It was just over a hundred years ago that a whaling ship named Antarctic anchored itself and then launched a longboat toward a wind-swept shore through the dangerous waters of the Ross Sea.The party with their Captain, Leonard Kristensen, leading them landed and left the very first set of human footprints on the shores of Antarctica. January 24,1895 was the date of their historic landing, and was only one part of their endeavor to hunt whales in unexplored waters.
Antarctica proceeded to be baptized with blood.The Industrial Revolution energized the desire to massacre millions of Antarctic animals such as whales and penguins. The oil from these animals was used as a lubricant for machinery and their fur was an added bonus.Submissive penguins by the hundreds of thousands, were paraded up planks only to plunge off the edge of cauldrons filled with boiling oil, so that their own oil could be relinquished.
Now, 100 years later, this Frozen Continent is going to be used as a natural preserve of nature and science forevermore. This means that humans can no longer voyage to Antarctica in search of a quick way to make money through killing.Recently, there have even been discussions about starting a world park in this region.Antarctica serves as a window for scientists to understanding the potential danger of several global threats such as our ozone depletion as well as greenhouse effect.In the grand scheme of things, this change is remarkably fast. It was only a short time since humans discovered this continent and used it for a quick buck. There is so little of Antarctica that has actually been explored - just a few parts of the coast, some islands, and routes that scientists took to the South Pole. That is, until the 1957-1958 Internation Geophysical Year.antarctic cruise
Our introduction to Antarctica was murderous, idealistic, nationalistic, and ferocious - with the occasional effort towards scientific advancement between this barbarism.Whaling was stepped up in World War I, as refined oil was used to make glycerin for artillery shells.Post-WWII, the Soviet Union and the United States both hunted the oil from sperm whales, as this was used for jet engines.Up until the IGY, the majority of Antarctica was still known as “Terra Australia Incognita,” which is the name given this theoretical southern continent by the medieval map makers.
Antarctica’s first native birth has only recently reached adulthood, the birth itself having international repercussions.Emilio Marcus Palmer’s mother was specifically flown to Argentina’s Experanza Base in 1978 for the purpose of giving birth, and to emphasise the claim Argentina made to a large portion of Antarctic territory.great antarctic cruise
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had planted the American flag on the moon’s surface nine years earlier, as a show of America’s dominance.In 1911, Roald Amundsen’s trek to the South Pole, honoring King Haakon VII of Norway, was the most productive, determined venture of this sort.Although Robert F. Scott and his team also made that trip for the British, they spent a great deal more time on their voyage so that they could collect rock and fossil samples - the weight of which only slowed them down further.
It is believed that between the discouragement felt when they found out that Amundsen reached the Pole a month sooner, eating a poor diet, having to haul the rocks and fossils, and utter bad luck caused Scott and his team to perish on the return trip, making them the first people to die in Antarctica for the sake of science.America’s claim to the South Pole was entrenched when Richard Byrd flew a Ford Trimotor over the Pole in 1929.The battle to claim the continent continued when the Soviets attempted to justify their interests when the Russian Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen passed the Antarctic Peninsula during his voyage in 1821.