The 58th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition had a rare opportunity to conduct ship-based observations near the tip of East Antarctic Shirase Glacier when large areas of heavy sea ice broke up . [97], In the wider world the expedition attracted little notice, eclipsed by the dramas surrounding Amundsen and Scott and also because the only available reports were in Japanese, a language little understood outside Japan. [96] He died in relative obscurity in 1946. The area appears to have been subsumed into, "About JARE (Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition)", "Ross Sea Ice Shelf The World's Largest Body of Floating Ice", "The Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1912", "Japanese Antarctica Expedition and the Shirase Sword", "Memorial plaque to the Japanese Antarctic Expedition visit to Parsley Bay, Sydney in 1911", "A century later, Shirase returns to Sydney a hero", "Nankyoku no kyoku: The cultural life of the Shirase Antarctic Expedition 191012", "Science, the South Pole, and the Japanese expedition of 19101912", "The Antarctica seen 100 years ago by the Shirase Japanese Antarctic Expedition", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_Antarctic_Expedition&oldid=1134397295, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 13:42. The brainchild of an army reserve lieutenant, Nobu Shirase, the expedition was privately funded. Operation Highjump: 1946-47 Expedition to Explore Antarctica From the Air. Now I'm not saying that I subscribe to it all. Led by Army Lieutenant Nobu Shirase, its ship Kainan Maru left Tokyo in December , reached the ice on 26 February and sailed on into the Ross Sea. Description. The first successful crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole was carried out by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition from 1955 to 1958. Syowa Station, the primary station for JARE operations, is located along the northeastern coastal region of Ltzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica (69 00'S, 39 35'E), and was opened on 29 January 1957. But we did sometimes wonder how we would ever overcome our obstacles ahead.. to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol 1991) in 1998 and joined the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 2007. Meanwhile, Kainan Maru would take a second party to King Edward VII Land, where it would land and explore. But the Ross Sea Committee, which organised the expedition, worked to imbue the public with a sense that their country had a stake in the Antarctic territory they claimed: the New Zealand Antarctic Expedition, as it was often called domestically, would be a triumph for their nation. On May 2, 1958, U.S. Pres. the research station" Showa station" which located at 6900 S 3935 E in. [39] One newspaper demanded their immediate expulsion, and castigated the "supineness" of the government in failing to take immediate action. Photo Credit: NZ History Archives . On their return, Shirase and his team were greeted as heroes, but interest swiftly died, and Shirase was burdened with expedition debts that took years to clear. Eight Below adapts the events of the 1958 incident, moved forward to 1993. The Japanese Antarctic Expedition, led by army lieutenant Nobu Shirase, which aims to reach the Pole, is the first Japanese exploration of Antarctic territory. In its second Antarctic season, 191112, it made no major scientific or geographical discoveries, but could claim some significant achievements. [8] He added that his expedition would also advance the cause of science:[8] "The powers of the world ridicule the Empire of Japan, saying we Japanese are barbarians who are strong and brave in warfare, but cowardly when it comes to the realm of science. [22], On departure day, large crowds gathered to see the expedition off. The dogs' survival was a national news story at the time. The copyright may lie outside the Institute and, if so, it is necessary for the reader to seek appropriate permission to consult, copy, or publish any such material. When she left Tokyo 24 hours later, only a few were present to see her go "the most dismal sort of send-off ever accorded to any polar explorer", according to Shirase. Due to poor weather conditions, the expedition was unable to airlift out 15 dogs, which were left chained and with only a few days' worth of food. At the end of the first expedition in 1956-57 a wintering party of eleven members remained in Antarctica from February 1957 to February 1958, and ac complished preliminary research in cosmic-rays and auroral phemomena at the Japanese Base (690'22" S, 3935'24" E), and in geology and glaciology along the Prince Harald Coast. Two Sakhalin Husky dogs, Taro and Jiro, who survived in Antarctica for a year. The Shirase expedition caused the Japanese to make territorial claims on Russia. This was an international collaborative scientific project that focused on gathering new observations on the oceans, weather systems, outer space and the poles. With Burton Island's assistance, a helicopter was able to rescue the team at Showa, but the plans to deploy the second year team were abandoned, and the helicopter rescue only included the humans at Showa. [73] The next day they were confined by the weather to their tents. One party would land at the Bay of Whales and form a "Dash Patrol" that would make a southern march across the Barrier, with the dogs. Read more: Well done.. The tough, bearded, medium-height figure man who conceived, organised and led the 500,000 expedition told newspaper men to fire the questions.. They had carried out seismic soundings right across the continent. The official story tells us that the Antarctic snow cruiser was . [82], The two groups crossed the sea ice and climbed the ice wall which surrounded the coast. When the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition ended on March 2, 1958, it marked what many called the last great adventure possible on Earth: an overland crossing of the Antarctic continent. He acted as a liaison between the expedition and local authorities and businesses, and with his advocacy the Australians' attitude to their visitors improved. Antarctica history is rich in adventure and science, yet human activity in the region extends back in time only about 200 years. Details of conditions and fees may be had from the Archivist. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Like the first race to the Pole between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott in 1911-12, this one was framed as yet another loss by Britain. And it helped cement New Zealands independent relationship with Antarctica, specifically the Ross Dependency and Scott Base, as quite separate from its ties to Britain. About 650 ce, however, long before European geographers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were to conjecture about Terra Australis Incognita, a mythical land to the far south, Rarotongan oral tradition tells of Ui-te-Rangiora, who sailed south of Aotearoa (New Zealand) to a frozen region. [28] More particularly, they sought up-to-date charts; all they possessed for navigation beyond 60S was a small-scale photocopy of an admiralty chart marking Ernest Shackleton's 1907 route in Nimrod. Dr Fuchs and Sir Edmund linked arms as they stepped from the leading snocat. [30][31] As they drew nearer, expectations of a landing grew;[30] on 8 March Kainan Maru stood off Dorset Point, but ice conditions made it impossible to get nearer to the shore. [30] The small leaves turned to large disks, four metres across, through which Kainan Maru attempted to drive a passage: "The crunch and crack every time we smashed through a floe were not at all pleasant. It concentrates on the possible survival tactics of the scientist's sled Dog team - using much supposition, and follows a gruelling, imagined trail of survival and death within this unforgiving continent. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1955-58) achieved the first overland crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole. Daniella McCahey is an assistant professor of History at Texas Tech University. as she was celebrating her husbands triumph at the home of Mr Arthur Helm, secretary of the Ross Sea Committee. [10] Early in 1910 he presented an outline of his plans to the government, declaring that, within three years, he would raise the Japanese flag at the South Pole. On 2 March 1958 Sir Vivian Fuchs and his party complete the first successful trans-Antarctic crossing. [10] The ship was placed under the command of an experienced seafarer, Captain Naokichi Nomura. Jiro remained in Antarctica and died there as a working dog in 1960; Taro was brought to Japan, where he died in 1970. In 1958, the first Japanese Antarctic Expedition prepares to leave Showa Base to be replaced by a second party of scientists who are on board the ice-breaker, Soya. From the Box: Official Observer Reports. Hillarys dash to the Pole was far more memorable than the actual crossing. [92] Kainan Maru left the bay on 4 February. Sixty-five years later, its remembered in New Zealand chiefly for Sir Edmund Hillarys unplanned and controversial dash to the South Pole in a convoy of modified Massey Ferguson tractors. In Fuchs words: A trans-continental journey made wholly within territory claimed by the British Commonwealth [] would gain prestige and at the same time contribute to the solidarity of Commonwealth interests.. The 12 nations listed in the preamble (below) signed the Antarctic Treaty on 1 December 1959 at Washington, D.C. Fuchs tied the Trans-Antarctic Expedition to the scientific programme of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-1958. This would be the first overland crossing of the frozen continent. Japanese Antarctic Expedition, collection, Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Japanese Antarctic Expedition/Expedition plans, https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb15-japaneseantarcticexpedition, Scott Polar Research Institute Archives, University of Cambridge. Crossing the Polar Circle. [44] On 22 June, the camp was decorated with flags to mark the coronation of King George V, and visitors were entertained with exhibitions of traditional martial arts. At the same time that Amundsen and Scott were busy huffing and puffing their way south, a little-known Japanese expedition, led by polar-enthusiast Nobu Shirase, was quietly making achievements of its own accord. [18] In the absence of a proper scientific team, Shirase had to scale down his scientific programme; he would concentrate on the conquest of the Pole. The inscription describes the plaque as "a symbol of everlasting friendship between both countries".[104]. In fact, most of what is known about Antarctica has been discovered in the present century. [35][29], The initial reception in Sydney was cool, even hostile. The expeditions origins go back to 1953, when Vivian Fuchs, a geologist with the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey, began circulating a proposal for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE). Many of the dogs had died en route. [64], On 19 January, sea ice conditions having shifted, Kainan Maru was brought up close to the Barrier edge and the process of landing the shore party began. . Deviating from the expeditions initial plans and disobeying orders from the Ross Sea Committee, Hillary continued to the South Pole and arrived at the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on January 3, 1958, becoming the first to make this journey using overland vehicles. 1958 West Germany Cover - South Pole Expedition, Antarctic . But one never likes to regard any expedition as the last.. Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events, (1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN 0521309034. Yet the drama was still not over. Perhaps most significantly, an exercise designed to showcase Commonwealth unity ended up demonstrating the opposite. They faced severe weather, and were halted after only 13 kilometres (8.1mi). . Much of the expedition's science was either lost during the war, or kept under wraps until it was finally published in 1958. [8][9], Shirase knew that other nations were developing similar plans, and that if he were to have any hope of success he would have to move quickly. [21], Shirase set 28 November 1910 as his departure date,[22] and announced details of the timetable he planned to follow. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of A. The expedition and disaster. [20] The scientific data brought back by the expedition included important information on the geology of King Edward VII Land, and on ice and weather conditions in the Bay of Whales. "[33] On 12 March, when the ship's position was 7416'S, 1727'E, it was halted by heavy ice. The ship itself, Kainan Maru, was sold back to its former owners, and resumed its fishery duties; its subsequent history is unknown. 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