addition to Amundsen, four other Norwegians took part in the expedition, each of whom was an experienced cartographer and traveler.

The whole journey there and back took 99 days. Not a single explorer died; everyone safely reached the South Pole in December 1911 and returned home, covering themselves with the glory of discoverers of the southernmost point of planet Earth.

Where is the South Pole

The South Pole is one of the two intersection points of the Earth's imaginary axis of rotation and the Earth's surface, where all geographic meridians converge. It is located within the Polar Plateau of Antarctica at an altitude of approximately 2800 m above sea level. Interestingly, the geographic coordinates of the South Pole usually indicate simply 90° S. latitude, since the longitude of the pole is geometrically determined. If necessary, it can be specified as 0°.

At the South Pole, all directions point north and are therefore tied to the Greenwich (prime) meridian.

Attempts to conquer the South Pole

A general understanding of the geography of the Antarctic coast appeared only in the middle of the 19th century, so the first attempts to conquer the continent began at this time.

In 1820, several expeditions simultaneously announced the discovery of Antarctica. The first of these was the Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, which reached the shores of the mainland on January 16.

But the first proven landing on the shore is considered to be the landing of the Borchgrevink expedition in 1895 on the coast of Victoria Land.

Amundsen expedition

Initially, Roald Amundsen was going to conquer the North Pole, but during preparations for the expedition it became known that it had already been discovered. But the scientist did not cancel the trip, he simply changed the purpose of his trip.

“To maintain my status as a polar explorer,” Amundsen recalled, “I needed to achieve any other sensational success as quickly as possible... And I told my comrades that since the North Pole was open, I decided to go to the South Pole.”

On October 19, 1911, the expedition set off on a dog-drawn sleigh. At first it passed along the snowy hilly plain of the Ross Ice Shelf, but at the 85th parallel the surface went up steeply - the ice shelf ended. The ascent began along steep snow-covered slopes. According to the researchers, it was difficult both physically and mentally. After all, they didn’t know what would happen next.

At the beginning of the ascent, the travelers set up a main warehouse with food for 30 days. For the entire further journey, Amundsen left food for 60 days. During this period, he planned to reach the South Pole and return back to the main warehouse.

On December 14, Amundsen's expedition reached a point on the white plain, at an altitude of 3000 m, where, according to calculations, the South Pole should have been located. This day is considered the discovery of the South Pole. The expedition also included Oscar Visting, Helmer Hansen, Sverre Hassel, and Olaf Bjoland.

They left a small tent, over which they hung a Norwegian flag and a pennant with the inscription “Fram” on a pole. In the tent, Roald Amundsen left a letter to the Norwegian king with a short report on the campaign.

In his diary, the Norwegian scientist described in detail his arrival at the desired point.

“On the morning of December 14, the weather was excellent, ideal for arriving at the Pole... At noon we reached 89° 53′ by any calculation and prepared to cover the rest of the route in one go... We advanced that same day as mechanically as always, almost silently, but looking more and more ahead... at three in the afternoon, “Stop” was heard simultaneously from all the drivers. They carefully examined the instruments, all showed the full distance - the Pole, in our opinion. The goal was achieved, the journey ended. I cannot say - although I know it would sound much more convincing - that I have achieved the goal of my life. It would be romantic, but too straightforward. I prefer to be honest and suggest that I have never seen a person who was in a more diametrically opposed position to his goals and desires than I was at that moment.”

Amundsen named his camp “Pulheim” (translated from Norwegian as “Polar House”), and the plateau on which the pole is located was named in honor of the Norwegian king Haakon VII.

Amundsen's entire journey to the South Pole and back lasted 99 days. On March 7, 1912, from the city of Hobart on the island of Tasmania, the scientist notified the world of his victory and the successful return of the expedition.

The Norwegian polar explorer and explorer Amundsen was not only the first to reach the South Pole, but also the first to visit both geographic poles of the planet. The Norwegian made a continuous sea passage through the Northwest Passage (through the straits of the Canadian Arctic archipelago), and later completed a passage through the Northeast Passage (along the coast of Siberia), completing the round-the-world distance beyond the Arctic Circle for the first time.

The scientist died in 1928 at the age of 55 during the search for the missing expedition of Umberto Nobile. The sea, the mountain and the American scientific station Amundsen-Scott in Antarctica, a bay and depression in the Arctic Ocean, as well as a lunar crater are named in honor of the traveler.