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Encyclopedia Of Encyclopedia of EADERSHIP George R. Goethals General Editor Williams College Georgia J. Sorenson General Editor University of Maryland, University of Richmond James MacGregor Burns Senior Editor Williams College A Berkshire Reference Work A SAGE Reference Publication SAGE Publications International Educational and Professional Publisher Thousand Oaks ● London ● New Delhi Race to the South Pole September 2003 RACE TO THE SOUTH POLE By Dennis N. T. Perkins, Paul R. Kessler, and Catherine McCarthy The contest to become the first human temperatures in the interior can reach to set foot on the geographic South Pole minus 70 degrees C, and the mean is an exciting and controversial chapter annual temperature at the South Pole is in the history of leadership under minus 49 degrees C. adversity. Set in the most hostile In addition to the frigid temperatures, environment on Earth, the race to the there is the wind. Dense cold air rushing South Pole shows how leadership style, down from the polar plateau can personality, strategy, and openness to achieve speeds of almost 320 kilo- innovation interact to determine success meters per hour. And then there are the or failure. This historic quest demon- storms. The ferocious Antarctic winds strates how the best leaders are able to blow snow across the surface, resulting extend their reach by bringing out the in blizzards that make travel nearly best in others. Finally, it illustrates that impossible. In these blinding conditions, perceptions of leadership are altered by explorers have died only a few yards the changing lenses of culture and from their shelters. popular sentiment. Finally, there is the altitude. The South The Course Pole is located at an elevation of over 2,700 meters above the sea, and the It is difficult to understand the nature of pressure altitude that affects human the competition to reach the South Pole physiology is even higher. Because of without some knowledge of the extreme the spinning of the Earth, the air is conditions of Antarctica. For most of denser over the Equator and thinner the year, central Antarctica is enveloped over the Pole. As a result, the effective in total darkness or total daylight. Ice— altitude of the Pole is almost 4,200 up to 4,500 meters thick—covers over meters. Taken together, these elements 99 percent of the continent’s land mass. of cold, wind, snow, and altitude played But the most formidable obstacles are a crucial role in the race to the South neither darkness nor ice. Those who Pole. dream of reaching the Pole must contend with bitter cold, relentless wind Preparing for the Race and snow, and high altitude. In 1820, Fabian von Bellingshausen The coldest temperature ever measured (1778-1852), a captain in the Russian on the Earth’s surface—minus 89.2 Imperial Navy, was the first to sight the degrees C—was recorded in Antarctica. continent of Antarctica. A year later, Even during the warmest months, sealers from the United States and Copyright 2003 The Encyclopedia of Leadership Page 2 Race to the South Pole September 2003 Britain landed on the Antarctic Penin- sula. Other expeditions designed to The British Contestants explore the unknown continent soon At the International Geographical followed. Each effort increased the Congress held in London in 1895, the understanding of Antarctica and helped English geographer Clements Markham in the development of strategies for (1830-1916) called for further scientific dealing with the harsh polar environ- and geographical exploration of Ant- ment. arctica. Markham later helped organize In March 1898, a Belgian expedition led the British National Antarctic Expedition, by Adrian de Gerlache (1866-1934) and in 1899 chose explorer Robert became trapped by the pack ice near Falcon Scott (1868-1912) as its leader. the Antarctic Peninsula. Imprisoned Markham believed in youth over aboard the Belgica for more than a year, experience. He thought older men the crew members suffered from lacked not only energy and a capacity to depression, disease, and disorientation deal with emergencies, but also open- resulting from living in total darkness. ness to new ideas. “How can novel But they were the first to winter south of forms of effort,” he wrote, “be expected the Antarctic Circle, and a young from still old organisms hampered by Norwegian named Roald Amundsen experience” (Thomson, 2002, 10). Scott (1872-1928)—one of the ship’s officers— had no prior experience in polar absorbed the lessons of this experience. exploration, but Markham had been The same year, Carsten Borchgrevink impressed by Scott’s intelligence and (1864-1934) sailed on the Southern charm. Markham believed the thirty- Cross as a leader of what was called the one-year-old naval officer to be the right British Antarctic expedition. The age and temperament to lead an expedition, funded by a wealthy British Antarctic expedition. publisher, was hardly British: Twenty- On the recommendation of an eight of the thirty-one members were expedition benefactor, Markham also Norwegian, and the Southern Cross was selected an officer of the Merchant a converted Norwegian sealer. Landing Navy—Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874- at Cape Adare, ten of the explorers 1922)—as one of Scott’s sublieutenants. erected two wooden huts and set out to The two officers, both of whom became prove that humans could survive ashore important figures in the race to the in the cold, dark, Antarctic winter. The South Pole, had sharply contrasting expedition also produced maps of the backgrounds and personalities. Ross Sea region, and it expanded the store of knowledge and skills needed to survive in the extreme Antarctic environment. Copyright 2003 The Encyclopedia of Leadership Page 3 Race to the South Pole September 2003 Scott was born to a well-to-do family in Plymouth, England. At the age of thir- The First Run Toward the Pole teen, he entered the Royal Navy as a In August of 1901, Scott and Shackleton cadet aboard the training ship Britannia. sailed for Antarctica aboard the Although Scott could be charming, he Discovery, the first ship designed and could also be detached and tem- built in Britain specifically for polar peramental. With his reserved and shy exploration. By mid-February of 1902, personality, Scott had trouble mixing the expedition had established winter with others. He was most comfortable quarters ashore. In November, Scott in the traditional, regulated, and hier- finally set out to explore the route to the archical caste system of the Royal Navy. Pole with Shackleton and scientific These personal characteristics limited officer Edward A. Wilson (1872-1912). his effectiveness as a leader, but Scott brought strengths as well. He genuinely Scott and his team were ill prepared for appreciated science and possessed the their first southern foray. They were physical stamina essential for polar poor skiers, and inept at handling dogs. exploration. In addition, his skill at vivid, The dogs were underfed and the sleds descriptive writing provided a clear were overloaded. Suffering from scurvy account of his expeditions and his role and lack of food, the party turned back in the race. more than 800 kilometers from the South Pole. Ernest Shackleton, by contrast, was an Anglo-Irishman born in County Kildare, On the journey home, the three tied their Ireland. Shackleton’s father, unable to remaining dogs behind the sleds, which afford the cost of the Royal Navy’s they “man hauled” back to their camp at Britannia, sent Ernest to sea on a ship of Hut Point. Strangely, Scott seemed the Merchant Navy. Aboard the Hoghton drawn to this grueling practice of man Tower Shackleton “learned the ropes,” hauling. He wrote that “no journey ever and he also learned the value of made with dogs can approach the developing relationships. height realized…when a party of men go forth to face hardships, dangers, and Although status distinctions in the difficulties with their own unaided Mercantile Marine were less rigid than efforts” (McGonigal and Woodworth, they were in the Royal Navy, sanctions 2001, 428). still existed against mixing with social inferiors. But Shackleton's outgoing The strain of the trip, combined with personality and lack of pretension clashes between Scott and Shackleton, enabled him to make friends at all undermined the cohesion of the levels—with officers, engineers, and southern party. At one point, Scott apprentices alike. This ability served referred to Shackleton as a “bloody him well in his journeys to the Antarctic. fool.” This clash—and the underlying Copyright 2003 The Encyclopedia of Leadership Page 4 Race to the South Pole September 2003 competition between the two men— accomplished other goals. They had created a rift that was never closed. uncovered coal and other fossils. They had discovered a new mountain range, When the party reached Hut Point, all traversed the high polar plateau, and three men were suffering from scurvy. they held the record for penetrating the Scott, with medical advice, declared farthest south. In addition, they Shackleton unfit for duty and sent him pioneered a path up the Beardmore home on a relief ship. Shackleton Glacier, the same route that Scott would reportedly wept as he sailed away. take on his next expedition. Shackleton’s Second Attempt The expedition also gave Shackleton a chance to demonstrate his exceptional Although Shackleton had been ordered leadership skills. He had faced danger home from the Discovery expedition, he with humor and good cheer, developing returned to England a hero of the a reputation for being cool in a crisis. expedition. He began organizing another Although called “the Boss” by his men, attempt, and in 1907 sailed for Shackleton established the norm of Antarctica aboard the Nimrod as the discussing problems openly and valuing leader of a second British Antarctic the opinions of others, regardless of Expedition.
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