A congressional inquiry upheld Peary’s claim, but doubts remain. Peary said he reached the Pole on April 6, 1909, but Frederick Cook, a doctor who had accompanied Peary on expeditions, claimed to have reached the Pole a year earlier. Robert PearyĪmerican explorer Robert Peary traveled much of the Arctic by dogsled, and he’s most famous for his claim that he was the first person to reach the geographic North Pole. They didn’t reach the North Pole, but they did set a record for the farthest travel north. The ship did freeze in the ice, but when it hadn’t reached the Pole after 18 months, Nansen and a companion set off with dogs and sledges. His ship, Fram, had a customized rounded hull and features that allowed it to withstand ice pressure. It was more than a year before the news reached Scott’s family.Ī Norwegian explorer, Fridtjof Nansen had some rather unconventional ideas about polar exploration: he felt that a specially designed ship frozen in pack ice would eventually end up at the North Pole, and in 1893 he set out to prove it. Exhausted by weeks of marching into headwinds of at least 30 knots and in -40☏ (-40☌) temperatures, Scott and four companions died when they became trapped in a blizzard. He reached the South Pole on Jan 17, 1912, a month after Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen did. Robert Falcon ScottĪs the leader of two major expeditions to Antarctica, Robert Falcon Scott is credited with discovering that Antarctica is a continent. Shackleton and a small crew sailed a lifeboat 800 miles (1,287 km) and returned to rescue the other men with no loss of life. When their vessel, Endurance, became trapped in ice, Shackleton and his men set up camp on ice floes eventually, they reached the uninhabited Elephant Island. One of the enduring stories of victory snatched from the jaws of defeat is the tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27, which set off in 1914 with the hope of becoming the first explorers to traverse the Antarctic continent. Ross later published a memoir, A Voyage of Discovery and Research to Southern and Antarctic Regions. He discovered the Ross S ea and named 2 volcanoes after his vessels. He later commanded an Antarctic expedition with his ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, during which he charted much of Antarctica’s coastline. Many of our trips take you to the very sites of the most dramatic occurrences in polar history, bringing you up close and personal with the achievements of several of the following famous explorers.Ī British naval officer, Sir James Clark Ross located the northern magnetic pole in 1831. Today’s adventure travelers can walk in the footsteps of these legendary figures, but with a great deal more comfort and safety, thanks to Quark Expeditions®. From Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose bravery and devotion to his men was exemplary, to the century-long mystery of the ill-fated Franklin expedition, polar explorers continue to intrigue. The names and achievements of famous explorers of the Polar Regions are well known, and the history of polar exploration is filled with stories of courage and endurance, as well as triumph and tragedy.