Ice Coffee: The History Of Human Activity In Antarctica

Present day geologists offer their perspectives on the Antarctic Peninsula and I record lots of the bow pushing through loose pack because it's mesmerising.

The Ross Ice Barrier claims its final victim of the Heroic Age as Joyce, Richards and Wild struggle to get the depot party back to safety, then McMurdo Sound takes two more lives when a gamble on the weather goes against Mackintosh and Hayward.

Shackleton's depot laying party head to the Ross Sea and fight to get food and fuel to the foot of the Beardmore.  Part one of a two parter recounting one of the most harrowing chapters to arise in the heroic era.

Hubert Wilkins makes his first appearance in the Ice Coffee narrative, albeit as a supporting character in someone else's nightmare in the Arctic, and I give you the good oil on sticking to tablets and behavioural responses to motion mediated nausea.  The first episode recorded in Antarctica.  Muy excitamento.  Many spanglish. 

I've got a few tidbits left to add about the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, and Mawson will be back in the narrative before you know it, but this ties up some loose ends and resolves the cliff hanger from the end of episode 050.

The Cape Denison denizens get their science on and prepare for the spring sledging carnival. The brown stuff gets closer to the whizzy-bladey thing.

Douglas Mawson gets a lot done in just twelve months.

I've been offered work in Antarctica and urgently need to renew some certs and get my teeth fixed and get a seafarer's medical and plane tickets and some coffee. If you've paid all your bills and put some money aside for a rainy day and donated to some charities and had your fill of the caviar and lobster, please consider flicking a few bucks my way.  Music, soundscapes and broad horizons lie in the offing, so take care and appreciate your coffee. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/falling-southward-fund#/

Prussian Army lieutenant Wilhelm Filchner led Germany's second expedition in the early 20th century.  While the government stayed largely hands off the expedition committee put their oar in enough to see der Deutschland sail under a syphilitic commander whose antics placed everyone's lives in danger and gave us a really good example of the sort of problems split leadership can cause in a high latitudes project.  Suspected suicide, suspected fake appendicitis and very definite mania and toastiness characterised Filchner's time in the south.

In April 2017 I reprised my take on William Speirs Bruce's role in our present day understanding of Antarctica at the Spotted Mallard.  The audience were teh awesomes so I let them eat cake.

Dogs make all the difference in getting to the South Pole and back.  With Amundsen's triumph, no-one would ever bother going to the Pole agai... Hey. Wait. Why are people still heading overland to the pole? Have they not heard of aircraft? Do they not heed the reports that the pole is cold and that the view is boring? Turns out being first at the pole was only the first in a long string of polar firsts to follow in the next century, and I'm expecting a pogo-stick based expedition to be announced at any second.

Roald Amundsen returns to the narrative and takes pole position, showing the world what you can achieve if you don't give a stuff about science or people. 

What's this? Three episodes in quick succession? Blame the hosting service download counter.  I'm now obsessed with topping last month's total downloads.  This was easy when I only had two and a dog listening but now I have to release more episodes to scratch that itch.  Expect shorter and shorter episodes until I'm editing single words and releasing them. Anyhoo, this one explains some clothing terms and concepts which warranted more attention than I was giving them.

Japan comes in out of the cold and heads back out into the cold again. Nobu Shirase - an explorer of honour and determination, now available in ship form. 

Pemmican and sledging biscuit have received several mentions in the series and it's high time I let you in on what I'm on about.

The Eastern Party make their dogged way back to Cape Evans while Atkinson led teams onto the barrier to look for evidence of the pole party.  The Terra Nova arrives and the BAE heads home.

Scott's 3IC, Lt. Victor Campbell, fares poorly on every front except the important one.  Little came of the BAE's Eastern Party's efforts in terms of geology, geography, biology, but everyone survived the challenging circumstances that British decorum and crook weather placed them in.  Oops.  Spoilers. Don't read this until you've listened to episode 040.

Dammit - it happened again. This story always ends the same way. All of the driving forces behind Scott's polar ambition push him to his death. Poor weather, broken tractors, crap ponies, leaky fuel cans, crevasse fields - lots of things contributed to the tragedy in the physical sense but the expectations placed on Captain Robert Falcon Scott by his nation, his mentors and his peers did their part, too.

Scott leads his team south while Amundsen and Mawson keep his clockwork wound up tight. Stormy seas, pack ice and a four way split in the transport preparations frustrate efforts to meld scientific, geographic and historical goals.

I'm sick of 2016.  A friend just died for stupid reasons and my extended family and many friends are facing life in the USA under president Donald Trump and his cabinet of elite racists. I really have not been in the mood to read about noble suffering under the Victorian model of manliness and my notes about Scott's death on his return from the pole came to a grinding halt about two weeks ago.  Here's a Frankenstein's episode stop gap comprising essays from the past about ice diving and contrasting Scott Base and McMurdo Station. I'll get back to the history in time for Christmas but in the mean time 2016 can fuck right off.