| 1592
|
John Davis
in the 'Desire' discovered the Falkland Islands.
|
| 1675
|
Antonio
de la Roche first sighted South Georgia. |
| 1773
|
Captain
James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. |
| 1790
|
The
start of the sealing industry in South Georgia. |
| 1820
|
Antarctic
continent first sighted separately by Edward Bransfield and von
Bellinghausen. |
| 1841
|
Sir
James Clark Ross in 'Erebus' and 'Terror' discover the Ross
Sea, Mount Erebus and the Ross Ice Shelf. |
| 1898
|
Adrien
de Gerlache in the 'Belgica' became trapped in the ice and were
the first to survive an Antarctic winter. |
| 1899
|
Carsten
Borchgrevink and the crew of the 'Southern Cross' became the
first to over-winter on the Antarctic continent. |
| 1901-1904
|
Robert
Falcon Scott in the 'Discovery' was the first to carry out extensive exploration
on the Antarctic continent. |
| 1902
|
Scott,
Shackleton and Wilson reached 82º south from McMurdo Sound
heading south across the Ross Ice Shelf, but returned to base
two months later. |
| 1902
|
Otto
Nordenskjöld and his crew spent 2 winters on the ice and
made the first major sledge journey in Antarctica. |
| 1907-1909
|
Ernest
Shackleton from the 'Nimrod' led a party of 4 who sledged to
within 180kms of the pole and only survived the return
journey by the narrowest margin. |
| 1909
|
Mawson,
David and McKay reached the south magnetic pole. |
| 1911
|
14
December, Roald Amundsen from 'The Fram' and 4 team members
reached the South Pole. |
| 1912
|
Robert
Falcon Scott from the 'Terra Nova' with Wilson, Evans, Bowers
and Oates reached the south pole on 17 January but all perished
on the return journey. |
| 1915
|
Ernest
Shackleton in the 'Endurance' became beset in ice, escaped to
Elephant Island in three small boats with all 28 members
of the expedition and then sailed with five others in the 'James
Caird' 1450kms to South Georgia and rescue. |
| 1916
|
On
the fourth attempt Shackleton reached Elephant Island in a Chilean
ship to rescue the 22 men left there when he sailed for help
to South Georgia. |
| 1915-1916
|
Joseph
Stenhouse in the 'Aurora' was supposed to meet Shackleton's
crossing party but was beset in Ross Sea pack ice for 10 months.
Three men died. |
| 1922
|
In
January, on a further expedition, Shackleton died of a heart
attack at the age of 48 on board the 'Quest' at South Georgia.
He is buried in the whalers graveyard. |
| 1928
|
Hubert
Wilkins made the first flight in the Antarctic region. |
| 1929
|
On
28 November Richard E Byrd and three crew become the first to
fly over the South Pole. |
| 1935
|
In
November, Lincoln Ellsworth was the first person to fly across
the Antarctic Continent. |
| 1957 |
As
part of the International Geophysical Year the Amundsen-Scott
Base at the South Pole was constructed by the Americans. |
| 1957
|
On
24 November Sir Vivian Fuchs set out on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic
Expedition, on the first crossing of the continent, about 2158
miles. The journey from the Weddell Sea, across the South Pole
to the Ross Sea was completed in 99 days on 2 March 1958. |
| Other
more recent expeditions have since crossed the Antarctic continent: |
 |
Sir
Ranulph Fiennes, Charles Burton and Oliver Shepard crossed Antarctica
via the South Pole during their circumnavigation of the Earth
via both poles. The journey took 67 days using motorised skidoos. |
| |
In
1989/90 Reinhold Messner and Arved Fuchs crossed the continent
in 92 days hauling plastic sledges. They had only one re-supply
depot en route to the South Pole. |
| |
In
1990 the fourth crossing of the continent was completed by Will
Steger and party and was the first crossing to be completed
using dogs. |
| |
In
1992 Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Michael Stroud made the first
unsupported crossing of Antarctica. |
| |
In
1966/67 Borg Ousland made the first unsupported solo crossing
of the Antarctic continent. |
