#Antarctic Explorer

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1938 – Death of Tom Crean, Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer, from Co Kerry.

The reasons why history has been unkind to Crean are twofold: first, the politics of post-independence Ireland; and second, what George Bernard Shaw described as the greatest of evils and worst of crimes — poverty. Tom Crean was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer from Annascaul, Co Kerry. He was a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.…

[illneverbeapassenger]

Pressure ridges, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

October 2024.

[peatbogpirate]

I've been wanting to do a full-crew Endurance illustration for a long time, and finally the gang's all here! 28 men, dogs and cat all accounted for, with every crew member referencing either a photo of them or a story about them. It's a little over two years since I first read Lansing's Endurance and I couldn't be happier to still be researching and drawing these guys :)

[cockroachesunite]

Madhouse Promenade

(inspired by this)

[ephraimwaite]

How to avoid reblogging the Nazi Antarctic Expedition

There are posts on this site which use images and video from the Third German Antarctic Expedition (1938-1939), the most popular of these having over 22k notes.

Example:

The expedition was on the order of Hermann Göring and aimed to claim part of Antarctica for Nazi Germany, so that its fishing and whaling resources could be used by the Reich. Its logo featured a swastika and it was supported by the Nazi regime.

Additionally, members of this expedition were also members of the German armed forces during WW2. It is important to remember that Nazi Germany's war crimes were not only committed by the SS, but all members of the armed forces committed them and/or were complicit, whether they joined voluntarily or were conscripted.

Therefore, you hopefully do not want to reblog content about it without realising what it is. But how can you tell?

This is mostly concentrated on the posts of one user, but here are some things to look out for:

- anything tagged with "schwabenland" or "Third German Antarctic Expedition".

- anything mentioning that the expedition pictured took place between 1938-1939

- if there is no information, and you can't identify the expedition pictured, consider a reverse image search and/or not reblogging

- don't engage with these posts/blogs in future and if u see a beloved mutual reblogging one of these posts without realising, consider sending a DM to let them know.

[evergreensounds]

Here we are!!! presenting a zine on Dr. Louis Hauiti Potaka, one of the few People of Color in the modern history of polar exploration

tw. suicide, systemic racism

[amundsenxcook]

polar horror my beloved

[seal-husband]

I've been working on putting together something fun!

The current categories are: nonfiction books, fiction books, poetry, games/3d environments, music, and web resources. At present the nonfiction section is the beefiest, cobbled together from various tumblr posts (including one showing the research shelf of The Terror's writers' room!).

This is intended to be a living, crowd-sourced document. Please feel free to submit additions, corrections, comments, and questions via Tumblr asks or messages.

[EDIT 7 Jan 25- added a Theater category for plays, opera, musicals, etc. ]

[spelacchiotto]

the rumors are true: Sir James Clark Ross aged like fine wine

[buildoblivion]

i’m reading worst journey in the world again and I can’t get enough of these little dudes

[pseudocurios]

stamps about the imperial trans-antarctic ("endurance") expedition, from the series "shackleton and the endurance expedition". britain, issued 2016.

[pangeen]

" Us Against the Freeze " // © Myeongho Seo

[peatbogpirate]

an older polar doodle for today. how I wish to be a fly on the wall for the bizarre antarctic club reunion vibes

[cockroachesunite]

The Belgica wardroom

[ourdailybill]

Wilson Books

TL;DR: Good books are good! Links!

Cheltenham in Antarctica – Biography of Edward A. Wilson, amply illustrated, correct in its quotations where Seaver took some editorial liberties. The paperback is only available used; a very very nice deluxe leatherbound edition in a slipcase can be ordered direct from the publisher.

Discovery Illustrated – A coffee-table sized treasure trove of the rarer or otherwise unavailable images depicting the whole of the Discovery Expedition (1901-04). The actual book is nicer than the image there, which is a promo leaflet and not the cover. Also available used.

Nimrod Illustrated – Same but for the Nimrod Expedition (1907-09)

Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks – Same sort of big juicy edition, but of Wilson's sketches, paintings, and observations of natural subjects in more temperate climes.

Edward Wilson's Antarctic Notebooks are also a thing (a glorious thing) but they're not presently available on the publisher's site or on World of Books.

Terra Nova Illustrated – Keep reading ...

Nonfiction bookselling is an unforgiving place. If you want to publish your research, you either have to convince a publisher that there's a market for it and tailor your output to the lowest common denominator, or publish academically where maybe a few dozen people will see it at best. The middle ground is going with a tiny independent press – even a vanity press – and hoping your book finds the people who are into the subject enough to appreciate something detailed and esoteric, with no marketing budget. This is where the real nerd gold is, but it's hard to source, often our of print, and with no economies of scale, expensive.

David M. Wilson, great-nephew of Our Bill, has been putting together books on Antarctic history – most, but not all, having to do with his predecessor – and these are full of stuff you will not find anywhere else. In order not to compromise on content or depth, he's published through a one-person outfit in the West Country which, aside from the digital printing, operates in roughly 1998. Sales are slow; neither of them are on social media and the books are too esoteric for most bookshops to stock.

David is currently working on the latest in his Illustrated series, and it's the big one – Terra Nova. Because of his unique connections with institutions and expedition families worldwide, it's going to be an assemblage of images that you likely haven't seen before – the whole point of it is to fill the gaps in the visual record, and oh boy there's some good stuff in there. (I have been occasionally consulting on Guy IDs and I can vouch for this.) But his publisher is hemming and hawing about his previous Illustrated books not selling well. Obviously Terra Nova Illustrated is going to be the most successful of the bunch (at least until he comes out with Endurance) but in order to give his publisher a little more confidence it would be great to shift some of the backlist.

As I am on social media, I offered to signal boost a link to the online shop, but whoa the website is terrible and that may explain why they're not selling anything. I have now taken the trouble to take you to the shop pages for each individual book, and also link you to new and used copies on World Of Books, which is kind enough to kick a little back to the author even on used copies. They also have a slightly more modern website.

Shipping in A.D. 2025 is not making anything easier, but polar fandom is a cooperative bunch, and it may be possible for multiple people in one country to group their orders and divide the combined shipping. This ought to work out cheaper for everyone than each person individually paying full price to ship from the UK.

Let's make Terra Nova Illustrated look like more of a commercial prospect!

[letmeinimafairy]

Finished painting a set of pendants for a commission about Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic expedition. Endurance, whales, Frank Hurley and penguins. Sea pottery officially captured my brain.