So that those interested may compare the type, approach, emphasis, length, quality and accuracy of entries in the respective en

SAMPLE ENTRIES FOR FOUR EXPLORERS

So that those interested may compare the type, approach, emphasis, length, quality and accuracy of entries in the respective encyclopedias, four explorers have been chosen from amongst those that appear in each title. Of the four explorers, Wilhelm Filchner is German; Nathaniel Brown Palmer, American; James Weddell, English; and Sir Hubert Wilkins, Australian.

The length of entries in approximate pages and in words are given below.

PAGES

Names Howego Mills Riffenburgh Stewart Stonehouse Trewby

A. Wilhelm Filchner 1.5 1.75 .75 .2 .25 .2

B. Nathaniel Brown Palmer 1.5 1.75 .75 .3 .5 .25

C. James Weddell 2.0 2.25 1.75 .3 1.0 .5

D. Sir Hubert Wilkins 2.5 5.25 1.75 .75 1.0 .5

TOTAL 7.5 11.0 5.0 1.55 2.75 1.5

WORDS

Names Howego Mills Riffenburgh Stewart Stonehouse Trewby

A. Wilhelm Filchner 1823 1844 627 83 170 169

B. Nathaniel Brown Palmer 1715 1486 676 192 360 240

C. James Weddell 2268 1599 1390 228 461 288

D. Sir Hubert Wilkins 2825 5187 1405 525 1018 317

TOTAL 8631 10116 4099 1028 2009 864

The entries appear by explorer (A. Filchner, B. Palmer, C. Weddell and D. Wilkins) and then within alphabetically by author, i.e. Howego, Mills, Riffenburgh, Stewart, Stonehouse and Trewby.

F7 FILCHNER, Wilhelm

1911-1912

antarctica

the second german expedition to

antarctica (1911-12)

By 1908 Filchner had begun actively working on a proposal to take a German expedition to the Antarctic, and had received the support of a team of scientists. In addition, at an audience with Kaiser Wilhelm II, he had been granted permission to raise the required money by public lottery. Filchner’s original intention, similar to that envisaged in England at the same time by Shackleton, was for one party to approach the continent through the Weddell Sea, while a second would establish a base on the shores of the Ross Sea. Land parties would then be sent out and attempt to meet up at the centre of the continent, thereby ascertaining whether the Antarctic continent was a continuous landmass or simply a collection of large islands. Unfortunately, inadequate funding precluded such a grandiose undertaking, and by 1910, when the final proposals were announced publicly, Filchner had already trimmed the enterprise to just the Weddell Sea party and a single ship. The vessel, selected with the help of Shackleton, Nordenskjöld and Nansen, was the Norwegian ship Björnen, which had been built specifically for work in polar seas. She was refitted and strengthened under Shackleton’s supervision, re-christened the Deutschland and placed under the command of Captain RICHARD VAHSEL.

Of the scientists selected by Filchner, none had previous experience of polar conditions, so in the summer of 1910 Filchner took an expedition to Spitsbergen (= Svalbard) to test out not only the scientists, but also their equipment. With him were HEINRICH SEELHEIM (second-in-command), ER1CH PRZBYLLOCK. (astronomer and magnetician), and ERICH BARKOW (meteorologist), all of whom would escort Filchner to Antarctica. The party was accompanied by the geologist HANS PHILIPP (professor at Cologne University) and the mountaineer KARL POTPESCHNIGG. With considerable difficulty the party crossed the Spitsbergen ice cap, and at one time was reported missing, presumed dead. However, all returned safely to Germany and in 1911 Filchner published at Berlin a prospectus for the Antarctic expedition. Other recruits included Captain ALFRED KLING; the naturalist, JOHANNES MÜLLER; and the Austrian, Dr FELIX KÖNIG (see below). The total complement was thirty-five crew and scientists. Twelve Manchurian ponies and two Greenland dog-teams were also embarked.

While Filchner remained in Germany to complete the arrangements for the scientific program, Captain Vahsel took the Deutschland out of Bremerhaven on 4.5.11. After calling at the Azores (31.5.11) and Pernambuco (26.7.11), she arrived on 7.9.11 at Buenos Aires where coal and other supplies were loaded. This first phase of the expedition was placed under the command of Seelheim, but a personal conflict with Vahsel made Seelheim so miserable that he decided to leave the expedition at Buenos Aires. However, by this time Filchner himself had arrived from Germany by steam-ship. The expedition sailed on 4.10.11, and on 28.10.11 reached South Georgia where it spent the next seven weeks in the company of Norwegian whalers anchored off Grytviken. An exploratory excursion to the South Sandwich Islands was made, and from the Undine, a vessel belonging to CARL ANTON LARSEN (q.v.), the party surveyed the coasts of South Georgia and reopened the observatory at Royal Bay. On 10.12.11 the Deutschland departed South Georgia for the Weddell Sea. The first ice was encountered five days later, and from then on conditions varied wildly from warm summer days to fog, snow and freezing temperatures.

By the beginning of January 1912 the Deutschland was surrounded by ice floes and bergs, but wide channels frequently opened and permitted good progress to be made towards the eastern coast of the Weddell Sea. On 27.1.12 sediment was retrieved from a depth of 3430 metres and suggested that land was nearby. On 30.1.12, an ice cliff thirty to forty metres high was sighted, behind which continental ice rose to a height of 600 metres. This section of the Antarctic coast, never seen by earlier expeditions, was named Prince Regent Luitpold Land (now the Luitpold Coast). A suitable anchorage was found at Vahsel Bay in 77°45'S / 34°34'W, at the eastern extreme of what is now the Filchner Ice Shelf, and on 9.2.12 materials, dogs and ponies were unloaded and work started on a winter quarters (or stationhaus). (Filchner originally named the ice shelf after Kaiser Wilhelm but the emperor himself later changed the name in honour of Filchner.) A building measuring 17 by 9 metres was erected on the ice shelf and completed on 17.2.12, but the following day disaster struck when the ice supporting the building began to break away from the shelf. As their headquarters floated off to the north, Filchner and his team worked feverishly to dismantle everything and return it to the Deutschland. What the party had witnessed was a massive spring tide, three metres high, accompanied by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, affecting an area of nearly 600 square kilometres. Fortunately, by the time the camp had drifted out to sea everything had been removed except for a small part of the building and a dog that refused to be caught.

The outward flow of broken ice prevented any further immediate attempts to make a landing, and for several days the Deutschland was allowed to drift in anticipation of more favourable conditions. A landing on continental ice was eventually achieved, and at a height of about a hundred metres two large depots of stores were established on the coast, then covered with ice and marked with black flags and poles. Filchner’s intention was then to return to South Georgia, spend the winter there and return the following summer to complete the mission. However, on 6.3.12 the sea froze over at a remarkable speed, trapping the Deutschland in the ice. Although clear water appeared occasionally, it soon became evident that the winter would have to be spent in the drifting pack ice of the Weddell Sea. Tents, small buildings and meteorological instruments were installed on the surrounding ice, an auxiliary boiler fuelled by penguin and seal carcasses was brought into operation, and electric lamps were wired into the cabins. The usual entertainments were provided for the crew, including horse riding on the ice.

By the middle of June 1912, measurements showed that the drift had taken the Deutschland to a point about sixty kilometres to the east of a position where in 1823 the American sealer Benjamin Morrell had reported sighting land: Knownland, known as ‘New South Greenland’ or ‘Morrell’s Land’; no other ship had since sailed close enough to confirm its existence. On 23.6.12 Filchner, Kling and König set out with two sledges, each drawn by eight dogs, in the direction of Morrell’s Land with provisions for three weeks. In exceptionally difficult conditions, with temperatures falling to -35°C and daylight lasting only two hours, the three men reached 70°32'S / 43°45'W, from where Morrell’s Land should have been visible if it existed at all. A lead weight was lowered 1600 metres through a hole hacked through the ice, at which depth the line broke. Convinced, that Morrell’s Land was nothing more than a mirage or an iceberg,;

the team turned back for the journey home. However, by now large cracks had appeared in the ice, necessitating constant detours, while the Deutschland had in the meantime drifted sixty kilometres to the southwest of its previous position. However, by a remarkable feat of navigation, Kling successfully brought the team back to the ship on 30.6.12 after eight days on the ice.

On 8.8.12, the expedition suffered its first casualty when Captain Vahsel died of an old illness from which he had suffered throughout the voyage. However, by now wide channels had begun to open, and by the end of September the Deutschland found extensive stretches of clear water. The boilers were fired, all equipment moved off the surrounding floes, and on 26.11.12 in 63°37'S 36°34'W the ship finally broke free of the ice. On 19.12.12 anchored off South Georgia, the expedition was officially dissolved and the Deutschland placed under the command of Captain Kling for the homeward voyage. Filchner left the Deutschland in Buenos Aires, took a steam-ship to Genoa and proceeded to Germany where he hoped to obtain authority for the expedition to continue into the following year. This permission was denied, while in the meantime the Deutschland was borrowed by the Argentinian government to relieve its meteorological team in the South Orkneys. The vessel was brought back to Europe and subsequently sold to Austria for a proposed Austrian expedition to the Antarctic (see below). Filchner himself was invited to take part in another expedition but felt he had seen enough of Antarctica for the time being and preferred to return to his Central Asian haunts. During the voyage, Filchner had started work on his narrative of the expedition, Zum sechsten Erdteil, which he completed at Bad Naudheim while convalescing from an injury sustained when he fell from a ship’s mast. The book was published at Berlin in 1922 with contributions from Seelheim, Przybyllok and Kling, together with an introduction by Nordenskjöld. Apart from a brief account by Johannes Müller, no further book-length reports were published until 1985 when a collection of articles was printed at Munich by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. No translation of Filchner’s work was made until 1994 when William Barr published his definitive To the Sixth Continent with its English translation of most of the relevant documents.

FELIX KÖNIG returned to his native Austria and set about organizing an Austrian Antarctic Expedition. In May 1913 a committee was established under Count Wilczek to look into the matter. The Deutschland was purchased for the expedition and renamed Osterreich. In August 1914, König and his expedition lay ready to sail from the port of Trieste when Europe erupted into war. The Osterreich never left harbour and was sold to a local shipyard early in 1918.

Filchner, Wilhelm & Seelheim, Heinrich, Quer durch Spitzbergen: eine dwtsche Ubungsexpedition im Zentmlgebiet ostlich des Eisfjords (Berlin 1911).

Philipp, Hans, Ergebnisse der Wilhelm Filchnerschen Vorexpedition nach Spitzbergen 1910... (Gotha 1914).

[Filchner, Wilhelm], Denkschrift über die Deutsche Antarktische Expedition: allgemeiner plan... (Berlin 1911 [prospectus for the proposed expedition]).

Filchner, Wilhelm, Zum sechsten Erdteil: die Zweite Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition (Berlin 1922, 1923).

[Filchner, Wilhelm], Dokumentalion fiber die Anturktisexpedition 1911/12 (Munich 1985 [2 issues]).

Filchner, Wilhelm, Ein Forscherleben (Wiesbaden 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956 [an autobiography]).

Barr, William (ed. & trans.), To the sixth continent: the Second German South Polar Expedition (Bluntisham, Huntingdon & Banham, ‘ Norfolk 1994 [trans. of Zum sechsten Erdteil and part of the ‘ Dokumentation, together with historical background and a biography of Filchner]).

Müller, Johannes, Einiges aus der Geschichte der Südpolarforschung, unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung der letzten deutschen antarktischen Expedition und ihrer Navigation (Berlin 1914 [81 pages]).

[Anon.], ‘The German Antarctic Expedition’, Geographical Journal 42,4,1913.

Hayes, J. Gordon, The conquest of the South Pole: Antarctic exploration 1906-1931 (London 1932, 1936; New York 1933).

Schott, Wolfgang, Early German oceanographic institutions, expeditions and oceanographers (Hamburg 1987).

(Howgego) (1823 words)

Filchner, Wilhelm

(1877-1957)

Only in 1985 was the full truth learned concerning Wilhelm Filchner’s Second German Antarctic Expedition. A scheming and malevolent captain systematically undermined the authority of his expedition leader, effectively aborting the latter’s plans to establish a winter station and enforcing his early withdrawal from Antarctica with his program barely begun.

An Expedition Divided in the Weddell Sea, 1911-1912

As a young man, Lieutenant Dr. Wilhelm Filchner obtained leave from the Imperial German Army to travel in Russia and, in 1903-1904, to lead an expedition to Tibet. From 1909, he laid plans for an expedition to Antarctica, and after obtaining the patronage of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, he raised money through a public lottery. With none of his selected team at this time possessing previous polar experience, Filchner first led a training expedition to Svalbard in 1910, taking with him six others who were planning to go with him to Antarctica. Of them, only the scientists Dr. Erich Barkow and Dr. Erich Pryzbyllok eventually accompanied the expedition, though Dr. Heinrich Seelheim deputized for Filchner as expedition leader before resigning in Buenos Aires.

The ambitious objective of Filchner’s Antarctic expedition was to discover whether land or frozen sea was to be found between the Weddell and Ross Seas, and thus whether Antarctica was one continent or two. His original plan called for two ships, each landing parties that, kept in contact by wireless, would approach from either side and meet in the middle. Lack of money restricted him to one ship, the 344-ton Norwegian-built barque Bjørn, which was renamed Deutschland. In command Filchner appointed Captain Richard Vahsel, second officer of Gauss during Erich von Drygalski’s Antarctic expedition, an appointment very much forced upon him by influential naval circles. Although Vahsel’s Antarctic experience would clearly be useful, he came with a dubious reputation and was described by the captain of Gauss as “greedy for power and an out-and-out schemer” (Filchner 1994, 202).

On 3 May 1911, the expedition sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, under Seelheim’s leadership, Filchner remaining behind to make final arrangements. At Buenos Aires, Seelheim resigned, Vahsel having made it clear that either he or Seelheim must go. Deutschland was now staffed by naval officers who owed their appointment and thus their loyalty to Vahsel rather than Filchner. On 18 October, the expedition reached South Georgia, where it was given a warm welcome at Grytviken by the whalers led by Carl Anton Larsen. The whalers had much to teach about the ice conditions likely to be encountered farther south, particularly in the Weddell Sea, about which no one knew more than Larsen.

Warned that it was too early in the season to have hope of finding open water in the Weddell Sea, on 1 November Filchner set out on an exploratory voyage to the South Sandwich Islands to study whether their geology confirmed the hypothesis put forward by William Speirs Bruce of a link between these and other island groups in the “Scotia Arc” with the Antarctic Peninsula and South America. Soon after Deutschland’s return to South Georgia on 11 November, the third officer, Walter Slossarczyk, committed suicide. It was already clear that it was not a happy ship. Filchner now acquired an ally among the ship’s officers when Alfred Kling arrived from Buenos Aires with Manchurian ponies. Alerted to potential problems with Vahsel since Seelheim’s forced resignation, Filchner prevailed upon Kling to remain as watch-keeping officer.

On 11 December 1911, Deutschland sailed for Antarctica with thirty-three men on board, together with eight ponies and seventy-five dogs. In addition to Filchner, the scientific team comprised two of his Svalbard colleagues, Barkow (meteorology) and Pryzbyllok (astronomy, magnetism), together with Dr. Wilhelm Brennecke (oceanography) and Dr. Fritz Heim (geology, glaciology). They were accompanied by the Austrian mountaineer Felix Konig.

Considerable ice was met south of 57°30'S. From 62°S, Deutschland’s progress was intermittent, spending long periods trapped in the ice, interspersed with occasional days of open water. On 18 January 1912, a particularly good day, the ship made 51 miles, and when Weddell’s farthest south of 74°15’S was passed on 29 January, like Weddell, Filchner was in the open sea. From the quantity of icebergs, he calculated correctly that not only must there be much more open water farther south, but also that the Weddell Sea extended considerably farther than previously realized. Soundings showed a distinct shallowing in the depth of water, a sure indication that they were approaching land, which was finally sighted on 30 January Now the weather was clear, and with the sun shining brightly, they approached ice cliffs over 30 meters high. Behind the cliffs rose slopes of ice and snow to well over 600 meters. This was a new discovery, far south of Bruces Coats Land, and Filchner named it Prince Regent Luitpold Coast for the expeditions patron. The ice front continued to the south-southwest, and this area Filchner named for the kaiser, though the kaiser was later to insist that it be named for Filchner himself. The expedition reached its farthest south in an embayment in the ice at 77°44'S, which Filchner named for Vahsel. It was the most likely site for a winter station yet seen. Inland, however, travel conditions were found to be difficult across the heavily crevassed surface, and Vahsel Bay was only finally adopted after two further attempts to find somewhere more suitable,

Problems between Filchner and Vahsel now intensified, with Vahsel refusing to allow his sailors to help in setting up the station in Filchner’s preferred location, claiming that it would be impossible to move the 90 tons of provisions and equipment 2 miles across the sea ice. Ultimately, Filchner was forced to adopt a site selected by Vahsel, not on the ice shelf but on an iceberg, which looked sufficiently large and solid to remain in place for the duration of the expedition. It was not to prove the case. Having almost completed erection of their large hut on “Station Iceberg,” on 18 February 1912 a high spring tide set off a cacophony of explosions, as the iceberg slowly began to shift and then rotate as it moved out into the bay. Two days of frantic activity followed to dismantle the hut and move stores and equipment back to Deutschland. Filchner had by no means abandoned his plans to establish a winter station and to continue scientific studies. On 28 February, Brennecke and Heim were landed at their request to conduct research on the ice shelf. The next day, Deutschland was again caught up in drifting ice, from which it only escaped with difficulty. Vahsel now insisted that Deutschland should sail north for South Georgia just as soon as the two scientists could be picked up, as they were on 3 March. Seeking to lay the blame for the expedition’s failure squarely on Filchner, at Vahsel’s instigation, Brennecke organized a “Great Ship’s Council” at which Filchner was accused of taking the scientists off the ice shelf prematurely and of having made inadequate attempts to land before ordering course set for the north.

Filchner had hoped to follow his newly discovered Luitpold Coast northward to establish its connection with Coats Land. Soon, it became clear that ice rather than he would determine the ship’s course. By 15 March, Deutschland was firmly frozen into the pack and drifting slowly into the Weddell Sea. On board the unhappy ship, there were two distinct factions: Filchner and his few loyal friends, Kling, Konig, and Pryzbyllok; and Vahsel, backed by virtually everyone else. It was a poisonous atmosphere in which to endure an Antarctic winter.

As much for relief from this atmosphere as desire for the expedition to yield at least some concrete results, when Filchner found that Deutschland’s course would take it within 40 miles of the position reported for “New South Greenland” by the American sealer Benjamin Morrell in 1823, he decided to make a journey over the ice to try to find it. This winter journey bears some comparison with that famously undertaken by Edward Wilson during Robert Falcon Scott’s second expedition, though Filchner was to enjoy at least some daylight and his lowest temperature—at -39°C (-39°F)—was significantly less cold. Another difference was that Wilson’s base was fixed, whereas Filchner would have to return to a drifting ship, which he might have difficulty in locating. On 23 June 1912, Filchner, Kling, and Konig set out with two sledges and sixteen dogs, provisioned for three weeks. They found the going exceptionally hard over the rough and broken sea ice. Having gone 31 miles, they turned back at 70°33'S, 44°48'W—Morrell’s position for “New South Greenland”—having seen no sign of land. The return journey was equally hard, though fortunately for most of the way they could follow their own tracks. Would they be able to find the ship? Clearly, it would not be in the same position as when they had left it, and they could guess only at the direction and distance of its drift. With Kling having just a theodolite to navigate by, Deutschland’s masts were spotted in the far distance, 38 miles from its position eight days previously. By 30 June, they were back on board.

For some weeks it had been apparent that Vahsel was ailing, and on 8 August he died, probably as a result of the later complications of syphilis, a disease whose effects might do much to explain his exceptionally malignant behavior. Command of the ship devolved to Wilhelm Lorenzen, again no friend to Filchner. By the end of September, the ice showed signs of opening up, though it was not until 26 November 1912 at 63°37'S, 36°34'W that Deutschland was finally released. Reaching South Georgia on 19 December, Filchner had to enlist the help of Larsen’s whalers to protect him from his crew, who appeared intent on physical violence and had to be housed onshore well away from the ship. Filchner now placed Kling in command of Deutschland and returned to Germany in an unsuccessful attempt to raise money for a second season.

Although not altogether without achievements, having discovered the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf and proving that “New South Greenland” was not where Morrell had reported it and probably did not exist, Filchner’s Second German Antarctic Expedition is unfortunately remembered today chiefly for the intense animosity among its participants. Filchner had no taste for further polar exploration, preferring to return to the areas where he had first traveled in Central Asia and the Far East, where he was to journey extensively Not until after his death did he sanction release of a memoir telling the full truth concerning his Antarctic expedition.

See also: Bruce, William Speirs; Coats Land; Drygalski, Erich von; Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf; Larsen, Carl Anton; Morrell, Benjamin; Shackleton, Ernest (1914-1916); Weddell, James; Weddell Sea; Wilson, Edward

References and further reading:

Filchner, W. 1951. Ein Forscherleben. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Eberhard Brockhaus.

————. 1994. To the sixth continent: the Second German South Polar Expedition. Huntingdon, England: Bluntisham Books.

Kirschmer, G., comp. 1985. Dokumentatwn iiber die Antarktisexpedition 1911/12 van Wilhelm Filchner. Munich: Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

(Mills) (1844 words)

FILCHNER, WILHELM

Wilhelm Filchner was born on September 13, 1877 in Munich, son of Eduard and Rosine Filchner. As a teenager he enrolled in the Munich Cadet Corps, the first step in a military career. Having gained official Russian approval, in 1903 he undertook his first expedition: a solo trip on horseback across the Pamir Mountains from Osh in the Fergana Basin to Murgab, then back via Kasgar in Sinkiang.

This led in turn to his first scientific expedition, to map the upper course of the Ma-Qu (Huange He) in western China for the first time. Now with the rank of lieutenant, he set off for China in the fall of 1903 and returned home early in 1905, having accomplished his mission, despite some terrifying encounters with the hostile Ngolok tribe. Thereafter he worked at the Trigonometrical Department of the Prussian Land Survey, instructing route-surveying courses for officers posted to the German colonies.

In the light of endeavors by Belgium, France, Britain, Japan, Sweden, and Australia in exploring Antarctica, Filchner was motivated to plan his own Antarctic expedition. With the support of his superiors in the German Army, he proposed crossing the Antarctic Ice Sheet from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, using sledges drawn by ponies. In preparation for this expedition, he mounted a small practice expedition to Svalbard in the summer of 1910.

The expedition headed south in 1911, entering the Weddell Sea in December of that year. Due to bad luck and serious opposition from the captain of the expedition vessel, Deutschland, Filchner was unable to establish a foothold on the continent. Deutschland became beset in the ice of the Weddell Sea early in 1912 and spent the winter adrift. Fortunately she emerged unscathed. Positive accomplishments included the exploration of the east shore of the Weddell Sea (Luitpold Coast) and the discovery of the Filchner Ice Shelf.

With the outbreak of World War I, Filchner spent some time on the Western Front, then was transferred to the Intelligence Service of the German Admiralty and was appointed head of the Naval Intelligence Service in Norway and later in The Hague.

For several years after the War, he supported himself by writing, about both Sinkiang and the Antarctic. Then, between 1926 and 1937, he mounted two major expeditions to Sinkiang and Tibet, whereby he completed impressive geomagnetic traverses of some 6500 and 3500 km, respectively, often living and traveling under extremely difficult conditions and suffering various injuries and bouts of illness. It was on this basis that he was awarded the Nationalpreis fur Kunst und Wissenschaft by Adolf Hitler on January 30, 1938.

When World War II broke out in the fall of 1939, Filchner was engaged in geomagnetic surveys in Nepal, where he contracted malaria. On heading south for treatment, he was interned when he crossed into India, and spent the war years, with his daughter Erika, in the ladies’ camp at Satara, near Poona.

At the end of the war Filchner opted to stay in India, settling in Poona. Finally, in 1949, ill health obliged him to return to Europe, where he settled in Zurich. He died on May 7, 1957, at the age of 79, and was buried in Enzenbuhl Cemetery in Zurich.

william barr

See also German South Polar (Deutschland) Expedition (1911-1912); Weddell Sea, Oceanography of

References and Further Reading

Filchner, Wilhelm. A Scientist in Tartary: From the Huang-ho to the Indus, translated by E. O. Lorimer. London: Faber & Faber, 1939.

————. Ein Forscherlehen. Wiesbaden: F. A. Brockhaus, 1956.

————. Route Finding and Position Locating in Unexplored Regions. New York: Academic Press, 1957.

————. To the Sixth Continent: The Second German South Polar Expedition, edited and translated by William Barr. Bluntisham: Bluntisham Books; and Banham, Norfolk: The Erskine Press, 1994.

(Riffenburgh) (627 words)

Filchner, Wilhelm. b. Sept. 13, 1877, Munich, d. May 7, 1957, Zurich. German scientist/explorer who led the German Antarctic Expedition of 1911-12, on the Deutschland, which discovered the Filchner Ice Shelf and the Luitpold Coast. Independent of William S. Bruce (q.v.), he had conceived the idea of a transantarctic traverse in order to test the legend of the Ross-Weddell Graben, but neither his nor Bruce’s traverses ever came off. He wrote some books (see the Bibliography). An anti-Nazi, he explored mostly in Asia.

(Stewart) (83 words)

Filchner, Wilhelm. (1877-1957). German traveller and explorer. Born in Munich, Germany, he trained in a military academy and was commissioned in the German army. Interested in survey and geophysics, he spent as much time as possible travelling in Russia and central Asia. After meticulous study of all the available geographical evidence he planned and led the German Antarctic (Deutschland) Expedition 1911-13, intending to cross the Antarctic from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea via the as-yet-unattained South Pole. Successfully penetrating the Weddell Sea, he landed a station hut in the shelf ice but had to withdraw hurriedly when the ice broke away. Later caught in the pack ice, Filchner and his small scientific team spent a relatively unproductive winter, breaking free in November 1912. Though the expedition failed in its primary aim, Filchner’s encouragement ensured that his team produced excellent biological and oceanographic results. In later life he continued to explore in warmer climates of central Asia and Nepal. He died in Switzerland on 7 May 1957.

(Stonehouse) (170 words)

Filchner, Wilhelm (1877-1957) German surveyor and army officer, born in Munich. Filchner joined the army and crossed the Pamir Mountains in 1900 and led a 1903-05 expedition to Tibet, carrying out cartography work and taking magnetic observations.

He was chosen to lead the 1910-12 second german south polar expedition to cross the antarctic continent from the weddell sea to the ross sea on sledges, using a prefabricated hut as a base camp. The ship, Deutschland, was trapped in pack ice from March to November 1912 and, when storms finally broke up the ice, the hut and men were carried northward for a considerable distance before they could be reached by the ship. Filchner carried out important oceanographical research on the movement of the pack ice. On his return, Filchner wrote of his experiences in Zum sechsten Erdteil, published in 1923.

During an expedition to Nepal in 1939-40, he carried out further magnetic surveys of the Himalayas region. A book about his various travels, Ein Forscherleben, was published in 1950.

(Trewby) (169 words)

PALMER, Nathaniel Brown

1819-1822

Antarctica, South Shetland & Orkney Is

United States sealer-captain and Antarctic explorer (1799-1877). Born in Stonington, Connecticut, the son of a shipyard owner, Palmer first went to sea at the age of fourteen and was soon taking charge of small coastal vessels. In 1819-20 he sailed as second mate with JAMES P. SHEFFIELD (q.v.) in the Hersilia, which made a pioneering voyage to the South Shetland Islands (see William Smith and Joseph Herring for their discovery). The Hersilia, fitted out by EDMUND FANNING (q.v.) and others, returned to Stonington on 21.5.20 with a cargo of 8868 seal skins valued at over $22,000. The success of the voyage stirred enormous interest in the new-found sealing grounds, so five sealers were fitted out by Fanning and sent south to make their fortunes.

The brig Frederick, commanded by BENJAMIN PENDLETON, had sailed from Stonington before the return of the Hersilia, but her consort, the schooner Free Gift, Captain THOMAS DUNBAR, still lay in port. Fanning then directed Dunbar to sea with instructions to rendezvous with the Frederick and provide Pendleton with news of the new discoveries. Three other vessels would follow and all would work together. Palmer became part owner of the Express and commander and part-owner of the sloop Hero. The Hersilia herself joined the fleet sailing south, while four other vessels, the Clothier, Emetine, Catherine and Spark, were being readied for subsequent voyages. Discovery of the new sealing grounds brought similar frantic activity at most of the other ports of the New England seaboard, as well as in Britain.

The Hero and the Express sailed into the Falklands on 16.10.20 to find other American sealers already arrived, as well as two British captains, JAMES WEDDELL (q.v.) with the Jane and GEORGE POWELL (died 1823) in the Eliza. Palmer and Pendleton made contact in the Falklands as planned, and together the so-called Fanning-Pendleton fleet sailed for the South Shetlands.

The Hero (under Palmer) and Express left the Falklands at the end of October and after a stop at Staten Island arrived first at Smith Island. Two days later, on 12.11,20 at Rugged Island, they found the Hersilia had already arrived, with the Frederick and Free Gift anchored about three kilometres away at New Plymouth (a rendezvous in the channel between Livingston and Rugged islands). By the following day all five vessels of the Stonington fleet were anchored at New Plymouth. Palmer was then sent off to look for sealing grounds, first to Deception Island, then southward to Orleans Strait. Once back across Bransfield Strait he followed the land to the northeast until he found the entrance to McFarlane Strait, where on 24.11.20 the entire fleet found the sheltered Yankee Harbor (an inlet on Greenwich Island). Camps were set up ashore, and in January 1821 Palmer took an extensive cruise, possibly as far as 66°S. The Fanning-Pendleton fleet remained at Yankee Harbor for the rest of the season, by the end of which they had loaded 21,000 skins (or 88,000 in another account). Thirty American, twenty-four British and one Australian sealer (the brig Lynx, out of Sydney), were also hunting for skins that season (1820-21), among them captains JOHN DAVIS (q.v.) and CHRISTOPHER BURDICK who arrived at Yankee Harbor on 8.12.20. Competition was fierce, and many an angry encounter flared up between the British and Americans. However, by the end of March 1820 most of the vessels had quit the islands, some to winter in the Falklands and others to London or New England. Only Captain CLARK. and ten men of the London sealer Lord Melville were forced to spend a miserable winter in the islands after their ship had been driven by winds offshore and failed to return. They were picked up the following summer, thereby receiving the distinction of being the first crew ever to overwinter in Antarctica.

The following summer, the season of 1821-22, some forty sealers were back in the South Shetlands. Edmund Fanning, his son William and Benjamin Pendleton organized a six-vessel fleet. Palmer took command of the larger sloop James Monroe, while another family member HARRIS PENDLETON took over the Hero. By 6.11.21 the fleet lay off Deception Island but soon discovered that Yankee Harbor was choked with ice. What was worse was that the seal population had almost been exterminated by the previous season’s slaughter. Palmer therefore set off in search of new sealing grounds and on 30.11.21 off Elephant Island encountered a small English vessel, the Dove, captained by George Powell, whom Palmer had met in the Falklands. Powell was an educated man, interested in the natural sciences, who while sealing carried out meteorological and hydrographical measurements.

The two captains, Palmer and Powell, sailed in company to the north of Elephant Island and to the south of Clarence Island, then headed east into interminable fog. On 7.12.21 the ships sighted land to the east, which Powell named the Inaccessible Islands. Proceeding east through ice floes, Powell managed to land on one of the islands, which he named Coronation Island and claimed in the name of King George. A message was left in a bottle, noting the discovery, which was the first ever sighting of the South Orkney Islands. By coincidence, the islands were seen quite independently four days later (11.12.21) by MICHAEL MCLEOD, a Scottish sealer from Leith who was sailing with James Weddell. Palmer and Powell parted company about 11.12.21. Powell proceeded south but was halted by pack ice in 63°20'S. Short of provisions, he returned to the South Shetlands and was back in the Thames in August 1822. By the following November Powell had published the first comprehensive chart and sailing directions for Antarctica. Palmer returned to Deception Island, from where on 27.1.22 WILLIAM FANNING, aboard the Alabama Packet, reported the taking of only 1000 skins. The Express, Free Gift and James Monroe would sail within a few days, while the Frederick, Alabama Packet, and Hero would try their luck on the Chilean coast.

Palmer spent the next few years trading in the West Indies, first in command of the schooner Cadet, then of the brig Tampico. He ran guns, ammunition and troops to Simon Bolivar (q.v.) during the struggle for South American independence. He then took command of the brig Francis and sailed back and forth to Europe for the next few years. Palmer returned briefly to the Antarctic in 1829-31 with ALEXANDER SMITH PALMER and Benjamin Pendleton, taking the ships Annawan, Penguin and Seraph. The fleet sailed partly under the sponsorship of JEREMIAH N. REYNOLDS (q.v.), proponent of the ‘hollow earth’ theory, and took with it the naturalist JAMES EIGHTS of Albany, often regarded as the world’s first Antarctic naturalist. Eights published five papers on his findings, and discovered fossil wood and the ten-legged ‘sea spider’. He also suggested that rocks could be carried by icebergs, pre-dating Darwin’s similar idea by ten years. Sealing was poor and during the return voyage Palmer’s ship was boarded by pirates. In the 1830s Palmer grew wealthy from Atlantic trade, and later became involved in ship building and with the clipper trade to China. He died in 1877 in San Francisco after returning from a voyage to the East. He was buried at Stonington near his home, a mansion recently purchased by the Stonington Historical Society.

In 1844 THOMAS W. SMITH published his recollections of eighteen voyages, seven of which were whaling expeditions to the South Pacific. He went sealing aboard the Norfolk around the Falklands in 1816-17, and in 1818 sailed aboard the Admiral to South Georgia. In 1820 he was whaling aboard the Hetty around New South Shetland and in 1831, while on a whaling voyage in African waters, he was shipwrecked. In 1832 he reached New Bedford where he was apparently cheated out of his pay by the captain and owners of the vessel.