Quark Expeditions

December 5, 1912: First Antarctic meteorite found by Francis Bickerton, Leslie Whetter and A J Hodgeman, during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson. 1914, Endurance departs South Georgia with Ernest Shackleton leading.

December 6, 1914: Endurance first encounters pack ice.

December 7, 1770: Samuel Hearne begins the expedition that traces the Coppermine River to its source. His expedition proves that no passage to the Pacific existed through the American continent south of the Arctic Circle.

December 8, 1911: Aurora caught in a dangerous storm, begins to sail to Macquarie Island.

December 9, 1993: Life in the Freezer's 4th episode broadcast with David Attenborough as host.

December 10, 1899: J.G. Bartholomew, the man credited with the naming of Antarctica, is attributed as the author of a poem entitled "Antarctica" published this day in the Scotsman.

December 11, 1900: Evelyn Baldwin, leader of the Baldwin Zeigler Expedition, arrives in England to consult with scientists before attempting to reach the North Pole.

December 12, 1933: The Jacob Ruppert sets sail from Wellington, New Zealand with an additional 30 men on board, to participate in Byrd's 2nd Antarctic expedition.

December 13, 2008: Adrian Raeside, grandson of a member of Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, joins Quark's Great Antarctic Explorers voyage. His goal - to visit the hut where his grandfather lived while in Antarctica.

December 14, 1911: Roald Amundsen becomes the first human being to reach the South Pole.

December 15, 2002: Lynne Cox becomes the first human being to swim 1 mile in Antarctica, and live to tell about it. She swims from the gangway of Quark's vessel Lyubov Orlova.

December 16, 1993: The Big Freeze, an episode of Life in the Freezer, a documentary about Antarctica, featuring David Attenborough, is broadcast for the first time.

December 17, 1908: First evidence of coal found in Antarctica, discovered by Frank Wild, during the British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton.

December 18, 1966: First successful ascent of Mount Vinson, Antarctica.

December 19, 1916: Ernest Shackleton sails from New Zealand aboard Aurora to rescue the members of his Ross Sea Party.

December 20, 1819: Edward Bransfield leaves Valparaiso, Chile, to sail to Antarctica to claim the South Shetland Islands for England.

December 21, 1901: Charles Bonner falls from the mast of Discovery and dies, as it departs Lyttelton, New Zealand for the Antarctic.

December 22, 1959: The Antarctic Treaty is signed by 12 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, the French Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Union of South Africa, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.

December 23, 1940: A party under Admiral Byrd en route to the Weddell Coast turn back after sledging to 71°51'S.

December 24, 1958: Vivan Fuchs leaves South Ice, Antarctica en route to the South Pole, as leader of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

December 25, 1840: James Ross Clark and the men of Erebus and Terror sight icebergs and whales for the first time.

December 26, 1933: Bryd's Second Antarctic Expedition sights 8,000 icebergs in 24 hours.

December 27, 1605: John Davis dies, after whom the Davis Strait is named. He is one of the great Arctic explorers of the Elizabethan Age.

December 28, 1942: The Battle of the Barents Sea is fought.

December 29, 1841: First New Year's Eve Ball held in Antarctica by Sir James Clark Ross.

December 30, 1902: In an attempt to reach the South Pole, Scott, Edward Wilson, and Shackleton reach 82°16'S, but snowblindness, an inadequate diet, and slow progress will force them to turn back.

December 31, 1946: The U.S. Highjump expedition enter the Ross Sea ice pack with thirteen ships, 23 aircraft, and over 4700 men.

January 1, 1908: Ernest Shackleton sails Nimrod from Lyttelton, New Zealand toward Antarctica.

January 2, 1833: British rule reestablished on the Falkland Islands.

January 3, 1912: Scott names the members of the expedition who will accompany him on the final advance to the South Pole - Bowers, Wilson, Evans and Oates.

January 4, 1810: Campbell Island discovered by Frederick Hasselborough in the ship Perseverance.

January 5, 1922: Sir Ernest Shackleton dies aboard the ship Quest, in the harbor of Grytviken, South Georgia.

January 6, 1843: Sir James Clark Ross discovers Snow Hill Island.

January 7, 1978: Emilio Marcus Palma, the first person to be born on the Antarctica continent, is born at Esperanza Research Base.

January 8, 1902: Robert Falcon Scott sights Antarctica, his first time.

January 9, 1909: In 1909, Ernest Shackleton reaches 88°23' S. He is 97 nautical miles from the South Pole, the furthest south of any man at that time. He turns back, because his dwindling rations puts the lives of his men at risk.

January 10, 1917: Aurora with Shackleton aboard reaches Cape Royds and collects the Ross Sea Party. 1962, Frank Hurley, who took iconic photos of Shackleton's Endurance expedition, dies.

January 11, 1914: Karluk sinks in the Arctic Ocean. 11 of the 25 survivors die while waiting rescue on Wrangel Island.

January 12, 1942: Convoy PQ-7, the 8th Allied Arctic Convoy of WWII arrives Murmansk, Russia.

January 13, 1956: The Pensacola Mountain ranges is first sighted from the air during Operation Deepfreeze.

January 14, 2001: The Princess Royal arrives in Antarctica to visit the British historic sites.

January 15, 2001: New Zealanders Graham Charles, Marcus Waters and Mark Jones begin the first major Antarctic kayaking expedition in Hope Bay.

January 16, 1909: Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and Alistair Mackay are the first to reach the South Magnetic Pole.

January 17, 1773: Captain James Cook is the first man to cross the Antarctic Circle. 1912, Robert Falcon Scott, with Wilson, Bowers, Evans and Oates reach the South Pole. Scott is the second man to do so. 1989, Victoria E. Murden and Shirley Metz become the first women to reach the South Pole by land.

January 18, 1895: Carsten Borchgrevink finds the first vegetation below the Antarctic Circle - lichens on Possession Island.

January 19, 1915: Endurance beset by pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Expedition is under the command of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

January 20, 1898: Adrien de Gerlache, after whom the Gerlache Strait is named, arrives in Antarctic waters in the Belgica.

January 21, 1945: Allied Convoy RA63 arrives at Loch Eew, Scotland during WWII.

January 22, 1908: Ernest Shackleton sails Nimrod from Lyttelton, New Zealand toward Antarctica.

January 23, 1833: British rule reestablished on the Falkland Islands.

January 24, 1958: The New Zealand support party stopover at the United States South Pole Station during a crossing to the South Pole.

January 25, 1810: Campbell Island discovered by Frederick Hasselborough in the ship Perseverance.

January 26, 1990: Annular eclipse is visible over Antarctica.

January 27, 1820: Russian Thaddeus von Bellingshausen is the first man to sight the Antarctic continent. 1997, the first circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent by a passenger vessel is completed. Captain Petr Golikov becomes the 10th captain in history to complete the feat.

January 28, 1821: Bellingshausen discovers Alexander Island, Antarctica.

January 29, 1968: The first ice core to reach Antarctic bedrock is drilled at Byrd Station.

January 30, 1820: Edward Bransfield becomes the second man to sight the Antarctic Peninsula.

January 31, 1898: Roald Amundsen leads the first sledging expedition in Antarctica.