-=>o...... L - J • ffirn®oornrn THE LONG, HARDWAY n September, 1979, the Transglobe Expedi- and its subsidiary, C.T. Bowring of London. All tion set sail from England on a 3-year, fu els and lubricants, some especially formu- 52 ,000-mi le journey around the world. Many lated, are being contributed by Mobil Oil Corpo- expeditions have successfully circled the ration. Mobil has also had to mount a massive globe, but Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham- expedition of its own to get the fuels and lubri- Fiennes and his team of explorers will be the cants to various isolated points along the way. first to traverse both poles in a north-south cir- he Transglobe Expedition is led by a cumnavigation of the world. Journeying by 36-year old Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a ship, airplane, land rover, snowmobile, motor- former British mi litary officer and an ex- ized rubber raft, and on foot, the members of plorer of the "old school." When Sir the expedition wi ll have endured some of the Ranulph organized the expedition in most treacherous environments on earth before 1972, crew members were selected they successfully complete one of man's "l ast from over 40 volunteers who had completed great adventures." vigorous training and testing in the mountains of But the trip is more than an epic of adventure. Wales, Scotland, the Greenland Ice Cap and The expedition is conducting a number of sci- the Arctic Ocean. Members of the all-British entific projects for 10 separate organizations, Transglobe team are Charles Burton, 39, who, utilizing the products, equipment and services along with Fiennes forms the core of the "ice of more than 160 major sponsoring companies. team"; Simon Grimes, 26, base mechanic; Everything from skidoos to specially formulated Giles Kershaw, 32, pilot of th e expedition 's two- fuels are being displayed in a commerc ial ex- engine support aircraft , and two reserve mem- hibit open to the public during Transglobe's bers. Lady Virginia Fienn'es, Sir Ranulph's wife, brief stay in Los Angeles. Simi lar exhibits have serves as base camp leader and head com- been held in London; Paris; Barcelona; Abidjan munications officer, assisted in her chores by on the Ivory Coast of Africa; Cape Town , South Boothy, a small terrier. Africa; Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, The Transg lobe Expedition departed Australia. Greenwic h, Eng land, in September, 1979, In al l, some 600 companies contributed to the aboard the BOWRING. By Land Rover vehicles expedition. The 213-foot research and supply they crossed France, the Western Sahara Des- ship BENJAMIN BOWRING - especially de- ert, and western Africa to the Ivory Coast. From signed for Arctic and Antarctic conditions - there, they journeyed to Antarctica on the was provided by Marsh & Mclennan, an inter- BOWRING via Cape Town. Arriving on the national insurance and fi nancial organization, Antarctic continent in January, 1980, the expe- dition wintered in a camp some 230 mi les in- sail to Vancouver and then to the Yukon River in land, living for 10 months in triple-walled Alaska. The explorers will proceed in individual cardboard huts. motorized inflatable boats up the Yukon and At the end of October, the ice team set off for MacKenzie Rivers to Tuktoyaktut on the the South Pole with snowmobiles pulling Beaufort Sea. From there, the ice team will tran- sledges loaded with food, fuel and other sup- sit the hazardous 3,000 mile Northwest plies. The team made the trip to the pole in 47 Passage, wintering with Virginia Fiennes and days, about half the anticipated time. Virginia Gri mes at a fjord on Ellesmere Island, the most Fiennes and two other members of the expedi- northern land of the North American Continent. tion were flown from the base camp to the South In February, 1982, the ice team will head for the Pole for a brief rendezvous with the group and North Pole in the snowmobiles and sledges, then flew on to McMurdo Sound on the opposite ultimately heading south and rendezvousing side of Antarctica. with the BOWRING at the edge of the polar ice he ice team camped at the pole for pack. eight days in the vicinity of the perma- irginia Fiennes, Grimes and the two- nent U.S. station there, and departed man air crew will maintain a base and the South Pole on December 23. In 23 communications camp on Ellesmere days the group reached McMurdo Island, then move the camp to Cape Sound, thus crossing Antarctica in 78 Nord, Greenland. They will rejoin the days. This is only the second time in history a ice team and the BOWRING at Spits- coast-to-coast crossing of Antarctica has been bergan for the homeward voyage to England, made. Along the way, the Transglobe team res- arriving there three years after their departure cued three South African scientists who were from Greenwich. lost in blizzard conditions and were near death. Assuming its arrival in England in August, In all , the expedition spent 13 months in 1982, the Transg lobe Expedition's polar cir- Antarctica, living in cardboard huts and tents cumnavigation of the world wil l have been 10 in the world's most hostile environment, at times years in the planning, training and execution. In enduring temperatures of 100 degrees Fahren- the words of the expedition's patron, Prince heit below zero and winds of up to 100 miles Charles, what the Transglobe adventurers are per hour. doing is not only in the greatest trad ition of Boarding the BOWRING, the expedition pro- Briti sh exploration but "gloriously and refresh- ceeded to Auckland, then to Sydney and Los ingly mad" as well. Angeles. At the end of May, the expedition wil l Sponsored by Marsh & Mclennan and Mobil