International competition extended to the continent of Antarctica during the World War II era, though the region saw no combat. During the prelude to war, Nazi Germany organised the 1938 Third German Antarctic Expedition to preempt Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land. [1] The expedition served as the basis for a new German claim, called New Swabia. [2] A year later, the United States Antarctic Service Expedition established two bases, which operated for two years before being abandoned. [3] Responding to these encroachments, and taking advantage of Europe's wartime turmoil, the nearby nations of Chile and Argentina made their own claims. In 1940 Chile proclaimed the Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain, while Argentina proclaimed Argentine Antarctica in 1943 in an overlapping area.
In response to the activities of Germany, Chile, Argentina, and the United States, Britain launched Operation Tabarin in 1943. Its objective was to establish a permanent presence and assert Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands Dependencies, [4] as well as to deny use of the area to the Kriegsmarine , which was known to use remote islands as rendezvous points. There was also a fear that Japan might attempt to seize the Falkland Islands. The expedition under Lieutenant James Marr [5] left the Falklands on 29 January 1944. Bases were established on Deception Island, the coast of Graham Land, and at Hope Bay. The research begun by Operation Tabarin continued in subsequent years, ultimately becoming the British Antarctic Survey. [6]
In the postwar period, competition continued among Antarctica's claimant powers, as well as the United States and Soviet Union. In the late 1950s, this competition would gave way to a cooperative international framework with the International Geophysical Year and the Antarctic Treaty.
New Swabia was an area of land claimed by Nazi Germany in the Norwegian Queen Maud Land claim. [7] It was explored in 1939 by the crew of the MS Schwabenland of the Third German Antarctic Expedition who set out secretly on 17 December 1938 from Hamburg with the goal of establishing a German whaling base in Antarctica for the newly made German whaling fleet. This was part of Hitler's attempt to create a production of fat from raw materials such as whale oil and to prevent having to rely on fat imports from Norway. [8] The expedition was led by Capt. Alfred Ritscher [9] who had previous experience in polar expeditions. [10] The ship landed at the Princess Martha Coast on 19 January 1939 where research soon began after the team constructed a temporary base. They planted German flags on the coast line and surveyed the area where they recorded claim reservations at significant locations along the coast. The MS Schwabenland brought along two Dornier Wal seaplanes that took fifteen total photographic survey flights with 16,000 aerial photographs taken of the Neuschwabenland area. After the expedition left Antarctica on 6 February 1939 they returned to Hamburg on 11 April 1939. Nazi Germany never developed any type of permanent settlement in Antarctica [11] and forfeited its claim to the New Swabia area in 1945 after its defeat in the Second World War.
The United States Antarctic Service Expedition was the first government funded Antarctic expedition since the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842) [12] and was led by Richard E. Byrd a famous polar explorer renowned for previous Antarctic expeditions. [13] The Third German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939) created a sense of urgency for the U.S. government to establish permanent settlement in Antarctica. Commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, [14] Richard.E Byrd supplied much of the equipment which was designated for use in his own planned privately funded expedition. [15] The expedition was hastily planned with Byrd being given only 4 months to plan. [16] The expedition begun in late 1939 when 125 men departed on the ships Bear of Oakland [17] and the USMS North Star. Per Roosevelt's 25 November 1939 orders the goal of the expedition was to construct and maintain two bases, West Base near King Edward VII Land and East Base near Charcot Island. They were also tasked with mapping the features of Heard Island as well as the James W. Ellsworth and Marie Byrd area, along with the coast line of meridians between 72 degrees and 148 degrees West. [18] The team succeeded in building both East Base and West Base with East Base being used again during the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition.
The Team brought along a newly designed Antarctic Snow Cruiser which had smooth tract-less tires which made it difficult to grip onto the Antarctic ice. [19] Due to this problem and constant repair and maintenance on the tires the vehicle was abandoned when the expedition team evacuated. [20] It was found years later during Operation Highjump and once more in 1958. It is now suspected to be lost to the sea or buried under mounds of ice and snow. [21] The crew of the mission which included Richard Black and Paul Siple [22] conducted multiple experiments and observations including collecting samples of plants, algae and lichen. [23] The mission resulted in a better understanding of polar science. [24] With World War II ramping up the U.S. government deemed it wise to evacuate the two bases. West Base cleared on 1 February 1941 and East Base followed suite on 22 March 1941. The ships USMS North star and Bear of Oakland arrived on 5 May 1941 and 18 May 1941 respectively. [25]
During World War II, Nazi Germany constructed a commerce-raiding fleet of Auxiliary Merchant Cruisers destined to sail through the Pacific and disrupt Allied shipping. [26] The main goal of these raiders was to destroy and capture enemy shipping. The Germans constructed 9 ships which were merchant ships that were converted to armed raiders with 5.9 inch guns and torpedo tubes. [27] They were often disguised as neutral vessels. [28]
While the ships mainly spent time in warmer waters near Asia many did stray into colder waters. The Atlantis for example stopped at Kerguelen Islands in December 1940 to rest and resupply on water and food. [29] [30] The ship suffered its first wartime casualty when they lost Bernhard Herrmann after an accident on Christmas Eve. [31] Many of the raiders used the islands as a stopping ground to swap disguises and refuel. [32] The cruiser Pinguin captured a fleet of Norwegian fishers on 14 January 1941 near South Georgia. [33] [34]
German presence in the Pacific dwindled until the last ship was sunk or captured in the mid-1940s.
Argentina conducted two expeditions during the Second World War. [35] The first occurred in late 1942, the second in February 1943. [35]
The first expedition happened in 1942 when the ship Primero De Mayo captained by Alberto J. Oddera landed on Deception Island where surveying was conducted. Following the surveying the crew of the expedition planted a flag to claim the area for Argentina. [36]
The 1943 expedition occurred in February following the destruction of the previous expeditions flag by MV Carnarvon Castle. [37] The expedition was largely uneventful with little activity besides photographic surveys of the Port Lockroy area. [35]
Operation Tabarin was a secret mission undertaken by the British [38] [39] that started in 1943 and ended in 1946. Its original purpose was to set up bases in Graham Land but Lieutenant Commander James Marr with the help of a Discovery Committee decided to extend its reach to surveying and other scientific research. [40] It began with the pretense of searching Antarctica's seas for Nazi U-boats and other German shipping threats but was actually a cover for the construction of bases in disputed territory which was claimed by Argentina. [41] Led by James Marr, who had previous polar experience, [42] the mission team [43] [44] landed at Port Foster, Deception Island on 6 February 1944 after departing from Avonmouth on 14 December 1943. Halfway through the voyage the expedition force switched ships to the Fitzroy and William Scoresby captained by Victor Marchesi. [45] They found no Argentine presence upon landing with the exception of a fuel tank with a painted Argentine flag. They quickly established camp at an old Norwegian whaling station raising the Union flag and set up Base B as a science station.
The rest of the expedition team left for Hope Bay to set up Base A on 7 February 1944. Due to heavy weather conditions the Fitzroy and William Scoresby left on 10 February 1944 and set up camp at Port Lockroy. [46] The two ships departed to the Falklands after completing the main hut at Port Lockroy on 17 February 1944. The postal office was completed 23 March 1944 after William Scoresby returned with more crew although it later burned down on 23 April 1944. Survey work began in May not long after the world was alerted of the expedition's existence. Elke Mackenzie Lamb, [47] a leading scientist in the crew, collected samples of lichen, worms, sea urchins and sponges.
In February 1945 Fitzroy, William Scorresby and the Eagle [48] arrived at Stations A and B with additional scientists. Once there crew and equipment were loaded on to the Fitzroy and William Scoresby and were sent to Hope Bay to construct Station D while others sent to Stonington Island to begin work on Station E were moved out on the Eagle. Construction of Station E was abandoned after James Marr resigned for health reasons on 7 February. His successor Andrew Taylor shifted focus to Station D [49] at Seal Point where the base was finished on 20 March 1945. [50] After building a hut on Coronation Island the British visited Argentina's Meteorology base on Laurie Island. The British began three sledging expeditions [51] to the smaller islands in the area such as Duse Point and Vortex Island starting in August 1945 and concluding in December 1945 after the team returned to Station D for the final time. The team came back with samples of rocks, lichens, fossils and scientific data and chart improvements. The expedition finished at the start of 1946 when on 14 January 1946 departure of crew began and concluded on 11 February 1946 when all military crew members departed for home. The mission resulted in an expansion of British land claims on the continent and further scientific research. [52] [53] Station A at Port Lockroy [54] is now preserved as a museum. [55] [56] Operation Tabarin was followed by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. [57]
Throughout the years, rumors of a hidden German base in the Antarctic have persisted, stemming from theories of escaped Nazi leaders and the appearance of a U-boat in July 1945. [58] The theory was set forward by the Hungarian Ladislas Szabo, who set forth the idea in 1947. [59] Many noted scientists such as Colin Summerhayes have disproved these theories in peer-reviewed papers. [60] [61] [62] They prove through declassified documents that the Nazi regime was present in Antarctica for only a month in 1939 on a simple surveying expedition which left little time to build a city-sized structure in the ice. [63]
The history of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. The term Antarctic, referring to the opposite of the Arctic Circle, was coined by Marinus of Tyre in the 2nd century AD.
The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W, forming a wedge shape that extends to the South Pole, overlapped by the Antarctic claims of Argentina and Chile. The claim to the region has been suspended since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961.
New Swabia was an area of Antarctica explored and briefly claimed by Nazi Germany within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land in early 1939. The region was named after the expedition's ship, Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia. Although the name "New Swabia" is occasionally mentioned in historical contexts, it is not an officially recognized cartographic name in modern use. The area is now part of Queen Maud Land, governed under the Antarctic Treaty System.
Operation Tabarin was the code name for a secret British expedition to the Antarctic during World War Two, operational 1943–46. Conducted by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office, its primary objective was to strengthen British claims to sovereignty of the British territory of the Falkland Islands Dependencies (FID), to which Argentina and Chile had made counter claims since the outbreak of war. This was done by establishing permanently occupied bases, carrying out administrative activities such as postal services and undertaking scientific research. The meteorological observations made aided Allied shipping in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Argentine Antarctica is an area on Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. It consists of the Antarctic Peninsula and a triangular section extending to the South Pole, delimited by the 25° West and 74° West meridians and the 60° South parallel. This region overlaps with British and Chilean claims in Antarctica. None of these claims have widespread international recognition.
Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the current research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rocks or on ice that are fixed in place.
James William Slessor Marr was a Scottish marine biologist and polar explorer. He was leader of the World War 2 British Antarctic Expedition Operation Tabarin during its first year, 1943–1945.
Port Lockroy is a bay forming a natural harbour on the north-western shore of Wiencke Island in the Palmer Archipelago to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Antarctic base with the same name, situated on Goudier Island in this bay, includes the most southerly operational post office in the world. The base was left unstaffed from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the museum house remained open to individual visits. On 4 October 2022 it was announced that a team of four women had been chosen to return to open the base for the summer 2022/23 season.
The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W, forming a wedge shape that extends to the South Pole. The Territory was formed on 3 March 1962, although the UK's claim to this portion of the Antarctic dates back to Letters Patent of 1908 and 1917. The area now covered by the Territory includes three regions which, before 1962, were administered by the British as separate dependencies of the Falkland Islands: Graham Land, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on behalf of the UK. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). With over 400 staff, BAS takes an active role in Antarctic affairs, operating five research stations, one ship and five aircraft in both polar regions, as well as addressing key global and regional issues. This involves joint research projects with over 40 UK universities and more than 120 national and international collaborations.
As Antarctica has never been permanently settled by humans, there has historically been little military activity in the Antarctic. The Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect on June 23, 1961, bans military activity from the continent. Military personnel and equipment may only be used for scientific research or any other peaceful purposes, such as delivering supplies.
James Edward Butler Futtit Farrington was a key member of a secret wartime Antarctic expeditionary force and the last surviving holder of the Polar Medal in Bronze, abolished after 1941.
Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their Antarctic scientific observation and study facilities within their respective claimed territories; however, a number of such facilities are located outside of the area claimed by their respective countries of operation, and countries without claims such as China, India, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa (SANAE), Poland, and the United States have constructed research facilities within the areas claimed by other countries. There are overlaps among the territories claimed by Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom.
Queen Maud Land is a roughly 2.7-million-square-kilometre (1.0-million-square-mile) region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addition, a small unclaimed area from 1939 was annexed in June 2015. Positioned in East Antarctica, it makes out about one-fifth of the continent, and is named after the Norwegian Queen Maud (1869–1938).
RRS William Scoresby was British Royal Research Ship built for operations in Antarctic waters. Specially built for the Discovery Committee by Cook, Welton & Gemmell of Beverley, the ship was launched on 31 December 1925, and named after the noted 19th-century Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Over the next 12 years the ship made seven voyages into Antarctic waters as part of the Discovery Investigations, accompanied by the ship Discovery until 1929, and then by Discovery II. During this time she marked about 3,000 whales and completed biological, hydrographical and oceanographic studies. She also took part in the 2nd Wilkins-Hearst Antarctic Expedition in 1929-1930, launching a Lockheed Vega floatplane for flights over Antarctica.
Goudier Island is a small island with an appearance of bare, polished rock, lying 0.05 nautical miles (0.1 km) north of Jougla Point in the harbour of Port Lockroy, Wiencke Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. It was discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, and named after E. Goudier, chief engineer of the expedition ship Français.
MS Schwabenland was a German catapult ship owned by the Deutsche Luft Hansa. It took part in the 1938-1939 Third German Antarctic Expedition.
Elke Mackenzie, born Ivan Mackenzie Lamb, was a British polar explorer and botanist who specialised in the field of lichenology. Beginning her education in Edinburgh, Scotland, Mackenzie later pursued botany at Edinburgh University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1933 and a Doctor of Science in 1942. In the two years she was involved in Operation Tabarin, a covert World War II mission to Antarctica, she identified and documented many lichen species, several of them previously unknown to science.
The Hope Bay incident occurred in February 1952 at Hope Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. It involved an Argentine naval party from a nearby onshore base and a British landing party from the survey ship John Briscoe.
The German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939), led by German Navy captain Alfred Ritscher (1879–1963), was the third official Antarctic expedition of the German Reich, by order of the "Commissioner for the Four Year Plan" Hermann Göring. Prussian State Councilor Helmuth Wohlthat was mandated with planning and preparation. The expedition's main objective was of economic nature, in particular the establishment of a whaling station and the acquisition of fishing grounds for a German whaling fleet in order to reduce the Reich's dependence on the import of industrial oils, fats and dietary fats. Preparations took place under strict secrecy as the enterprise was also tasked to make a feasibility assessment for a future occupation of Antarctic territory in the region between 20 ° West and 20 ° East.