German Antarctic Expedition (1901-1903)

Since 1865, en: Georg von Neumayer tried to organize a German expedition to Antarctica, but it took place only decades later ^[1] . Drigalsky was chosen as the leader of the expedition by the rest of its members and he was allowed to build a ship specifically for this expedition ^[2] . The ship was named " Gauss " in honor of Karl Friedrich Gauss . The expedition was funded by William II , who allocated 1,200,000 gold marks to it . The scientific data collected during the expedition laid the foundation for freedom of discretion in the approach to scientific theories and for understanding the new concept of Alexander Humboldt .

The task of the expedition was to explore the unknown territory of Antarctica, lying south of the Kerguelen archipelago . The expedition started from Kiel on August 11, 1901, consisting of thirty-two men, including five officers, five scientists, and only two members of the imperial Navy , despite the source of funding for the expedition ^{[2] [1]} . On November 22, 1901, the ship arrived in Cape Town , where it stayed until December 7, replenishing its fuel and provisions.

A small part of the team remained on the Kerguelen Islands, where they arrived on January 2, 1902, while the bulk of the team followed further south ^[1] . Erich von Drigalski made a brief visit to Heard Island and gave the first comprehensive scientific information about the island's geology, flora and fauna. Drigalsky explored the then unknown region of Antarctica south of the Kerguelen archipelago. The choice of this area between the Weddell Sea and Enderby Land follows from the initiative and distribution of efforts of the international community for the study of Antarctica, approved by the President of the Royal Geographical Society Clement Markem ^[1] . During the expedition, there was some cooperation with the British Antarctic expedition operating at the same time, which worked in another part of the continent ^[1] .

Despite the fact that the ship was jammed with ice for almost 14 months at a distance of about 70 km from the coastline, until February 1903 the expedition discovered new territories in Antarctica - on February 21, 1902, William II Land with the Gaussberg volcano ^[1] . On March 16, the ship again arrived in Cape Town to replenish provisions and fuel, but the German government, through its embassy, ​​refused to further finance the expedition, ordering Drigalsky to return to Germany.

Drigalski was the first researcher to use a gas balloon in Antarctica ^[2] .

The expedition arrived back in Kiel on November 23, 1903 ^[2] . Subsequently, Drigalsky wrote a chronicle of the expedition and edited voluminous scientific data: from 1905 to 1931 he published 20 volumes and 2 atlases describing the expedition.

• Heroic Age of Antarctic Research
• List of Antarctic Expeditions

• Drygalski, ED von. Zum Kontinent des eisigen Südens: [ him. ] . - B .: Verlag Georg Reimer, 1904.
• Drygalski, ED von. Deutsche Südpolar-Expedition 1901–1903 im Auftrage des Reichsamtes des Innern: [ him. ] : in 20 Bd. . - B. , 1905-1931. - App .: 2 atlases.
• Drygalski, ED von. The German South Polar Expedition, 1901–3 : [ eng. ] . - Erskine Press, 1991. - ISBN 1-85297-031-6 .
• Murphy, DT German Exploration of the Polar World. A history, 1870–1940 : [ eng. ] . - Nebraska, 2002. - ISBN 0-8032-3205-5 .
• Encylopedia of the Antarctic : [ eng. ] / Beau Riffenburgh (ed.). - N. Y .: Routledge, 2007. - Vol. 1: A – K. - ISBN 0415970245 .

• Report on the stop on Kerguelen of one of the members of the de: Karl Luyken expedition ( German: Karl Luyken )