Destination Story
Australians in Antarctica: Do all great explorers smoke a pipe?
To celebrate over a century of exploration and science in the polar regions and, in particular, Australia’s involvement with the Great White Continent, Ray McMahon and other ‘Antarcticans’ — Doug Twigg (1950s), Neil Roberts (1970s) and Dr Jenny MacKenzie (1990s) — will be reliving some of their adventures and looking back at some of the lesser known, though equally great, explorers like Wilkins and Rymill onboard the Peregrine Mariner.
Antarctica has been witness to incredible acts of endurance, courage and heroics. Australians have long been tied to tales of its exploration, with adventurers such as Mawson, Hurley, Wilkins and Rymill remembered as heroes of a golden age. Some of the early explorers achieved their goals while others did not complete their journey. However they all had one thing in common: photographs of them smoking a pipe.
Ray McMahon spent time in Antarctica in the early sixties. Ray, recipient of the Polar medal, set out on a 1700km dog sled expedition which traversed the Amery Ice Shelf and Lambert Glacier. McMahon was the officer in charge of the 9th Australian Research Expedition to Mawson’s Base to research and stake a claim for a part of Antarctica for Australia. He was also photographed with a pipe. The only difference being that Ray did not smoke, never has! The pipe can be clearly seen in this photograph of Ray, with his huskies Winkin and Blinkin, and other members of the expedition. What is also evident is that his team wore clothing not unlike that worn by their heroes from the start of the 1900s!
Many things have changed since then, particularly the sophistication of the clothing and footwear. Today’s polar adventurers, even everyday people aboard an Antarctic expedition voyage, enjoy the comfort of moisture management, heat balance and weather protection to better protect against the tough polar conditions.
The lack of such fabric technology makes the achievements of yesteryear explorers even more remarkable! Had Ray and his team had access to satellite imagery it is likely that their expedition would have been called off – the path that they were taking was highly crevassed and extremely dangerous. Yet their luck held, and they all returned safely.
The Antarctic explorers of yesteryear will depart from Ushuaia, Argentina, the town on the end of the world, on the 5 March 2007, sail down the Beagle channel and cross the Drake Passage to explore the Antarctic Peninsula, arguably the most dazzling part of the continent with the highest concentration of wildlife, through on-shore and Zodiac boat excursions. Weather conditions permitting, they may even once again get the chance to spend a night camping on the ice! They will also come face-to-face with ancient glaciers, massive ice shelves that creep down to the water’s edge, whales that breach the surface of the water, Wedell and elephant seals resting on giant blue icebergs, albatross flying lazily overhead and shores covered in a sea of gentoo, chinstrap or Adelie penguins, and relive memories of their past adventures in Antarctica, one of the last untamed and pristine places on earth.
This Spirit of Adventure story was supplied by Peregrine.
To find out more visit www.peregrineadventures.com/antarctica. |
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