In the 19th and early 20th centuries, explorers ventured in tandem to the most extreme regions of the world in search of glory, knowledge, and adventure. For many, their ultimate goal is to reach the Arctic or Antarctic, or to discover the fabled shipping lane between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans of the Arctic Ocean, the Northwest Passage.
But the story of the triumphant journey to the last border of the world is also often a story of hardship, struggle and death. For every polar explorer who survives, dozens die of starvation, drowning, rebellion, cold, and polar wilderness.
From the mysterious disappearance of the Franklin Expedition to S. A. Andrée made a catastrophic attempt to reach the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon, where 5 polar expeditions ended in tragedy.
1. The Franklin Expedition (1845-1846)
Before the Panama Canal appeared, European explorers raced to discover the Northwest Passage, a theoretical route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean over Canada. One of the explorers was Sir John Franklin.
In May 1845, a Franklin expedition set out from England to find the passage. His fleet consisted of two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, of about 129 men. Neither the ship nor the crew survived.
Franklin himself died in June 1947, but some of the crew lived until April 1848. In 1848, a search party found the graves of three of Franklin's men on Beach Island. A later expedition, in 1859, found more remains on King William Island.
The exact details of franklin expedition deaths remain controversial, but some believe scurvy and malnutrition are linked to the deaths of some. Later analysis of the bones of some of Franklin's men found evidence of cannibalism.
In 2014, the wreckage of the HMS Erebus was found in Queen Maud Bay in Canada. In 2016, HMS Terror was discovered at the bottom of the same water.
2. Polaris Expedition (1871-1873)
Funeral of Charles Francis Hall during the Polaris expedition.
In 1871, the Polaris expedition, led by American explorer Charles Francis Hall, hoped to be the first to reach the North Pole.
The team traveled from New York to the North Pole on the Polaris, but cracks soon appeared within the team. When the bitter winter delayed their journey north, the expedition reached northern Greenland. There, tensions escalated and members of the group began questioning Hall's leadership.
Although Hall was an experienced explorer at this point, he had no experience in leadership. The expedition's scientist Emile Bessel and meteorologist Frederick Meyer soon attacked Hall, defying his authority. Suddenly, Hall fell ill, and he accused Bessel of poisoning him. Hall died soon after.
The survivors embarked on a perilous journey south, where they were split, drifting on ice floes, destroying the North Star off the coast of Greenland, and were eventually rescued after a cold winter.
Hall's body was found in 1968. Upon examination, experts concluded that he had consumed a large amount of arsenic before his death, which may indicate that Hall's fears of poisoning were well-founded.
3. Janet Expedition (1879-1881)
The USS Janet departed from San Francisco in July 1879 with a group of people attempting to make the first successful trip to the Arctic.
In September of that year, the ship was trapped in sea ice. Before sinking in June 1881, the ship was wedged for nearly two years.
The crew was trapped on the ice nearly 500 miles from the Siberian continent. They dragged two smaller boats through this frozen wasteland in a sleigh, eventually taking them to the coast of northern Russia.
Of the 33 people who left with the Janet, only 13 returned alive. 20 people were killed on their way to North Buren, where survivors eventually found refuge.
4. S. A. Andrée Expedition (1897)
The hydrogen balloon that crashed on the Andrée expedition, photographed by expedition member Nils Strindberg.
In 1897, Swedish hot air balloon pilot Solomon Auguste Andrée attempted to fly from Svalbard to the Arctic in a hydrogen balloon.
The balloon stayed in the air for more than 10 hours without descending. After that, the balloon suffered several scrapes and collisions, experiencing about 41 hours of intermittent air time and collisions with the Arctic surface. Eventually, the spacecraft landed safely and the team was forced to return to the ground.
He was not so much a polar explorer or navigator as he was a pilot. For crossing the Arctic, Andrée was not fully prepared. His sleighs were not efficient, the food supply was small, and his warm clothes were not warm.
After more than two months of snow and ice travel, Andrée and his two companions camped on a floating ice floes and reached the islet of Wight in the eastern part of Svalbard, also known as Kvitoya. Within two weeks, all three were dead — probably killed by parasites from the polar bears they preyed on.
More than 30 years later, in 1930, a Norwegian expedition found the bodies of Andrée and his companions. Among those recycled items were film, whose frames were later processed, sharing Andrée's story with the world.
5. Oceania Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)
By 1910, the Australian scholar Douglas Mawson had built a reputation as a fearless and reliable polar explorer. So much so that he was invited to join the Taylor Expedition of Captain Robert Scott from 1910-1913. However, Mawson declined the invitation and began his own polar expedition in 1911.
Mawson led a team to a desolate and remote area of Antarctica, where they map land, survey species, and conduct a series of successful scientific studies. The situation got worse when Mawson led a small group of people out of base camp.
On November 10, 1912, Mawson set out for Antarctica with 16 dogs and two companions, Xavier Mertz and Belgrave Ninis. A few weeks later, Ninnis fell into a crack and died. He took a sleigh and most of the food with him, forcing Mawson and Mercts to eat their dog to survive. Mertz eventually died as well.
Mawson walked alone for 32 days, crossing the wilderness of Antarctica. After walking about 100 miles, he returned to base camp, where the soles of his feet had been ripped off and in poor physical condition.