Obituaries

ANTARCTIC OBITUARIES

Last updated: 23 March 2008.

Accessed at least

times since 17 July 2007.

Click here for an Index to Selected Antarctic Obituaries appearing in the Polar Record of the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Click here for an Index to Antarctic Obituaries appearing in the Geographical Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.

Commander Sir Jameson Adams.
Charles Robert Burton.
Verner Duncan Carse.
Harding McGregor Dunnett.
Virginia Frances Pepper Fiennes.
George W. Gibbs, Jr.
John Arnfield Heap.
Sir Wally Herbert.
Captain Leonard Charles Hill.
Sir Edmund Hillary.
A.G.E. Jones.
William James Mills.
Peter Jensen Skellerup.
Norman Dane Vaughan.

SIR EDMUND HILLARY 20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008

One of the few obituaries marking the life of Sir Edmund Hillary to give space to his achievements in the Antarctic appeared in the 11 January 2008 issue of The Times of London. Below is the relevant section:

Sir Edmund Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE, mountaineer and author, was born on July 20, 1919. He died on January 11, 2008, aged 88
"Hillary's success on Everest established him overnight as an acknowledged leader in the competitive field of high-altitude mountaineering. In 1954 he led a New Zealand Alpine Club expedition to the Barun Valley east of Everest. His gallant rescue of a comrade left him with broken ribs and an acute attack of pneumonia, but he was soon fit enough again to take part in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1955-58) led by Dr (later Sir) Vivian Fuchs.
This first overland traverse of Antarctica was combined with a strenuous scientific programme. Starting from Shackleton Base on the Weddell Sea, the main party under Fuchs was to cross the continent (about 2,500 miles) by way of the American station at the South Pole, to Scott Base on the Ross Sea in the New Zealand sector of the Antarctic. Hillarys task was to enlist New Zealand support for the project, to establish Scott Base, and to organise supply depots inland for the use of the crossing party on the second, longer lap of their journey. The entire success of the venture is part of polar history but it was not achieved quite as planned.
Instead of the main party's punctual arrival at the South Pole, while Hillary waited at the first depot on the home run, the New Zealanders, the first overlanders since Amundsen, drove their ramshackle Ferguson farm tractors into the American base two weeks before Fuchs rolled up in his stately purpose-built Sno-cats.
Hillary's dash to the pole, driving the last 70 miles non-stop and with only 12 miles of petrol in hand, is one of the classics of polar adventure. But the charge that he risked the success of the whole project by going ahead with so little safety margin has never been entirely refuted."
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3169991.ece

SIR WALLY HERBERT 24 October 1934 – 12 June 2007

Polar explorer, writer and artist, he was the first man to walk to the north pole

Bob Headland
Friday June 15, 2007
The Guardian

Sir Wally Herbert, who has died aged 72, was one of the last explorers of the polar regions who was able to make major contributions to geographical discovery and research. From a family background of travel, and an early education in Africa, he spent time travelling throughout the Americas and Europe. His passion for polar regions began in the Antarctic and later extended to the Arctic, where he made the first crossing of the frozen ocean. As time went on, he made a gentle transition to become a writer and artist of the scenes he knew so well.

Wally was born in England into an army family, and went with his family to Egypt aged three, and then to South Africa for nine years. After finishing school, he joined the army, where he studied at the Royal School of Military Survey. Subsequently, he spent 18 months surveying in Egypt and Cyprus. From there he began a slow journey back to Britain through Turkey and Greece, drawing portraits for his board and lodging.

In 1955, he obtained a post in the Antarctic with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (which became the British Antarctic Survey in 1961). He was based at Hope Bay station, near the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula, where much of his work involved surveying which included glaciological studies. Field work was an essential component of this and most of his extensive traverses were made by dog sled; he became an expert in the care and running of husky dogs.

His longest journey was along the mountainous spine of the Antarctic Peninsula from Hope Bay (62°23'S) to Portal Point (64°33'S). This included transits of the notoriously narrow "Catwalk" and the "Waist", where the Herbert Plateau narrows abruptly. During these two years, he sledged some 5,000km. This was when, as with several of his contemporaries, he developed a persistent passion for the polar regions.

Wally's experience with dog sledding led him to a job with the New Zealand Antarctic programme, where his first commission was to go to the west coast of Greenland to purchase dogs for the Antarctic. During this time, he learned much of the Inuit methods of dog driving and developed an enduring interest in their way of life. He continued to the Antarctic to join the New Zealanders with his selected team of 13 dogs.

As leader of the 1961-62 southern exploration party, he surveyed a large area of the Queen Maud range, where he ascended the route up the Beardmore glacier, discovered by Ernest Shackleton in 1908 and followed by Captain Scott in 1911. A request to continue to the south pole was not sanctioned, so his programme was exploration of new territory southwards along the Transantarctic mountains. At the head of the Axel Heiberg Glacier, his party ascended Mount Nansen and descended by a similar route to that taken by Roald Amundsen in 1911, during which he found one of Amundsen's survey cairns. This was the first retracing of these historical traverses first accomplished during the heroic age of exploration. Wally returned to Britain in 1962 and wrote his first book about his experiences, A World of Men.

In 1963, he conceived an idea for a major Arctic expedition and began careful planning, including living with the Inuit in the far north-west. The following spring, he set out with three dog teams and four Inuit to trace the routes described by Otto Sverdrup (1898-1902) and Frederick Cook (1908-09). This led from Greenland to Ellesmere Island and proved a difficult test, largely across pack-ice, for men and equipment.

Wally's best known polar journey was as leader of the British Trans-Arctic Expedition (1968-69), with Allan Gill, Roy Koerner and Kenneth Hedges. Their equipment included four sleds and 40 dogs. The journey began from a base at Point Barrow, Alaska, where the first difficulty to be overcome was access from the shore to the constantly drifting Arctic ice fields. It was planned to make the traverse in three travelling periods, interrupted by the Arctic winter and the summer melt period, when travel over the pack becomes impossible. After crossing some 1,900km of rough drifting ice, they established a summer camp, in July 1968, at 81°22'N 165°29'W, which became known as "Meltville". Unfortunately, they were not able to reach a position where the drift of the trans-Arctic ice-stream was in their favour (they were drifting around the north pole rather than towards it). This necessitated the expedition camping there for the winter, during which they continued to drift anti-clockwise but not much closer to the pole.

After midwinter, the floe on which they had camped broke in two and, in February, shattered. However, they had to remain until the sunlight returned before continuing the journey which passed the northern pole of inaccessibility. The geographic north pole was attained on April 6 1969. Wally and the other three were unquestionably the first men to have reached this point over the ice surface. From the pole, over difficult ice, they continued to Vesle Tavloya, the most northerly island of the Svalbard archipelago, which was reached on May 29 1969, 464 days from Point Barrow. Other than receiving air-drops, contact with the rest of the world was by radio only.

For this achievement, the first surface traverse of the Arctic, the longest traverse across the Arctic Ocean, reaching the northern pole of inaccessibility and north geographic pole, 6,700km over the pack-ice, Wally was awarded an Arctic bar to his Polar medal and received awards from the Royal Geographical Society and other institutions. His book of the expedition, Across the Top of the World, was published in 1969.

Shortly after his return, he married Marie McGaughey, and within two years they lived, with their baby daughter, Kari, on an island off north-west Greenland making a film about the Inuit hunters.

Greenland was again Wally's polar base when, between 1977 and 1979, he, with Allan Gill, attempted to circumnavigate the island by dog sled and umiak (traditional boat), beginning and ending at Thule. It was estimated that the journey would take 16 months and cover 13,000km. Difficult ice and weather conditions, however, made it impossible. On midsummer day in 1978, they were near Loch Fyne (East Greenland); Wally wrote: "We were forced to take to the land and haul the sledges across steaming tundra and rock bare of snow, swollen rivers, baked mud flats, sand-dunes, swamps and stagnant pools. We were blasted by duststorms and eaten alive by mosquitoes." Mesters Vig was ultimately reached, but the circumnavigation was abandoned, and has yet to be accomplished. Subsequently, he led filming expeditions to north-west Greenland, Ellesmere Island and the north pole for a second time (but by aircraft).

From this period, Wally's literary and artistic career began to dominate. He also lectured extensively. He made a specialised study of the north pole controversy (the problems of Frederick Cook in 1908 and Robert Peary in 1909), and although his analysis effectively resolved rival claims, The Noose of Laurels (1989) was not able to quench many of the passionate opinions. He also worked on his autobiography, The Third Pole, and on a book of his paintings, The Polar World (2007). He was knighted in 2000.

Wally is commemorated in the Antarctic by names of a mountain range and a plateau, and, in the Arctic, the most northern mountain of Svalbard also bears his name. He is survived by Marie, and their elder daughter, Kari, who has also developed a passion for the polar regions. Their younger daughter Pascale predeceased him.

• William Herbert, explorer, born October 24 1934; died June 12 2007

Source: The Guardian, 15 June 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2103675,00.html

Note: There is an extensive obituary of Sir Wally Herbert by Charles Swithinbank in the December 2007 (Vol 174, No 4) issue of the Geographical Journal.

PETER JENSEN SKELLERUP 14 January 1918 – 15 May 2006

Obituary by David Harrowfield appearing in Antarctic, the Journal of the New Zealand Antarctic Society, Vol 24, No 2, 2006:

"When Peter Skellerup passed away in May, the City of Christchurch and the Antarctic community, lost one of its most loyal supporters. A past member of the New Zealand Antarctic Society and a Fellow (International) of the Explorers' Club New York, Peter valued his Antarctic as-sociation.
Peter's interest in Antarctica was stimulated at an early age. His father, George Waldemar Skellerup, had met Sir Ernest Shackleton and a piece of rock from Antarctica, was proudly displayed at the family home 'Danmark' at 14 Desmond Street Fendalton. Then in 1955, he inherited his father's polar book collection, this forming the nucleus of an important library.
In 1960, and representing Christchurch City Council on the Canterbury Museum Trust Board, Peter began a long association with the Museum. His interest in Antarctic affairs was enhanced when the Board decided to embark on construction of a new wing to commemorate the Museum's centenary and to include in the new addition, a "National Antarctic Centre" with the R. H. Stewart Hall of Antarctic Discovery, the W.S. MacGibbon theatre and a purpose-built library with facilities for visiting scholars.
Out of concern for the potential impact tourists might have at Cape Royds, Bob Thomson Superintendent of Antarctic Division DSIR, decided to implement a 'hut caretaker' pro- gramme in which two members of the New Zealand Antarctic Society, would travel south for a few weeks in summer, guide visitors through Shackleton's hut, and undertake es- sential maintenance. On September 11, 1969, Peter, who was a member of the Society, wrote in his diary. "I applied for the post as I have always had a strong desire to see Antarctica. . . . As my age is 51, I did not really expect to be selected." Then on October 20 an entry read: "John Claydon rang to say I had been selected from 22 applicants and my companion would be a young zoology student in his final year; Michael Orchard of Christchurch."
Peter enjoyed his visit and in addition to a detailed report, he went on to publish his private diary. While at Cape Royds, a highlight occurred on November 24. "Went and got my torch to look at Shackleton's wee bunkroom and saw his signature on the head-board of his wooden bunk" he wrote. "Laid down on it for a minute pretending I was Ernest Shackleton. . . Little sun today, but it has been quite pleasant as have had plenty to occupy myself with." Bob Thomson delighted with the work said: "The success of this 'first' in having caretakers in Antarctica should lead to a continuation of this policy [it continued until the mid 70's] and I hope be a stimulant to the good work of the Canterbury Branch of the Antarctic Society."
Peter Skellerup's first term on the Canterbury Museum Trust Board ceased in 1969, however in 1971 he went on to resume membership on the Board and in April, deposited his polar library consisting of more than 500 books and pamphlets; as a reference collection for the proposed Peter Skellerup Antarctic Library. In October he became Chairman of the Museum's 100th Anniversary Appeal, opened by Sir Edmund Hillary on 10 April 1972 and in 1973 Deputy Mayor and next year, Chairman of the Museum Trust Board, a position held until 1980.
Always keen to see the Antarctic library collection enhanced, he donated in November 1974, $1000 to establish a purchase fund for Antarctic books. "It's not much" he said modestly, "but I hope to add to it from time to time" which he did. A further $5000 was also given to the Museum building fund and the new wing (since renamed the Roger Duff Wing in recognition of the late Director, Dr Roger S.Duff) was opened by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on March 4, 1977. In Novem- ber that year Peter presented two rare volumes of Cook's narrative published in 1777 and this gift was followed by a rare early map. In 1978 he was decorated with the CBE for services to the community and was made a Knight of Dannebrogordenen (Denmark) 1st Class, for services to Denmark as Consul-General 1964-1989.
Peter Skellerup's next Antarctic post, saw him take the helm, as inaugural Chairman of the Antarctic Heritage Trust established in 1977, a position he held until he resigned in November 1988. During his time in office, he made financial donations to the Trust and his in-kind support included sufficient 'Butylclad' rubber for the roofs of the historic huts on Ross Island and at Cape Adare. This has stood the test of time and has helped protect the huts. Peter maintained a close interest in Antarctic matters and frequently spoke with affection, of his trip to Antarctica in 1969, which he regarded as one of the most signifi- cant events in his life. In 2003 in recognition of his sup- port for Antarctica, Christchurch and New Zealand, the Skellerup Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains was named in his honour. He was very proud of this distinction and was delighted to receive from Antarctica New Zealand, an aerial photograph of the Skellerup Glacier.
Peter Skellerup was a modest and kind man with a wonderful sense of humour and one who loved his family and friends. He was also exceedingly generous and was very fond of his city and its citizens. Christchurch and the Antarctic community will be poorer for his pass- ing but richer for his legacy."

(9 December 2006)

JOHN ARNFIELD HEAP 5 February 1932 – 8 March 2006

Polar diplomat and scientist.
Director, Scott Polar Research Institute (1992-97)

Obituary by David Walton appearing on Tuesday April 4, 2006, in The Guardian:

"John Heap, who has died aged 74, was a scientist turned diplomat whose leadership and vision made a fundamental difference to the governance of the Antarctic and its conservation for future generations. His urbane manner, command of English and fund of good stories made his diplomacy seem effortless, but his understanding of procedural detail and determination to succeed made him a formidable opponent in negotiation.
Born in Manchester, he was educated at Leighton Park school in Reading, and read geography at Edinburgh University, where he joined the lively mountaineering club. In 1953, he led an undergraduate expedition to the Lyngen peninsula, east of Tromso in the Norwegian Arctic, which gave him his first taste of the polar regions and set his life's course. Graduating in 1955, he joined the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (now the British Antarctic Survey) to undertake a PhD on sea ice and its prediction for ice navigation. Living at Clare College and based in the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), John began an association with Cambridge which continued to the end of his life.
Sailing south in 1956 on the royal research ship John Biscoe, he first saw the Antarctic ice during the annual relief of the British stations there. The following year he went deep into the Weddell Sea on the Theron as Vivian Fuchs began his first successful trans-Antarctic crossing of 1957-58. His PhD, published as Sea Ice of the Antarctic in 1963, was the first comprehensive investigation of sea ice distribution and variability around the continent. Heap married Peg Spicer in 1960 and in 1962 a postdoctoral invitation from the geology department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, took the couple to the US. For two years he researched the movement of the Ross ice shelf for the American "deep freeze" Antarctic programme. Its added advantage to him was an introduction to the US Antarctic science community that would be of great advantage in later years.
Heap seemed set for a life in research but returned to the UK in 1964 to join Brian Roberts in the Polar Regions Section (PRS) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and execute a career change. Roberts was a research fellow at SPRI and was looking for a successor to continue the pre-eminent role that he had established for the UK in the Antarctic Treaty. This remarkable document, signed at the height of the cold war in 1959 and providing for a demilitarised continent, was not only a forum for the US and the Soviet Union to meet but also a place for the UK, Argentina and Chile to resolve territorial disputes. Heap's personality, direct experience of the Antarctic and scientific credentials made him a good choice for such a sensitive role.
After an intensive two years with Roberts, Heap took over as head of the PRS in 1975, little guessing how demanding the forthcoming changes to the treaty would be. At that time, the treaty's biennial meetings were not especially controversial. Roberts, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the treaty and its procedures, had been able to shape the agenda over many years.
During Heap's 17-year tenure as leader of the UK delegation, new questions were taken up and his scientific knowledge severely tested by negotiations on the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (CCAS), the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources (CRAMRA) and, finally, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
The continuity of having Heap in post for 17 years provided inestimable advantages for the UK in all these negotiations. Heap saw science and conservation as major drivers in the governance of the Antarctic and was at pains to ensure that this was reflected in the final instruments. Perhaps the most arduous negotiations were those concerning mineral resources, which extended over many years and had to take place behind closed doors to avoid being derailed by environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace, which believed this was a charter to mine Antarctica.
Heap's pragmatic approach and his deft drafting of substantial parts of this convention turned it from one focused on economic gain to one concerned primarily with environmental protection. When CRAMRA failed to be ratified in 1989, Heap worked rapidly with others to transfer all the best environmental protection clauses into the drafting of the environmental protection protocol. This is now the principal legal instrument for environmental management of the continent and ensures the highest level of protection anywhere in the world. Heap's efforts in the marine living resources convention, to establish the first ecosystem-based fisheries management system, were also motivated by conservation and sustainability objectives. He will be remembered for frequently using the phrase "no data, no fish". In other words, no fisheries should be allowed unless there was the scientific basis on which to manage them.
This precautionary approach did not necessarily endear him to those states - Japan, Russia, Korea and Poland - keen on exploiting Antarctica's fish and krill stocks. But Heap's persistence paid off and within five years of the fisheries convention coming into force all commercial fisheries were regulated on a scientific basis.
Recruiting another Antarctic scientist to follow him in the Polar Regions Section, Heap retired in 1992 from the Foreign Office with a CMG to an equally demanding role as director of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Indeed he would say that the bickering, ambition and determined unhelpfulness that he experienced in the academic world at times exceeded what he had contended with at treaty meetings. His diplomatic and leadership skills were sorely tested but he was able to both secure a new relationship for the institute within Cambridge University and to raise money for a much-needed extension to the SPRI's world-class library.
Retiring yet again in 1998, Heap was still full of energy and ideas. Elected as a Liberal Democrat to South Cambridgeshire district council, he was also chairman of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, chairman of the TransAntarctic Association and constantly in demand as an adviser and friend to many. His work for more than 30 years as honorary treasurer to the International Glaciological Society was rewarded with its Richardson medal in 2000 for outstanding service. He remained involved right up to his death, still concerned about how to secure the future of Antarctica, how to help others find solutions to their problems, how to leave the world a better place.
His diplomatic skills and his grasp of legal details and procedures were second to none. Yet his approach, softly spoken with that infectious smile, disarmed opposition and made his proposition seem the most reasonable way forward. His time in the Foreign Office had allowed him to hone his writing skills, and the many papers he wrote, as well as the eight editions of the Antarctic Treaty Handbook he prepared, were masterpieces in the presentation of argument.
He is survived by Peg and by his son and two daughters. His name is commemorated in Heap Island, off the west coast of the Antarctic peninsula."

(9 December 2006)

NORMAN DANE VAUGHAN 19 December 1905 – 23 December 2005

A Great Man Passes. We are saddened by the passing of a great man today, on the 23rd December 2005, Norman Vaughan passed away peacefully in Anchorage, Alaska; he was 100 years old. Born in 1905, when Teddy Roosevelt was president and polar exploration was in its heyday, Norman was weaned on tales of Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Sir Robert Falcon Scott. In 1925 he left Harvard to join one of his heroes, Sir Wilfred Grenfell in Newfoundland, bringing medical supplies by dog sled to isolated villages. He left school again three years later to go to Antarctica with Admiral Byrd - a bold move that changed his life.
Norman was part of history as the chief dog driver on the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1928-30. He raced with the best in sprint mushing demonstration races in the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games. In 1967, drove a snowmobile 5000 miles from Alaska to Boston. Brazenly declared himself dog driving champion of the Pentagon to compete as the first non-Alaskan dog driver in the North American Sled Dog Championships in Alaska. At age 68, moved to Alaska for dogs and adventure with empty pockets after a business collapse and a shattered marriage. Shoveled sidewalks for food, found a job as a janitor, and built a dog team. Participated in 13 Iditarods, running his first one at age 72. Norman completed 6 with his last finish being in 1990 at the age of 84. Crashed President Carter's inaugural parade and was in the next two. Taught John Paul II how to mush. In 1997 organized the annual 868-mile Serum Run from Nenana to Nome, Alaska. This commemorates the 1925 dash to Nome by the fastest village dog teams to deliver diphtheria serum to save Nome. Norman "Dreamed big & dared to fail". Safe trails Norman.
--From http://www.normanvaughan.com/

The following appeared in the 24 December 2005 edition of the Boston Globe:

Norman Vaughan, dreamed big and dared to fail while scaling mountains; at 100

By Associated Press | December 24, 2005

ANCHORAGE -- Norman Vaughan, who as a young man explored Antarctica with Admiral Richard Byrd in what was to become a life full of adventure, died yesterday, just a few days after turning 100.

Mr. Vaughan, native of Salem, Mass., died at Providence Alaska Medical Center surrounded by relatives and friends, said nursing supervisor Martha George.

Mr. Vaughan was well enough last week Saturday to enjoy a birthday celebration at the hospital attended by more than 100 friends and hospital workers. His birthday was Monday and he celebrated again, but grew increasingly tired as the week progressed, said friend Susan Ruddy.

Ruddy was at Mr. Vaughan's bedside when he died.

"Suddenly we realized he wasn't breathing," Ruddy said. "It was just a completely easy departure and it seemed so wonderful to us that it happened on a lovely snowy day. He loved winter. He loved snow. It was almost as if he waited for a snowy day to make his last journey." Mr. Vaughan's motto was "Dream big and dare to fail." As a young man, he joined Byrd on his expedition to the South Pole from 1928-30 as a dog handler and driver.

Days before his 89th birthday he and his wife, Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan, returned to Antarctica and climbed to the summit of 10,320-foot Mount Vaughan, the mountain Byrd named in his honor.

"It was the climax of our dream," he told the Associated Press in an interview this year at his Anchorage home. "We had to risk failure to get there. We dared to fail."

Mr. Vaughan continued to seek adventure his entire life. His exploits included finishing the 1,100 mile-Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race six times after age 70. At age 96, he carried the Olympic torch in Juneau, passing the flame from a wheelchair, 70 years after he competed in the Olympics as a sled dog racer.

He wanted to climb Mount Vaughan again to celebrate his 100th birthday but the expedition fell short of money. He planned to sip champagne at the summit -- the first taste of alcohol for the lifetime teetotaler.

"The only liquor I've ever had was the taste of wine at communion," he said. "I told my mother I wouldn't drink until I was 100 and she said, 'That's all right.'"

Mr. Vaughan had a taste of champagne during his birthday celebration. Mr. Vaughan was born Dec. 19, 1905, in Salem, Mass., the son of a wealthy leather tanner and shoe manufacturer. In his youth, he became fascinated by tales of early-century polar explorers and taught himself to mush dogs, beginning with the family pet.

In 1925, he entered Harvard College but soon left to be a dog musher in Newfoundland for a medical missionary. He left Harvard for good to join Byrd on his expedition, which included creation of the first settlement in Antarctica and the first air flight over the South Pole. Mr. Vaughan was part of a crew that drove dog teams 1,500 miles across the frozen continent to collect geological samples and other scientific data.

"We were the last to use dogs," he recalled in his book, "With Byrd at the Bottom of the World," published in 1990. "From then on, explorers would use planes and over-the-snow vehicles."

Mr. Vaughan kept driving dogs after he returned to New England, qualifying for an exhibition of the sport at the 1932 Winter Olympics.

At the outset of World War II, he was commissioned an officer in the Army Air Corps and assigned to a search-and-rescue unit based in Maine. His service included using a dog team to salvage a secret bombsight from the so-called Lost Squadron of US warplanes forced to land in Greenland in 1942. More than five decades later, Mr. Vaughan would return to Greenland as part of an expedition that found several of the planes buried hundreds of feet beneath the ice.

After serving in the Korean War, Mr. Vaughan started making frequent trips to Alaska, moving permanently to the state at age 67. He arrived in Anchorage nearly broke. His first job was shoveling snow from sidewalks to pay for room and board, and he followed that with a stint as a dishwasher.

Despite his accomplished past, he felt no embarrassment about his humble beginnings in Alaska.

"If you don't look for challenges, you become a follower," Mr. Vaughan said. "Challenges are self-satisfying for a person, testing himself on whether he can do it or not, analyzing for himself his character. Many times it answers a great question for the person."

--From http://www.boston.com

Norman's travel biography from the 2002 edition of the Harvard Travellers Club:
Vaughan, Norman D. (1931, Fellow 1963, Honorary Member 1992, Club Medalist 1996)
Guatemala, Central America, 1925; Newfoundland and Labrador (Dr. Grenfell's Mission), 1925, 1926; Little America, Antarctica, Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928-30; Labrador, Greenland, Baffin Island, 1941; Iceland, England, Scotland, Ireland, 1942; Belgium, France, Italy, Africa, 1944; Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Philippines, 1945; Egypt, Jerusalem, France, Ireland, 1947; Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, West Indies, 1948; Japan, Philippines, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway, 1953; France, Algeria, Italy, England, Azores, Bermuda, 1954; Alaska, 1952 and twelve times since; Drove a snowmobile from Fort Yukon, Alaska (above Arctic Circle), to Boston, a distance of 5,700 miles in 40 days and nights (a world's record for longest single trip on a snowmobile), 1968; Went to Iran, as manager and coach of U.S. Polo Team, to celebrate 2,500th Anniversary of monarchy; was umpire in the games, of which the Iranians won three and the U.S. two, 1972. Moved to Alaska in 1973 for permanent residency. Stood on South Pole, November 27, 1979, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's flight over the South Pole. Have entered the 1,151-mile Iditarod sled dog race 13 times. Have gone to Greenland each year (except one) since 1981 to search for, excavate and salvage eight U.S. Air Force airplanes which were forced down without fuel in July, 1942. Found B-17 at 256 feet below surface of Greenland Ice Cap, but it was so damaged we didn't try to recover it. However, in 1990 we melted a shaft down to a P-38, took it apart, recovered it, and it is being reassembled in Kentucky. This plane will fly again. It was 266 feet below the surface. Residual from snow each year at this location is 5 to 6 feet. Visited Sweden, 1983 and 1984. Drove dog-team in the inaugural parades of Presidents Carter and Reagan and drove His Holiness John Paul II on his only dogsled ride. Spent two years preparing the Mount Vaughan Antarctic Expedition for austral summer 1993-94. Left October 26th with twenty sled dogs and thirteen people. DC-6 leased for trip crashed in Antarctica on first of seven scheduled flights. Will return to climb Mount Vaughan. Goal is to climb the 10,302-foot unclimbed mountain and summit on December 19, 1994, my 89th birthday.

WILLIAM JAMES MILLS 14 August 1951 – 8 May 2004

The following appeared in the 25 May 2004 edition of The Times:

WILLIAM MILLS
Librarian of the Scott Polar collection, who eventually visited Antarctica and gave his name to a glacier

Polar scholars from all over the world who have used the library and archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge will testify to the unfailingly helpful welcome given to them by William Mills and to his unstinting generosity his scholarly knowledge.

William James Mills was brought up in Oxford and educated at St Edward's School. Astronomy and music were particular interests--he began the classical guitar and went on to learn the lute, continuing to play regularly and to enjoy early music as an adult. His playing echoed round the Scott Polar Museum during many musical events. He was also an enthusiastic sportsman, and he retained an interest in football and his home-town team all his life.

Mills went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to read geography, receiving a senior scholarship in 1972 and graduating the following year. He then worked as a teacher, and trained as a professional librarian at the College of Librarianship in Aberystwyth--a course in which he achieved a distinction. He worked in several universities as a librarian and information officer until his appointment as librarian of the Scott Polar Research Institute in 1989. Remarkably given his subsequent career, he moved back to Cambridge with well-proven library skills, but little knowledge of the polar regions that were to dominate the rest of his life.

Looking back, it may be that his interest in the polar regions had been stimulated some years before his appointment by a paper he published in a Royal Society journal, about Darwin and the iceberg theory. Certainly he now threw himself not only into the organisational aspects of running the pre-eminent polar library in the world, but into acquiring a detailed knowledge of the polar regions and their history.

Eventually, early-morning lute playing gave way to the writing of the two-volume historical encyclopedia "Exploring Polar Frontiers", which will certainly become a standard work of reference for scholars of the polar regions. It is characteristically well researched and thoroughly documented. Mills was rightly pleased to show it to colleagues during his final illness.

He recognised the importance of the Scott Polar library collections as a unique source of information on the polar regions, and he developed the bibliographic aspects of the library as an information service for scholars from around the world. A mark of his international standing was his secretaryship, for many years, of the international Polar Libraries Colloquy.

He was also quick to realise that maintaining and enhancing the collections required both funds and space. Fundraising was a skill he developed in association particularly with Dr John Heap, the Director of the institute in the early 1990s. Together they worked on a project which culminated in the building of the Shackleton Memorial Library, a significant addition to the earlier building and winner of a prestigious architectural award. The University of Cambridge recognised Mills's achievements by promoting him to the post of Librarian and Keeper of Collections in 1998.

Mills took great pleasure in showing visiting scholars the breadth and depth of the institute's collections of historical documents, artefacts and artwork, which focus on British exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic from the early 19th century onwards.

Mills finally visited Antarctica, a longstanding ambition, as a specialist speaker on a cruise ship in 1999. He came back with abiding memories of the places about which he had read for so many years--and also with Dionne, whom he was to marry shortly afterwards.

As a mark of his achievements in the polar world, a glacier draining part of upland West Antarctica has been named Mills Glacier. News of this recognition reached him just three weeks before his death, and in a typically understated way he was clearly delighted.

He is survived by his wife, Dionne, and three young children.

William Mills, Librarian and Keeper of Collections at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, was born on August 14, 1951. He died after a long illness on May 8th, 2004, aged 52.

--Thanks to Paul Youngs
(25 May 2004)

VERNER DUNCAN CARSE 28 July 1913 – 2 May 2004

The following appeared in the 25 May 2004 edition of the The Times:

DUNCAN CARSE
The voice of Dick Barton, Special Agent, who was also a highly respected polar explorer

James Bond was perhaps little more than a spark in the imagination of Ian Fleming when "Dick Barton, Special Agent" held 15 million listeners pinned to their postwar radio sets. "The Devil's Gallop" signature tune and the sonorous, commanding voice of Duncan Carse as the special agent himself were a nightly signal of impending danger and excitement. But it was real-life adventure, clean-cut and far removed from the 007 genre, that personified Carse the expert on polar exploration, a passion he combined with his work as a professional radio broadcaster and actor.

Verner Duncan Carse was educated at Sherborne and in Lausanne before joining the Merchant Navy as an apprentice on square-riggers. His first contact with the Antarctic came after joining the royal research ship Discovery II bound in 1933 for the southern ocean. They reached Port Stanley and encountered the schooner Penola, outward bound from England carrying the British Graham Land Expedition. When Carse heard that the expedition was likely to be shorthanded, he volunteered and was released to join the Penola, spending the winter locked in ice off the west coast of Graham Land.

Carse was the youngest member and acted as wireless operator and helped to establish depots for the mainland exploration. After sailing to South Georgia for a refit and then returning to retrieve the shore party from its second winter base on Marguerite Bay, it was not until August 1937 that the Penola arrived back in England and Carse turned to acting and the BBC.

He was already established as a presenter and announcer when war broke out and in 1942 he joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman, a modest position for someone who wore the white ribbon of the Polar Medal, awarded for his services on the British Graham Land Expedition. In 1943 he was commissioned in the RNVR and spent the rest of the war on a trawler in the Western Approaches, an appointment that he felt did not make best use of either his background or his experience. He later had a similar disappointment when his proposal for an expedition across the Antarctic continent lost to Sir Vivian Fuchs's Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1955-58.

Immediately after the war Carse succeeded to the role of Dick Barton in the BBC's first daily radio series, replaced in 1951 by "The Archers". He then spent the first of four southern summers leading and organising the South Georgia Survey. Their work exploring and surveying the hazardous glacier and mountain terrain led to the first detailed map of the South Atlantic island that remains the standard reference and proved of immense value during the Falklands conflict in 1982.

He twice returned to South Georgia spending the entire southern winter of 1961 alone in a hut on the desolate west coast, surviving when the hut along with much of his stores were destroyed by a storm. In 1973 he attempted to retrace Sir Ernest Shackleton's route across the island but was defeated by severe conditions on the high glacier.

Carse continued with the BBC as a producer and presenter until the mid-1980s, the Antarctic featuring strongly in his work. His significant contribution to the region was acknowledged by the naming of Carse Point on the east coast of George VI Sound and of Mount Carse (2,300m) in the southern part of South Georgia.

Carse had misgivings about the increasing intrusion into the polar regions by heavily supported expeditions. A journalist who once suggested that the worst danger confronting such undertakings was the risk of being hit by sledges and crates of supplies dropped from aircraft received a "Bravo" of approval from him.

Carse is survived by his third wife, Venetia, and by two daughters from his first marriage.

Duncan Carse radio actor and explorer, was born on July 28,1913. He died on May 2, 2004, aged 90.

--Thanks to Paul Youngs
(25 May 2004)

VIRGINIA FRANCES PEPPER FIENNES 9 July 1947 – 20 February 2004

Feisty explorer who masterminded her husband's polar treks

Oliver Shepard
Tuesday February 24, 2004
The Guardian, London

Virginia "Ginny" Fiennes, who has died of cancer aged 56, was highly respected in polar circles around the world. In 1985, she became the first woman ever to be invited to join the hallowed ranks of the Antarctic Club, and, two years later, the first to receive the Polar medal from the Queen. This was in recognition of her research work, especially into VLF radio propagation, for the British Antarctic Survey and Sheffield University. Ginny's husband, the polar explorer Sir Ranulph "Ran" Fiennes, led many expeditions, in hot deserts and cold regions, through the last three decades of the 20th century. But it was his wife, whom he idolised, who originated and inspired the planning, had the final say in choosing the teams, organised the routes and schedules, was base leader in Africa, Arabia and the polar regions for many years, and specialised in communications.

She was not impressed by bureaucracy, never took "No" for an answer and, though slightly built, could make big men quake in their boots with a flash of her bright blue eyes.

Ginny was born Virginia Frances Pepper near Lodsworth, West Sussex, the third of the four children of Tom and Janet Pepper, whose family had, for 300 years, owned and worked the Amberley chalk quarries on the South Downs, now an industrial museum. She was only nine when she met Ran, then an unruly 12-year-old just arrived in a neighbouring village from South Africa; they married in 1970.

After school, Ginny took up deep-sea diving, but was recruited to work for two years in Wester Ross for the Scottish National Trust. She spent many months in the 1960s researching for Ran's travel books on Arabia, Africa and the Rocky mountains.

In 1968, she organised the first navigation of the Nile, the world's longest river, by prototype hovercraft, and, in 1971, the first transnavigation of British Columbia entirely by river, a four-month journey filmed by the BBC for the World About Us series. One night, awaiting the arrival of boats bringing up petrol and food, she was startled by a bear and shot through her own boot by mistake.

In 1972, Ginny was commissioned by Woman's Own magazine to live for two months with an Omani sheikh in a Jebel Akhdar village - the idea was that she should act as his third wife, though with a strict understanding that no carnal activities were involved. She grew to love her Omani family, lived entirely as they did, and decided not to submit any article out of respect for their privacy.

This episode was the start of Ginny's lifelong love of Oman, and she organised four expeditions with Ran to locate the lost frankincense city of Ubar, in Dhofar. This quest was finally successful in the early 1990s, two decades after their search began.

In 1972, Ginny suggested an attempt to circumnavigate the world along its polar axis. Ten years later, her dream finally succeeded, and the Transglobe expedition team became the first to reach both north and south poles, having crossed Antarctica, and the Arctic ocean through the North-West Passage, a journey altogether of 35,000 miles lasting three years. The band of expedition colleagues from those days remained Ginny's close friends, among them Anton Bowring, Charlie Burton and myself. Prince Charles, patron to the expeditions for 15 years, also became a friend.

To become Britain's most experienced polar radio operator, Ginny was trained by expert Jack Willis at Royal Aircraft Establishment (Cove) Farnborough, then took marine radio officer courses and joined the WRAC Territorials. She set up and maintained 80ft radio masts in the Arctic and Antarctic, often in high winds and temperatures of -50C. In Antarctica in 1980, she was instrumental in saving the lives of a group of South African scientists lost to the north of her isolated base.

Ginny was tough, and knew what she wanted. As Ran's fiancée in 1968, she managed to get an interview with Britain's top literary agent, George Greenfield. But she arrived at the meeting with bleeding knees, having slipped down the steel-edged steps at Holborn tube station in her miniskirt and cut her legs. Greenfield was so impressed by this fiery envoy that he agreed to take Ran's first book sight unseen.

On another occasion, while discussing an offer from the Observer for exclusive coverage of her Transglobe expedition, Ginny confronted a committee of 18 senior polar gurus, including Sir Vivian Fuchs. After Greenfield had announced the newspaper's offer - 20% revenue from foreign rights to accrue to the expedition, and 80% for the Observer - Ginny managed singlehandedly to persuade the editor Donald Trelford's executives to switch the figures around and give 80% for the expedition.

Even in bad times, her sense of humour was never far away. When she heard that Ran was to have five fingers amputated because of frostbite, she commented, "Oh damn, now we'll be shorthanded on the farm." And despite her sometimes forceful manner, Ginny was known to her many friends and godchildren for her gentleness, integrity and generosity. A modest and private person, she hated being in the spotlight, and never took credit for her achievements.

She loved all animals, and her Jack Russell terrier Bothie, beloved by a generation of Blue Peter fans, became the first dog to travel to both north and south poles -an achievement recounted in Ginny's bestselling book, Bothie, The Polar Dog (1984). In 1981, Ginny saved a St John's Water Dog puppy from an Inuit annual cull in Tuktoyaktuk, and brought her back to Britain to found a new breed. There are now some 50 descendants, which are much in demand. In the 1980s, Ginny moved with Ran to Exmoor national park to raise pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle and a flock of black Welsh Mountain sheep, turning herself into a highly proficient hill-farmer (at 1,400ft, one of the highest working farms in the south-west). Her cattle, traditional but not old-fashioned, are sought after by breeders all over the UK and have won many awards at major cattle shows.

Right up until her death, Ginny was planning new expeditions abroad and new cattle-breeding projects at home. Her cancer was diagnosed last November, on the day after Ran returned from running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents with Dr Mike Stroud, raising funds for the British Heart Foundation four months after Ran himself suffered a massive heart attack and double bypass surgery.

Lady Virginia Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, explorer, born July 9 1947; died February 20 2004

--Sent by Antony Bowring, who with his wife Jill, was a member of the Trans-Globe expedition.
(29 January 2007)

For more on Ginny Fiennes, go to the Transglobe Expedition website

CAPTAIN LEONARD CHARLES HILL 5 September 1908 – 2 September 2003

The following appeared in the 18 September 2003 edition of the Daily Telegraph:

Captain Leonard Hill, who has died aged 94, commanded the Royal Research Ship Discovery II on her last two commissions before the Second World War.

Within months of taking command at the age of 27, Hill, a Master Mariner and hydrographic surveyor, came into the news as the rescuer of the American explorer, Lincoln Ellsworth, and his Canadian pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon.

On November 23 1935, the two airmen had left Dundee Island, off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, in their single-engined, ski-equipped Northrop monoplane; they were bound for the Bay of Whales on the Ross Sea, where Admiral R E Byrd's abandoned station, Little America II, was situated.

On December 15, after four landings en route for position checks, they finally reached the snowed-in station, covering the last 20 miles on snow-shoes after their aircraft had run out of fuel.

At the station they were able to break through the roof of Byrd's radio shack, which was level with the snow, and there they remained for the next month, surviving on rations and fuel that Byrd had left behind.

Meanwhile Discovery II, with her two seaplanes, had been diverted from an oceanographic cruise to relieve the two men. On January 15 1936, Ellsworth "was awakened at 22.00 to see Kenyon standing over me with a note in his hand. He had heard the roar of a motor overhead, although our dug-out home was 15 feet beneath the snow, and had crawled up to the surface in time to see a parachute descending through the fog which had enveloped us for two weeks. The parcel contained food and the note was from Captain Hill, commanding the RRS Discovery II."

The two men were soon aboard the ship, and were then transferred to Ellsworth's own support ship Wyatt Earp, which reached the Bay of Whales four days later with Sir Hubert Wilkins, the Australian polar airman, aboard. Hill's service in this relief operation was acknowledged by the award of an OBE in 1937.

Leonard Charles Hill was born on September 5, 1908. Aged 16, he took a four-year Merchant Navy cadetship with the shipping line of P Henderson and Company. From 1928 to 1930 he served as a junior officer in the line of J & J Denholm, and then, as a sub-lieutenant RNR, as a navigating officer in the submarine service of the Royal Navy.

In 1931, as Lieutenant RNR, he was appointed chief officer and navigator of Discovery II on her second two-year commission, continuing in these posts on her third commission. Four years later, Hill gained his Master Mariner's ticket with a foreign-going certificate, and, still only a lieutenant, was promoted to command Discovery II on her fourth and fifth commissions up to 1939. When asked how he rose so quickly, he would reply: "Because I was sober."

Between 1931 and 1939 oceanographic surveys were made on three voyages around the Antarctic continent - the 1932 voyage being the first to have been made in winter. More detailed surveys were made in the waters around South Georgia, the South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands. Hill also directed the rescue from King George Island of six Discovery II men stranded there. Visits were also made to a number of sub-Antarctic islands, including Bouvetøya far down in the South Atlantic Ocean, where a rare landing was made. The net results of all this work were vastly improved Admiralty charts of the Southern Ocean and adjacent waters.

For his part in the operations, in 1941 Hill received the Bronze Polar Medal (clasp Antarctic 1931-39), and the Gill Memorial Prize of the Royal Geographical Society in 1942. In the Antarctic he is commemorated in Hill Bay on Brabant Island.

In July 1939, Hill served with the Royal Navy as navigating officer on the minelayer Adventure, in which he remained for some months, being mentioned in dispatches. He then went on to command a series of escort ships in the rank of lieutenant-commander RNR in the North Atlantic and on Russian convoys. In July 1944, while commanding the captain class frigate Cooke (formerly an American ship), he attacked and sank a German U-boat (U-214) off Start Point in the approaches to Plymouth; he was awarded a DSC for that action.

After the war, Hill spent a year as a River Clyde pilot, before joining the staff of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, with which he spent the rest of his career until his retirement in 1972 as the port manager.

His service in the RNR was rewarded with the Reserve Decoration, and his standing as a skilled navigator and marine surveyor was recognised by Fellowships of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. He was a long-time member of the Antarctic Club, of which he served as President in 1967.

Hill, who died on September 2, was predeceased by his wife, the former Mary Snelus. He is survived by two daughters.

--Brought to our attention by John Splettstoesser
(25 September 2003)

A.G.E. JONES F.R.G.S. 1914 – 2002

The death of the maritime and polar historian A.G.E. Jones after a long illness will be regretted by those who respected the high standards of his scholarship and benefited from his research. Jones' enthusiasm for the polar regions was fired by a boyhood reading of the exploration classics but whose serious study began when, as a teacher in Ipswich, he interested himself in the city's 18th century whaling trade, publishing a paper on the subject in The Mariner's Mirror. Subsequently he was to extend his studies to the whaling industries of the Arctic and Antarctic as pursued by London merchants, such as Samuel Enderby and Daniel Bennett. For many years he laboured in his spare time working on a comprehensive study of the Greenland and Davis Strait trade, 1740-1880, based on a detailed analysis of Lloyds Registry of Shipping, subsequently travelling to Australia in connexion with a volume on South Sea whaling records.

Whaling was by no means his sole interest. Inspired by the work of the historian R.J.Cyriax, he published numerous articles on the part played by the British navy in the exploration of the Northwest Passage and in particular the fate of Sir John Franklin and the subsequent attempts at his rescue. Though much of his work was published in specialist learned journals there were occasional monographs, one of which, Antarctica Observed [1982], covered the much debated field of who first set eyes on the Antarctic continent; based on detailed research the monograph constitutes a fine example of Jones' respect for original sources. While paying due regard to such great navigators as Cook and Bellingshausen, Jones strove greatly to rescue from obscurity the lives of lesser known seamen, notably John Biscoe and Edward Bransfield in the 19th century and in the Heroic Period of the early 20th century, men of the calibre of Frank Wild. He had little time to spare for certain of the heroes themselves and was ready to ransack the navy records to bring them down to size. During his lifetime Jones published well over 100 papers, 50 of which have been collected in a volume entitled Polar Portraits published by Caedmon of Whitby in 1992. Before he died he donated his library and associated papers to the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge along with much obiter dicta recorded on tape.

-- H.G.R. King formerly Librarian, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.
Appearing in the May 2003 issue of The James Caird Society Newsletter.

CHARLES ROBERT BURTON

The following appeared in the Daily Telegraph:

Charlie Burton, who died yesterday [16 July 2002] aged 59, was the tough, high-spirited companion of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bt, on the first circumnavigation of the world on its polar axis.

Starting off from Greenwich on September 2, 1979, they sailed down the Meridian to Cape Town, then on to the Antarctic where a party of four - Fiennes, Burton, Oliver Shepard plus Fiennes's wife Ginnie and the family terrier Bothie - were duly deposited.

The team brought with them scientific equipment and several board games; Burton, who claimed to know nothing about chess, was charged with conducting matches with the American, South African and Russian stations by radio.

Leaving Lady Fiennes at Borga to maintain radio contact, the three men forged a previously unventured 900-mile route to the Pole. It was a relatively smooth passage.

Using aneroid barometers to map their way, they even had to slow down at one stage to enable their supply plane to find them. After reaching their destination, they headed for the Scott base at McMurdo Sound on the other side of the continent to be greeted by a piper.

As the expedition turned north, the pressures became noticeable. Shepard's wife asked him to give up; and Burton coped with any strain by marrying his girlfriend "Twink" when the expeditioners halted in Sydney.

When Burton and Fiennes reached the Yukon, Burton was particularly struck by the enormous mosquitoes, which he described as "flying Jack Russells". He was grateful for the case of whiskey sent up from Tennessee by the Jack Daniels company, though he grumbled that large amounts went down the throats of the thirsty reporters covering the story.

After being driven north, the pair took a 16 ft boat through the Northwest Passage, with Burton at the helm, and headed north until the vessel became stuck in the ice off Ellesmere Island.

They then skied over the glaciers to Base Alert, a gruelling experience for Burton when the soles came off his feet, though he suggested they rested only when he fell over and struck his face on a rock.

By then they knew that both French and Norwegian parties were headed in the same direction. With Lady Fiennes established at Base Alert to maintain radio contract, the two men set off on snowmobiles.

Their troubles began to mushroom. A fire at Alert destroyed much of the supplies for which they were waiting. Four hundred and fifty miles from the Pole, the pair found themselves stranded in temperatures of minus 30 degrees with only a week's supply of food.

On one occasion, Burton clutched on to Fiennes's snowmobile with frozen hands as it sank into open seawater while his companion rescued some vital pieces of equipment. Since much of their protective clothing was lost, they were driven to sharing a sleeping bag for 24 hours until a new snowmobile was hazardously delivered by a Swiss charter pilot.

Burton, who was expedition cook and radio operator, established during one transmission that Britain was at war; but it was five days before he discovered that it was with Argentina. A freak warm spell prevented them from using the machines properly.

Then, after having to cut their way through successive ice walls, they got on to an ice floe the size of a football field, from which they had to transfer when it collided with another as the waters carried them north. Eventually they arrived at the Pole, celebrating their success ahead of the Norwegians with "a nicely chilled magnum".

They had become the first people to reach both poles in a single journey of some 52,000 miles.

However, the excitements were not over. Fiennes shot a 12 ft tall polar bear through the ankle, 12 yards from Burton, after it climbed on to their ice floe. As the floe distintegrated into smaller pieces, they became alarmed when the wind carried them back north.

But after three months, they met their ship, which was jammed in the ice between Greenland and Spitzbergen. The expedition had taken them three years and two days by the time it finally returned to Greenwich.

The son of a commander in the Royal Navy, Charles Robert Burton was born on December 13 1942 and went to Millfield before joining the Royal Sussex Regiment. He came out to start a business in South Africa and, after returning to London, enlisted as a Territorial in the SAS with Fiennes and Shepard as they were planning their expedition.

On returning home, Burton and Fiennes received the Polar Medal, with Antarctic and Arctic clasps, while Shepard received the Arctic clasp. However, Burton was particularly delighted by a Jak cartoon in the London Evening Standard which showed "Twink", in her curlers, saying on the telephone that he would only sleep in a fridge.

A decade later, Burton and Shepard rang to suggest a second expedition though, this time, on foot and without support. Fiennes protested that it would be impossible, prompting Burton's standard response: "Shut your mouth, or I'll smash your teeth".

When the trio met next day at the Royal Geographical Society, Fiennes pointed out that since neither dogs nor machines could manage the terrain, there was no chance for men. "Balls," shouted Burton, "Captain Scott was absolutely right in reckoning manpower to be the efficient method. Our journey will prove it."

Shepard then clinched the idea by saying: "If we don't do the journey, somebody else will." However, Burton and Shepard eventually pulled out, giving up the pleasures of participation for those of organisation. Burton later explained that once Fiennes became competitive he would regard any signs of enjoyment as tantamount to mutiny and insist they travel faster. Instead, Fiennes completed the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent with Mike Stroud.

Burton went into the private security business, looking after the Cabinet Office and the Treasury Office, and played much golf in his spare time. He is survived by his wife.

--Sent by Antony Bowring, who with his wife Jill, was a member of the expedition.
(17 November 2002)

For more on Charlie Burton, go to the Transglobe Expedition website

GEORGE W. GIBBS, JR.

From the Associated Press and the Rochester Post-Bulletin:

"First African-American in Antarctica, civil rights leader

ROCHESTER, Minn. - George W. Gibbs, Jr., the first African-American to set foot on Antarctica and a celebrated civil rights leader, died Nov. 7, on his 84th birthday.
Gibbs served on Adm. Richard Byrd's third expedition to the South Pole in 1939, becoming the first African American in Antarctica. He was one of 40 Navy men selected from 2,000 applicants to sail with Byrd on the USS Bear, a rickety, wooden ship that had been made into a museum before it was retrofitted for the South Pole voyage.
After three Antarctic expeditions, he was a World War II gunner in the South Pacific.
Following his naval career, Gibbs graduated from the University of Minnesota, and moved to Rochester in 1963 to work for IBM. After retiring, he managed his own employment agencies.
Gibbs helped organize the Rochester chapter of the NAACP 35 years ago and worked tirelessly for civil rights.
In 1974, Gibbs made national news when the Rochester Elks Club denied him membership. He was the first African-American to apply to the local club, and he helped break the color barrier at service clubs in Rochester."

--Posted 21 March 2001

HARDING McGREGOR DUNNETT

Harding McGregor Dunnett, the founder of the James Caird Society, died on Saturday the 22nd of April, 2000. Harding was a moving force behind the recent surge of interest in Ernest Shackleton, his connection to Dulwich College and the boat, the James Caird that played such a crucial role in the saga of the Endurance expedition. He authored the book Shackleton's Boat: The Story of the James Caird (1996) and was, at his death, the Chairman of the James Caird Society. Ever jolly, he will be long remembered as one who always welcomed those on the trail of Shackleton.

COMMANDER SIR JAMESON ADAMS KCVO, CBE, DSO, RD, RNR

This address was sent to me by Tim Adams, grandson of Sir Jameson Adams. Here is some of his e-mail:

As my son will shortly be participating in a centenary expedition to recreate the original expedition plus the last 97 miles to the South Pole, I have recently been taking renewed interest in my grandfather's life, including any records on the web.
For your information, "The Mate", as my grandfather was better known, was born on 6th March 1880 and he died in London on 30th April 1962. I attach a copy of the address given by his friend Lord Boothby at his memorial service.
— 17 July 2007

Address given at the Memorial Service on 25th May 1962 for Commander Sir Jameson Adams KCVO, CBE, DSO, RD, RNR at St James' Church, Piccadilly by Lord Boothby KBE, LLD.

"A few weeks ago a familiar figure, in a curled billycock hat and a coat cut to a fashion that no longer exists, came up to me and said: 'I have got some bad news for you, Mate. I have decided that, if they give me a Memorial Service, you are to make the Address.'

Not unnaturally, I was pleased, because it betokened the friendship of a man whose regard I would rather have had than that of anyone else in the world. Nor was I apprehensive, because not for a long time had I seen him look so well, or in better spirits. Little did I realise that the hour of fulfilment would come so soon.

The career of Sir Jameson Adams was astonishing; and, indeed, unparalleled.

He joined the Merchant Navy in 1893 (having run away from school at the age of 13), and the Royal Naval Reserve in 1895. He was one of the last to gain a Master Mariner's Certificate under sail. In 1907 the Captain of HMS Berwick sent for him and said:

'Look here, Adams, put on your frock-coat and sword tomorrow morning. I'm going to take you aboard the Drake to see Prince Louis. Arrangements have been made to give you a permanent commission in the Royal Navy with the requisite seniority, and your career is made.' He went down to the wardroom to celebrate, with - in his own words - 'the greatest joy in the world'.

Minutes later a signal came from Shackleton, whom he had met only once, two years before, but had talked to for several hours, asking him to go as second-in-command of the Nimrod Expedition to the Antarctic. Immediately he went up to the bridge and said to the Captain: 'Sir, I've changed my mind: this is my offer and I'm going to take it.'

For what reason? Little interest in the scientific side, or in the theory of meteorology. He didn't even believe that the records he was to make were of any consequence. 'I had an interest.' he said, 'in trying to see that England got where she should get -- to the South Pole, and first.' They got within ninety miles.

And then: 'I always remember, on the worst part of the journey, when we were camping up for the night, having had a hell of a day, my book of records blew away, and Shackleton said to me: 'You must go after it, Bill; no good going home without the records.' So I had to turn to and skid down the crevasses and get my little logbook with all the records in. He appreciated it very much.' I should think he did!

Bill Adams was by nature something of a hero-worshipper; but he gave it, wholeheartedly, to two men alone.

First to Shackleton. After the return of the Nimrod Expedition, they drifted apart. It was inevitable. Adams went to establish the Labour Exchanges in the North-East of England. Shackleton was lionised by Edwardian Society and wanted to make money, and - as Sir Jameson said - 'went off lecturing all over the place'. This was no good for the Mate, who hated the limelight and avoided it all his life. But the final verdict, given almost half a century later, stands. Shackleton was, in his eyes, 'the greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none.'

Second, to Admiral Hood. He was his Flag Lieutenant when he commanded the Dover Patrol at the beginning of the First World War; and Sir Jameson was rightly convinced that a great injustice had been done to his Chief when he was relieved of his command in 1915. It was, indeed, the only subject on which I ever heard him speak with bitterness.