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Sir
Hubert Wilkins In 1913,
Wilkins became second in command of Vilhjalmur Stefansson's
expedition to the Canadian Arctic. He went on to learn how
to fly and in 1917 Wilkins returned to his homeland of
Australia and joined the Australian Flying Corps at the rank
of lieutenant. Although an aviator, his primary duty was to
photograph the gruesome fighting in the field. His superior
officer was none other than Captain Frank Hurley, the famous
photographer of Mawson's
and Shackleton's
Antarctic expeditions. Wilkins was presented with the
Military Cross for his efforts to rescue wounded soldiers in
the Third Battle of Ypres, where at Passchendaele allied
forces suffered a quarter million casualties. He received a
Bar for his Military Cross for temporarily leading a company
of American soldiers, whose officers had been killed in
action. Australian General Monash described him as "the
bravest man I have ever seen". Once the
war ended, Wilkins turned his attention once again to
aviation. He entered the England -- Australia Air Race of
1919 only to crash into a fence at a lunatic asylum in
Crete. He went on to Russia for more photographic work where
he reported on the upheaval and famine inside the country
which was still in the grips of the great revolution of
1917. Oddly,
Wilkins also earned a good reputation as a naturalist and
ornithologist. In 1923-24 the British Museum sent him to
North Australia to collect rare native fauna and report on
Aboriginal tribal life. However, the time spent with Hurley
only peaked his interest in an expedition to the Antarctic
where he felt a combination of the airplane with aerial
photography could lead to extensive exploration and
discovery. In 1925, Wilkins proposed the Australasian Polar
Pacific Expedition to fly from the Ross Sea across King
Edward VII Land to Graham Land. The South Australian branch
of the Royal Geographic Society attempted to raise funds for
the expedition but the money was not forthcoming.
In order to gain financial support for
his Antarctic adventure, Wilkins turned to the Arctic where
together with his friend Ben Eielson, Arctic sojourns
between 1925 and 1928 earned both of them a place in the
aviator's Hall of Fame. Wilkins received the Patrons Medal
of the Royal Geographical Society, the Morse Medal of the
American Geographical Society and a knighthood from the King
of England. Wilkins was introduced to Carl Ben Eielson by
his former Arctic comrade Vilhjalmur Stefansson. Known to
the Eskimos as "Brother to the Eagle", 26 year-old Eielson,
a former pilot for the U.S. Army, was now an Alaskan bush
pilot who flew through treacherous weather and topography on
nearly a daily basis. Together with Wilkins, they survived
numerous crashes and forced landings. Thier Arctic
adventures culminated in a great journey in April and May of
1928 when their tiny Lockheed Vega monoplane flew from Point
Barrow, Alaska to the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, in a
flying time of 20 hours and 20 minutes across a distance of
2,500 miles, most of it above uncharted territory. Thus,
they became aerial pioneers as the first to fly from the New
World to the Old. With Australia dropping out of the
expedition, Wilkins now prepared to concentrate his
operation from Graham Land, or Palmer Peninsula as it was
known to the Americans. From Deception Island in the South
Shetlands, Wilkins hoped to launch a flight across the
Weddell Sea in an attempt to possibly achieve a major
flight, perhaps across Antarctica at a tangent to the coast.
Wilkins intended to use the same plane which achieved Arctic
fame, renamed the Los Angeles in honor of Hearst, but
his backers insisted on a second plane for safety's sake. A
second identical Vega of Jack Northrop's design was built
and delivered at cost from the Lockheed Corporation. The
second plane was named the San Francisco. The Vacuum
Oil Company of Australia donated $10,000 worth of products.
The N. Bugge Hektor Whaling Co. of Norway volunteered to
take the expedition to the ice which suited Wilkins just
fine . . . no expensive shore or winter bases would be
needed! Heintz and Kaufman, of San Francisco, California,
supplied a short wave radio for the aircraft. The radio
served both as a long distance communication device and as a
radio beacon (by holding down the morse key). Ben Eielson
joined the expedition as chief pilot along with another
experienced Arctic pilot by the name of Joe Crosson, who
consequently was the first to fly an open-cockpit plane
between Fairbanks and Point Barrow, Alaska. Carl
Ben Eielson On
November 4 Hektoria tied up at the whaling station at
Deception Island. The Norwegians immediately set to work to
open the dormant factory while Wilkins, Eielson and the
others began to ready the aircraft for the forthcoming
flights. Wilkins planned to explore along the peninsula as
far south as fuel and good weather could take him. His
ultimate dream was to fly across the continent to the Ross
Sea and the vicinity of Framheim, Amundsen's camp in his
1911 South Pole Expedition. This plan would require two
planes with one used to refuel the other for the final push
to the Great Ice Barrier. Meanwhile, rocks were cleared and
holes filled on the sandy beach. On November 16 Eielson took the Los
Angeles on a twenty minute flight. Hardly a noteworthy
flight in Wilkins mind, but historical nevertheless as this
was the first flight in Antarctica. Within a week, the twin
Vega San Francisco was ready to fly. Joe Crosson flew
the aircraft on a few short excursions and on November 26
both planes took to the air: Eielson from the bay ice aboard
Los Angeles and Crosson from the beach aboard San
Francisco. What a public relations stunt for the stunned
Norwegians watching below! But a moment of terror befell
Eielson as he came in for a landing. The wheels on the
Los Angeles skidded on the bay ice and rushed Eielson
and the plane dangerously towards the edge where the ice was
thin and brittle. Sure enough, the horrified onlookers
witnessed the aircraft nose over, splash into the water and
sink up to its wings in the icy water. It took eighteen
hours to haul the plane safely back to land. Borrowing picks, shovels and
wheelbarrows from the Norwegians, the men set to work
clearing a long strip of beach from rocks, boulders and deep
potholes. When all was said and done, Deception Island's
airstrip was 2300 feet long and 40 feet wide with a couple
of 20 degree bends. After the sinking of Los Angeles,
San Francisco was the preferred plane for the long
flight ahead. They filled the fuel tanks with enough fuel to
carry them 1400 miles at a cruising speed of 125 MPH. Their
emergency rations consisted of biscuits, pemmican,
chocolate, nuts, raisins and malted milk tablets. In case of
a forced landing, a block and tackle was loaded aboard to
help pull the aircraft from danger, particularly from a
crevasse. Crosson stayed behind to fly Los Angeles in
case of an emergency. At 8:20 a.m. on December 20, 1928,
Wilkins and Eielson took to the air in San Francisco
signaling the start of a new chapter in the exploration of
the last unknown continent from the air. Griffith Taylor,
explorer with Robert
Scott's Terra Nova
Expedition, said that "Just as 1841 and 1903 were
wonderful years in Antarctic exploration, so 20th December
1928 was the most wonderful day, for in ten hours Sir Hubert
Wilkins settled more problems and sketched more new
coastlines than any other expedition had accomplished in
West Antarctica". I "felt liberated," he said. "I had a
tremendous sensation of power and freedom". They flew above
Hughes Bay, crossed Gerlache Strait and neared the Danco
Coast where Wilkins instructed Eielson to take the Vega up
to 9000 feet and cross the peninsula from west to east. A
magnificent scene of pure natural beauty unfolded before
them prompting Wilkins to enter a note in his diary that
"For the first time in history, new land was being
discovered from the air". Beyond the Antarctic Circle at
67°S, they dropped closer to the surface and discovered
a group of small, thin channels twisting their way deep
between the mountains. Wilkins theory (seven years later
disproved by fellow Australian explorer John Rymill) was
that the peninsula was actually divided into three major
islands, making it an archipelago rather than an extension
of the mainland. Wilkins named one of the channels Casey
Channel, after his friend R.G. Casey at the Australian High
Commission in London. Another was named Stefansson Channel,
after the man who had introduced him to the Arctic, and to
these he added the Crane and Lurabee Channels. Wilkins
freely named other distinguishable topography in honor of
those who assisted with the expedition: Hearst Land,
Mobiloil Bay, Scripps Island, Lockheed Mountains, and Cape
Northrop after the Vega's designer. As a tribute to
themselves, the map was also marked with the Wilkins Coast
and Eielson Peninsula. Fighting gale-force winds, Wilkins
opened the hatch and dropped the territorial proclamation on
behalf of the British government. Mountains and plateau
continued to loom southward, far into the horizon, but at
71°20'S, with their fuel gauge close to the half-full
mark, Wilkins reluctantly ordered Eielson to turn the plane
around. They headed north across the Larsen Ice Shelf filled
with satisfaction from exploring 1000 miles of previously
unexplored Antarctic territory. Storm clouds hovered above
and around the vicinity of Deception Island upon their
return. With fuel running short, the clouds suddenly parted
to give them a glimpse of the airstrip on Deception Island
below. Eielson quickly put the San Francisco into a
steep descent to get through the low ceiling before the
clouds once again closed in. In short order, San
Francisco was safely landed. The
account of Antarctica's first exploratory flight is best
summed up in Wilkins final entry in his diary following the
historical event: "We had left at 8:30 [sic]
in the morning, had covered 1300 miles -- nearly a thousand
of it over unknown territory -- and had returned in time to
cover the plane with a storm hood, go to the
Hektoria, bathe and dress and sit down at eight
o'clock to dinner as usual in the comfort of the ship's
wardroom". Wilkins
made one more exploratory flight before the aviation season
came to an end. On January 10,1929, his aircraft flew 250
miles south, following part of December's route in order to
confirm their earlier sightings. Both planes were soon
dismantled and stored in a shed at the whaler's station. The
men said farewell to the Norwegians and joined a patrolling
British warship, HMS Flerus, to take them back to
Montevideo. In a
pause from his Antarctic expeditions of 1928-30, Wilkins
purchased a surplus World War I submarine for one dollar,
renamed it Nautilus, and attempted to cruise beneath
the ice to the North Pole. The old ship broke down and the
expedition failed which earned Wilkins some adverse
publicity. Actually, he was just a man well ahead of his
time. The submarine adventure, in 1931, represented his last
individual and private expedition. From this point he
accepted a post as manager to his friend and supporter,
American millionaire Lincoln Ellsworth, in an Antarctic
association which lasted until 1938. Lincoln Ellsworth went
on to become the first to successfully fly across the
Antarctic continent. In each of the three attempts, between
1933 until success on November 22, 1935, Hubert Wilkins was
a participant. But this story is Ellsworth's story and will
be included on this website in the near future. Wilkins
last trip to Antarctica came in 1957 as a guest of
Operation
Deepfreeze. Wilkins always
carried a miniature of the Australian flag in the cockpit of
his airplane. He settled in the United States and worked in
World War II for the American government, but never
surrendered his Australian citizenship of which he was
intensely proud. Wilkins died of a heart attack at the age
of 70, in 1958. His body was cremated and the ashes taken on
the nuclear submarine Skate and scattered at the
North Pole.
Born at Mount
Bryan East, South Australia, on October 31, 1888, Hubert
Wilkins was the thirteenth child born to a South Australian
sheep-farming family. As a young student, Hubert studied
engineering part-time at the School of Mines in Adelaide,
however his passion was photography and cinematography. An
official biography would list his career as war
correspondent, polar explorer, naturalist, geographer,
climatologist, aviator, author, balloonist, war hero,
reporter, secret agent, submariner and navigator. This was
an extraordinary man.
In 1908 Wilkins stowed away on
a ship from which he later abandoned in Algiers. The next
thing he knew, he found himself in a gang of criminals
involved with gun-running, kidnapping, drug dealing and
spying. At 24, Wilkins was hired by the Gaumont Film Company
to join the Turkish side of the Turko-Bulgarian War of 1912
and shoot footage of the war.
Wilkins
was now ready to turn his attention to the Antarctic. Fame
earned from the northern polar regions now propelled him
into a position to finally accomplish his original dream of
being the first to fly an airplane across the Antarctic
continent. Hubert approached fellow Australian Major R.G.
Casey, an official at the High Commission office in London,
for financial backing from the government. Wilkins pointed
out that his expedition could assist in accomplishing an
early foothold on the Antarctic rim where meteorological
reporting stations could subsequently be established. As
much a supporter of Antarctic exploration as Casey was, his
efforts nevertheless failed. Fortunately, the United States
was interested. Endorsements came from the American
Geographical Society and the Detroit Aviation Society.
Millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst pledged
$25,000 for the exclusive press and radio rights.
The
Wilkins-Hearst Expedition sailed from New York on September
22, 1928. In October they left Montevideo with the two
aircraft aboard the whaling vessel Hektoria, which
would serve the men with living quarters for the next five
months. Before leaving their final port, in the Falkland
Islands, Wilkins received a secret message from the British
governor authorizing him to make territorial claims to the
Falkland Islands Dependency, of which Deception Island was a
part, on behalf of His Majesty's government. Obviously this
did not sit well with Argentina who believed this region of
Antarctica rightfully theirs.
December's
unseasonably warm weather, once reaching 50°F, turned
Deception Island into a prison for the aviators. Steam rose
along the shoreline with no sign of thickening bay ice. Skis
would be necessary equipment for the aircraft if there was
any intention of exploring the interior. Without the thick
bay ice, it would be impossible to lift off with skis
attached. They tried to tow an aircraft to open water and
fly away on floats, but a mass of sea birds surrounded the
plane, flying into the propeller thus making a liftoff
impossible. It would have to be wheels or nothing!
The
plan was to fly east across the Bransfield Strait and then
head down the Antarctic Peninsula. Flying parallel to the
mountains, Eielson took San Francisco to an altitude
of 6000 feet. The plateau behind the mountains continued to
rise ever higher so the plane continued south. Wilkins made
notes for the press and photographed the area with a
hand-held Kodak 3A camera and two movie cameras. In a
20-minute period Wilkins sketched a map covering 40 miles
knowing it would have taken three months to do the same had
they been sledging.
The
Second Wilkins-Hearst Expedition returned to Deception
Island aboard the factory ship Melville in late
November 1929. The British government once again authorized
Wilkins to make territorial claims on behalf of the Crown.
To assist with the expedition, the Colonial Office voted
£10,000 and the services of the Discovery Committee's
research vessel, William Scoresby. This time their
equipment included a boat with an outboard motor, a
caterpillar tractor and a Baby Austin automobile fitted with
eight wheels and chains. With one plane loaded aboard
William Scoresby, they sailed just below the 67th
parallel in an attempt to find a more suitable takeoff and
landing area for the plane. However, floats were used and by
this manner a number of successful flights were completed
between December 1929 and January 1930. A trans-Antarctic
venture was never within their grasp. The most rewarding
flights were those of December 27-29 when an area then known
as Charcot Land revealed itself to be a large island, over
which Wilkins dropped a flag and document proclaiming the
land in the name of King George V. The final flight came on
February 1 and reached 73°S, in the vicinity of Peter I
Island, but no new discoveries were made.
