Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel
1864 CE
to 1934 CE
Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (December 1,1864 – April 21, 1934) is an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel.
He is the precursor of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and other more famous names associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
In 1898–1900 he leads the British-financed Southern Cross Expedition, which establishes a new Farthest South record at 78°50'S.
Borchgrevink begains his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, during which he becomes one of the first persons to set foot on the Antarctic mainland.
This achievement helps him to obtain backing for his Southern Cross Expedition, which becomes the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland, and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since the expedition of Sir James Ross nearly sixty years previously.
However, the expedition's successes, including the Farthest South, are received with only moderate interest by the public and by the British geographical establishment, whose attention is by this time focused on Scott's upcoming National Antarctic Expedition.
Some of Borchgrevink's colleagues are critical of his leadership, and his own accounts of the expedition are regarded as journalistic and unreliable.
After the Southern Cross Expedition, Borchgrevink is one of three scientists sent to the Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society, to report on the aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster
Thereafter he settles in Oslo, leading a life mainly away from public attention.
His pioneering work is subsequently recognized and honored by several countries, and in 1912 he receives a handsome tribute from Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole.
In 1930, Britain's Royal Geographical Society finally acknowledges Borchgrevink's contribution to polar exploration and awards him its Patron's Medal.
The Society acknowledges in its citation that justice had not previously been done to the work of the Southern Cross Expedition.
