Transglobe Expedition
{{Short description|Expedition from south to north poles using only surface transport}}
{{Infobox expedition
| name = Transglobe Expedition
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| sponsor = Self-funded and sponsored
| country = Earth
| leader = Ranulph Fiennes
| start_location = Greenwich, United Kingdom
| start_date = {{start date|1979|09|02|df=y}}
| end_location = Greenwich, United Kingdom
| end_date = {{end date|1982|08|29|df=y}}
| goal = Surface circumnavigation from south to north poles
| ships =
| crew = Ranulph Fiennes, Oliver Shepard, Charles R. Burton
| survivors =
| fatalities =
| achievements = First surface circumnavigation via both geographical poles
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The Transglobe Expedition (1979–1982) was the first expedition to make a longitudinal (north–south) circumnavigation of the Earth using only surface transport. British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes led a team, including Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, that attempted to follow the Greenwich meridian over both land and water.{{cite web |last1=Dimery |first1=Rob |title=1982: First Surface Circumnavigation via both Geographical Poles |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/60at60/2015/8/1982-first-surface-circumnavigation-via-both-geographical-poles-392920 |website=Guinness World Records |date=18 August 2015 |access-date=18 October 2022 |archive-date=18 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018193003/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/60at60/2015/8/1982-first-surface-circumnavigation-via-both-geographical-poles-392920 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ranulph-Fiennes|title=Sir Ranulph Fiennes {{!}} British adventurer and writer|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028151210/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ranulph-Fiennes|archive-date=2017-10-28|url-status=live}} They began in Greenwich in the United Kingdom in September 1979 and travelled south, arriving at the South Pole on 15 December 1980. Over the next 14 months, they travelled north, reaching the North Pole on 11 April 1982. Travelling south once more, they arrived again in Greenwich on 29 August 1982.Guinness Book of World Records 1997 It required traversing both of the poles and the use of boats in some places. Oliver Shepard took part in the Antarctic leg of the expedition. Ginny Fiennes handled all communications between the land team and their support, and ran the polar bases.{{Cite web |url=http://transglobe-expedition.org/biographies/ |title=Biographies |website=Transglobe Expedition |language=en-US |access-date=2020-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010224151/http://transglobe-expedition.org/biographies/ |archive-date=2019-10-10 |url-status=live }}
Planning
The original idea for the expedition was conceived by Ginny Fiennes in February 1972.{{Cite web |url=https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/transglobe.html |title=The Transglobe Expedition |website=Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station |access-date=2020-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911022413/http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/transglobe.html |archive-date=2019-09-11 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://kickasstrips.com/2014/05/ranulph-fiennes-transglobe-expedition-the-worlds-first-vertical-circumpolar-navigation/ |title=Transglobe expedition: Ranulph Fiennes 'Vertical' Circumpolar Navigation of the World at the 0° Greenwich Meridian |date=2014-05-22 |website=Kickass Trips |language=en-US |access-date=2020-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608171841/http://kickasstrips.com/2014/05/ranulph-fiennes-transglobe-expedition-the-worlds-first-vertical-circumpolar-navigation/ |archive-date=2017-06-08 |url-status=live }} The trip was entirely funded through sponsorships and the free labour of the expedition members, which took seven years to organize.{{Cite web |url=https://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/resources/expeditions/trans-globe-expedition-1979-82/transglobe-expedition-1979-82 |title=Transglobe Expedition 1979-82 |website=Freeze Frame |language=en-US |access-date=2020-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525204928/https://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/resources/expeditions/trans-globe-expedition-1979-82/transglobe-expedition-1979-82 |archive-date=2018-05-25 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Preston |first1=Alex |title=Pole to Pole: the story behind Sir Ranulph Fiennes' pioneering circumpolar expedition - told 40 years on |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/pole-pole-story-behind-sir-ranulph-fiennes-pioneering-circumpolar/ |website=Daily Telegraph |date=24 August 2019 |access-date=16 October 2022 |archive-date=16 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016230131/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/pole-pole-story-behind-sir-ranulph-fiennes-pioneering-circumpolar/ |url-status=live }}
Before the expedition, they had to limit the food that they ate. They brought a large amount of bread, cereal, and coffee. During their crossing of the Sahara, they brought no butter because of high temperatures. They also had to use repellent cream and anti-malarial tablets in order to keep insects away.
Expedition
{{Missing information|section|the full itinerary of the expedition|date=March 2020}}
= South Pole =
Ranulph Fiennes, Charles Burton, and Oliver Shepard left London on 2 September 1979, beginning with a relatively simple overland trip through France and Spain,{{Cite book|last=Mills|first=William James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&q=transglobe+expedition&pg=PA224|title=Exploring Polar Frontiers: M-Z|date=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-422-0|language=en|access-date=2023-04-27|archive-date=2023-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427152821/https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&q=transglobe+expedition&pg=PA224|url-status=live}} then across West Africa through the Sahara. They boarded the ship the Benjamin Bowring in the Gulf of Guinea and travelled by sea to South Africa. After preparations in South Africa, they sailed for Antarctica on 22 December 1979, and arrived on 4 January 1980.
With help from Ginny Fiennes and Giles Kershaw, they built a base camp near the SANAE III base. They named the base camp Ryvingen, after the nearby Ryvingen Peak. Burton, Shepard, Ranulph Fiennes, and Ginny Fiennes (and their dog Bothie) remained at this base all winter, in four cardboard huts which quickly became buried in the snow.
File:Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.jpg, which the expedition reached on 15 December 1980.]]
On 29 August 1980, Ranulph Fiennes left with Burton and Shephard for the South Pole. They travelled by snowmobiles, pulling sledges with supplies, while Kershaw flew ahead to leave fuel depots for them. As they travelled, they took 2-meter snow samples, one of many scientific undertakings that convinced sponsors to support the trip. They reached the South Pole on 15 December 1980. They remained in a small camp next to the South Pole station dome, where they played the first game of cricket at the South Pole, and departed on 23 December 1980.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/transglobe2.html|title=The Transglobe Expedition (continued)|website=www.southpolestation.com|access-date=2020-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911024835/http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/transglobe2.html|archive-date=2019-09-11|url-status=live}} They descended the Scott Glacier (the third party to do so), crossed the Ross Ice Shelf, and arrived at Scott Base on 11 January 1981, completing their Antarctic crossing.
= North Pole =
As part of the expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on 26 July 1981,{{cite book |last1=Fiennes |first1=Ranulph |title=To the Ends of the Earth: The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to Pole Circumnavigation of the Globe |date=1983 |publisher=Gage Learning |isbn=978-0877956143 |page=290 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PigGIj4PXnYC&q=%22Transglobe%20Expedition%22&pg=PA290 |access-date=2023-04-27 |archive-date=2023-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427152808/https://books.google.com/books?id=PigGIj4PXnYC&q=%22Transglobe%20Expedition%22&pg=PA290 |url-status=live }} in a 18 ft open Boston Whaler motorboat and reached Tanquary Fiord, 36 days later, on 31 August 1981.{{cite book |last1=Fiennes |first1=Ranulph |title=To the Ends of the Earth : The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to Pole Circumnavigation of the Globe |date=1983 |publisher=Gage Learning |isbn=978-0877956143 |page=326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PigGIj4PXnYC&q=Tanquary+Fiord&pg=PA326 |access-date=11 March 2020 |archive-date=27 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427152808/https://books.google.com/books?id=PigGIj4PXnYC&q=Tanquary+Fiord&pg=PA326 |url-status=live }} Their journey was the first open boat transit of the Northwest Passage from West to East, and covered around {{convert|3000|mi|nmi km|abbr=off}}, taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the South coast of Victoria and King William Islands, North, via Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, to Resolute Bay (on the southern side of Cornwallis Island), around the South and East coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate (near Cardigan Strait) and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord.
Between Tuktoyaktuk and Tanquary Fiord, they traveled at an average speed of around {{convert|80|mi|nmi km}} per day.
Once they reached Tanquary Fiord they had to trek {{convert|150|mi|nmi km}} overland, via Lake Hazen, to Alert, Nunavut, before setting up their winter base camp.
Impact
The journey was recorded in a book by Fiennes, To the Ends of the Earth: The Transglobe Expedition, The First Pole-to-Pole Circumnavigation of the Globe (1983). It was also the subject of a 1983 film, also titled To the Ends of the Earth, made by director William Kronick and featuring actor Richard Burton as the narrator.{{Cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086451/ |title=To the Ends of the Earth |website=IMDB |access-date=2020-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208101343/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086451/ |archive-date=2017-02-08 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=McCallum |first1=Simon |title=Poles apart: 5 lesser-known polar exploration films |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/poles-apart-5-lesser-known-polar-exploration-films |website=BFI |access-date=17 December 2022 |date=2022 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217124150/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/poles-apart-5-lesser-known-polar-exploration-films |url-status=live }} The trip was also recorded in the 1997 Guinness Book of World Records.
Following the completion of the voyage Ranulph and Ginny Fiennes released a book about the adventures of their dog Bothie, a Jack Russell terrier, who became the only dog to ever visit both the North and South poles. Called Bothie the Polar Dog, the book was published in 1984 and was reported to be a best-seller.{{cite book |last1=Fiennes |first1=Virginia |last2=Fiennes |first2=Ranulph |title=Bothie the Polar Dog |date=1984 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |isbn=0-340-36319-3}}{{cite web |title=Her vision kept men at sea, on ice |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/her-vision-kept-men-at-sea-on-ice-20040227-gdifob.html |website=Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 February 2004 |access-date=16 October 2022 |archive-date=16 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016230131/https://www.smh.com.au/national/her-vision-kept-men-at-sea-on-ice-20040227-gdifob.html |url-status=live }}
=Transglobe Expedition Trust=
Following the expedition, in 1993 a charitable trust was established to support other expeditions with humanitarian, scientific or educational goals.{{cite web |title=THE TRUST |url=https://transglobe-expedition.org/trust/ |website=Transglobe Expedition |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217105511/https://transglobe-expedition.org/trust/ |url-status=live }} The trust is a registered UK charity and has supported a number of projects including Ed Stafford's 2010 expedition to walk the length of the Amazon River, and survey of the endangered Bactrian camel.{{cite web |last1=Judd |first1=Terri |title=From source to mouth of the Amazon; on foot |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/from-source-to-mouth-of-the-amazon-ndash-on-foot-2048116.html |website=The Independent |access-date=17 December 2022 |date=2010 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217105511/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/from-source-to-mouth-of-the-amazon-ndash-on-foot-2048116.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=EXPEDITION SUPPORT |url=https://transglobe-trust.org/expedition-support/ |website=Transglobe Expedition Trust |access-date=17 December 2022 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217110024/https://transglobe-trust.org/expedition-support/ |url-status=live }}
Further reading
- {{Cite book |last=Fiennes |first=Sir Ranulph |title=To the Ends of the Earth: The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to-Pole Circumnavigation of the Globe |date=1983 |publisher=Arbor House |isbn=0-87795-490-9 |location=New York |oclc=9812992 |url=https://archive.org/details/toendsofearthtra0000ranu_z5n2}}
- {{cite magazine |title=Circling Earth from Pole to Pole |magazine=National Geographic |first=Sir Ranulph |last=Fiennes |pages=464–481 |volume=164 |issue=4 |date=October 1983 |issn=0027-9358 |oclc=643483454 |url=https://archive.org/details/edg-ng-1981/edg%20NG%201983-10%20164-4%20Oct/page/n48/mode/2up}}
- {{cite book |last1=Fiennes |first1=Virginia |last2=Fiennes |first2=Ranulph |title=Bothie the Polar Dog: The Dog Who Went to Both Poles with the Transglobe Expedition |date=1984 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |isbn=0-340-36319-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/bothiepolardogdo0000fien}}
See also
- Explorer – 2022 documentary film on the explorer Ranulph Fiennes
- {{portal-inline|World}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Official website: {{Official URL}}
- [https://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/category/photos-transglobe-expedition-1979-82 Transglobe Expedition 1979-82] at Freeze Frame from the Scott Polar Research Institute.
- [http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=c%3Ared%2Clhr-CPT-nzsp-akl-syd-lax-yvr-62.598611+N+164.8+W-68.560384+N+101.337891+W-82.249855+N+59.765625+W-90+n+0+w-lhr%0D%0Ac%3Acyan%2C90+n+0+w-90+s+0+w%0D%0Ac%3Acyan%2C90+n+180+w-90+s+180+w&MS=wls&MP=r&PC=green&DU=mi Rough map of the expedition] (based on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214025445/http://www.transglobe-expedition.org/page/the-expedition the official route graphic]). Red shows the rough path; cyan shows the 0- and 180-degree meridians.
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