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Book Review
| Antarctic Challenges: Historical and Current Perspectives on Otto Nordenskjöld's Antarctic Expedition 1901–1903. Edited by Aant Elzinga, Torgny Nordin, David Turner, and Urban Wråkberg. Göteborg, Sweden: Royal Society of Arts and Sciences, 2004. 330pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, list of contributors, index.
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| It seems that most countries engaged in the so-called "heroic" age of polar explorations have their icons. This is a series of reflections on the leading Swedish figure in Antarctic exploration in the early twentieth century, Otto Nordenskjöld and in particular the impacts of his 1901-1903 Antarctic expedition. A collection of papers from a symposium held in Göteborg, Sweden, in 2001 on the occasion of the centenary of the expedition, this volume provides a rare opportunity to examine the impact of an expedition not only on the scientific and political environment but also in terms of the social and cultural milieu in which it occurred. |
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The expedition itself was, and arguably still is, probably more famous in the public mind for the account of the voyage and the problems it faced which reads like something from a "boys own" comic. Otto Nordenskjöld's expedition left Gotebörg in the ship Antarctic on 16 October 1901. The ship was never to return, becoming icebound and finally sinking in the Wedell Sea off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The captain, the crew and a scientist found their way over sea ice to Paulet Island, where they overwintered. Nordenskjöld and a few of his men had to spend two winters on a research station they had established on Snow Hill Island, not knowing what had happened to the rest of the ship's company. Another group of three men who had attempted to reach Nordenskjöld also were marooned and wintered in a location called Hope Bay. By concidence, both the Hope Bay and Paulet Island parties reached Snow Hill Island at the same time that an Argentinian ship came to rescue them, allowing all the expedition to escape. |
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Not surprisingly, therefore, much of the attention on the expedition has been on its amazing story of survival rather than its scientific impact, which was substantial, as many of the specimens and much of the analysis and data was saved. However, the results of the research took decades to publish. Antarctic research in botany, glaciation history, metereology, climatology, and zoology all were influenced for decades by the expedition findings, while the identification of the first Antarctic fossils by the expedition arguably have had a scientific legacy not only in terms of paleontology but also paleoclimates and understanding of plate tectonics. Yet this is not to romanticize the scientific endeavour of the expedition. Like many other Antarctic expeditions, Nordenskjöld's venture was a blend of science, commerce, and politics: commerce in the form of locating new whaling grounds as well as engaging in whale hunting, and politics in terms of the push to be the first to the South Pole. Yet unlike Scott in his later expedition, Nordenskjöld had the sense and experience to return to base camp even though he was extremely close to the Pole so as not to lead to loss of life. |
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The volume then takes a broad account of Nordenskjöld, the expedition and its aftermath. It is divided four main sections. The first provides a historical account of Antarctic science and expeditions. The second is an account of the main actors in the expedition. The third section contains a series of chapters that examine the scientific legacy from various disciplinary perspectives, while the final section discusses issues of scientific internationalism and polar geopolitics. Unfortunately, the quality of contribution is highly varied with some chapters, such as those of Headland, covering familiar narratives on Antarctic exploration and knowledge that does little to provide context for the rest of the volume. In contrast, contributions by Lewander on gender in the narratives of the expedition or Elzinga on the internationalization of polar research provide fresh and exciting perspectives on the social and political history of Antarctic science. |
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This book is a significant contribution to accounts of Antarctic history, particularly in a Nordic context, in which the emphasis is all too often placed on Norwegian exploration and scientific and political imperialism. The book provides excellent biographical information on Nordenskjöld as well as the main members of the expedition and clearly shows the frailties of leadership as well as its successes. Just as important, it contextualizes the later contribution of Nordenskjöld to scientific developments in Sweden, not just in terms of polar research but also the broader geographical and natural sciences. Finally, the volume provides some valuable insights into the development of the present-day Antarctic scientific and regulatory regime and the likelihood of its maintenance in the future. |
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C. Michael Hall is professor of tourism at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and docent, Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland. His research focuses on human mobility, regional development, and environmental history, particularly with respect to peripheral regions. He is the co-editor of Polar Tourism (John Wiley & Sons, 1995) and his most recent book is Tourism and Global Environmental Change (Routledge, 2006). |
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