The expedition that laid the foundations for current British scientific endeavours in the Antarctic, and pioneered techniques which continue to this day, is being celebrated at Cambridge University’s Polar Museum.

Return to Antarctica: The British Graham Land Expedition 1934–1937 is the first major historical exhibition at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) since its £1.75m redevelopment last year.

The British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) followed a hiatus after the major expeditions of Scott and Shackleton. As American expeditions were eroding imperial claims to Antarctica; the British government supported the BGLE in an attempt to reassert British sovereignty, to undertake scientific research and to investigate the economic possibilities of the region.

The BGLE was also supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Scott Polar Research Institute and advised by veterans of Scott’s and Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions.

The BGLE’s sixteen keen young scientists, explorers and supporting military officers combined traditional Inuit clothing and sea-ice travel techniques with modern developments in radio and aviation. Seals were a major source of food, along with modern dietary supplements.

There were no outbreaks of scurvy and the men returned in excellent health. Routes were reconnoitred by air; then dog sledges would carry the men and equipment for detailed surveys and scientific research. Today, dogs have been replaced by snowmobiles but the principal remains: an overview from the air or space followed by a ground party to verify and further explore an area.

The exhibition at the Polar Museum combines historic artefacts, images and rare archival material with stories of the men, their endeavours, scientific research and daily lives as they lived on the frozen continent. It also celebrates ‘Lummo’, the first cat to survive a trip to Antarctica, returning to a well-earned retirement in Woking.

Led by an Australian, John Rymill, the BGLE included: the Rev Launcelot Fleming, who served as Director of SPRI and became chaplain to the Royal Family; Colin Bertram, a SPRI Director; Brian Roberts, who advocated the Antarctic Treaty which set aside Antarctica as a region of peace and science; Lt. R.E.D. Ryder, later awarded a VC for the leading the raid on St Nazaire, and Duncan Carse, who became the voice of the BBC’s Dick Barton Special Agent.

Upon their return, after the three-year expedition, every member of the team was awarded the Polar Medal for their work studying seals and birds, the discovery of fossil plants and their mapping of much of the coastline of Graham Land.

Perhaps the most significant discovery of the BGLE was that the channels previously reported by Australian and American aviators between the Bellingshausen and Weddell Seas did not exist. The BGLE had sailed to an archipelago, they returned from the Antarctic Peninsula.

Scott Polar Research Institute’s Exhibitions Officer, Bryan Lintott said: “The BGLE exhibition at the Polar Museum offers the public an opportunity to discover one of Britain’s most successful but least known Antarctic expeditions and know more about the extraordinary men, loyal dogs and one very tough cat that made it possible.”

Return to Antarctica: The British Graham Land Expedition 1934-37 runs until April 30, 2011.
 

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