Antarctic Guide Blog

RF Scott’s goodbye letter to auction

Scott’s letter to financier Edgar Speyer, who had helped raised funds for the trip, was found on his body in November 1912. It had been written on March 1912. In the letter Scott writes: “I fear we must go…but we have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen – I regret only […]

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Ice thwarts Mawson commemorations

Douglas Mawson centenary trip to Antarctica frozen as cold reality sets in • BY:MATTHEW DENHOLM, ANTARCTICA • From:The Australian • December 21, 2011 12:00AM ONE hundred years after Douglas Mawson’s first Australian-led Antarctic expedition was almost defeated by thick pack ice, the same problem has stumped those seeking to follow in his wake. Unusually dense […]

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How Norway celebrated Amundsen’s centenary

South Pole parties mixed pride, PR December 14, 2011 Norwegian officials made the most of the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen’s arrival at the South Pole on Wednesday, with the king, the crown prince and the prime minister strategically placed to hail December 14, 1911 as “a proud day for Norway.” The celebrations reflected pride […]

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Falkland/Malvinas issue heating up, again

Falklands’ fishing companies regret Uruguay’s ban, and losses for the port of Montevideo Falkland Islands fishing companies association, FIFCA expressed their “extreme disappointment” with Uruguay’s decision not to allow Falklands’ flagged vessels enter the port of Montevideo, which “will only serve to punish its own people”. In a brief release signed by Cheryl Roberts, FIFCA […]

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Uruguay says Falklands are an “inadmissible colonial enclave”

Uruguay considers that British control over the Falklands or Malvinas Islands constitutes a “colonial enclave”, which is “inadmissible”, and that is why Falklands’ flagged vessels are barred from entering Uruguayan ports, said on Friday Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro. “If we are consistent with our position that the Malvinas constitute the only remaining European colonial […]

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China to install five Antarctic telescopes

In the next five years, China will install five astronomical telescopes in the Antarcticareas to conduct research mainly on supernova cosmology, cosmic dark matter, theformation of extra solar planets and fixed stars. Antarctic Guide info@antarcticguide.com www.AntarcticGuide.com Twitter: AntarcticGuide

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Crew stabilizes leaking Russian ship near Antarctica, but rescuers still days away

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The 32 crew members aboard a leaking Russian fishing ship near Antarctica have made progress stabilizing the vessel, and a plane was scheduled to drop them supplies Saturday. Rescue ships, hampered by heavy sea ice, were still several days away. The vessel Sparta hit underwater ice Friday, tearing a 1-foot (30-centimeter) […]

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The beautiful south: Antarctica

Following in the footsteps of Frank Wild, Shackleton’s right-hand man, Bella Bathurst heads towards Antarctica – a magical land of ancient icebergs and amazing wildlife The Observer, Sunday 18 December 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/dec/18/antarctica-cruise-frank-wild-shackleton Antarctic Guide info@antarcticguide.com www.AntarcticGuide.com Twitter: AntarcticGuide

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Pearce Blackborrow’s amputation kit surfaces

Experts on the Antiques Roadshow were stunned when a distant cousin of the Queen appeared on the show – and casually revealed she had amputated her own toes with a penknife during an ill-fated Arctic expedition. Rosie Stancer went on the show to get a valuation for a first-aid kit from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 […]

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The heat is on for Australia’s Antarctic ice runway

December 9, 2011 – 8:33 pm, by Ben Sandilands The tracks left by an A319 at Wilkins in perfect conditions : AAD photo Australia’s Antarctic jet flights this season to the Wilkins Blue Ice Runway some 70 kilometres by tractor from the Casey station are scheduled to be the least productive since they began on 11 […]

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