Stuart D. Paine - Footsteps on the Ice: The Antarctic Diaries of Stuart D. Paine, Second Byrd Expedition

In 1933, when Admiral Byrds Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition began, Admiral Richard E. Byrd was one of the most famous figures of a star-studded era. The first to claim to have flown across the North Pole in 1926, the handsome Virginian added to his fame by flying across the Atlantic the following year. Although he was third to Charles Lindbergh, Byrd, too, had a ticker tape parade and remained in the public spotlight.

Antarctica became the world stage for his accomplishments from 1928 to the end of his life in 1957. Byrd moved polar exploration into the modern era, one that employed airplanes, radio communication, and motorized transport as well as dogs and sleds to explore the most unknown part of the world. His first privately funded expedition there, the largest and most expensive in the history of Antarctic exploration so far, established a base of operations, Little America, at the Bay of Whales. A high point was the first flight across the South Pole, where Byrd dropped an American flag. Ticker tape parades, promotion to admiral, a Congressional Medal of Honor, and a movie by Paramount, With Byrd at the South Pole, followed. Parents named children in his honor; some high schools still bear his name. So famous was Byrd that even his dog, Igloo, merited a biography.

Not resting on his laurels, Byrds first expedition served to introduce the second. While leaving Antarctica in 1930, Byrd remembered, When I walked out of Little America, in February 1930, to go down to the ship, it was with the firm resolve to go back. His reasons, as stated in his account of the second expedition, had roots in science and in opportunity:

My decision to return to Antarctica with a second exploring expedition was not so much a spontaneous thought as a maturing compulsion bred by the work of my first expedition. Problems of large geographical and scientific importance remained to be investigated, and it seemed desirablemore than that, imperativeto attempt to close them while we still had the momentum of one successful effort, the advantage of a more enlightened public interest in Antarctic research, and while there was still available an Antarctic-trained personnel from whom could be drawn the nucleus for a second and stronger expedition.

This expedition, larger than the first, explored Antarctica through the methods of twenty different sciences, including biology, geology, glaciology, astronomy, geophysics, meteorology, and oceanography. In addition, Byrd and his men planned to look more closely at areas such as the Rockefeller Mountains and Marie Byrd Land that were found in the first expedition. Finally, Byrd and his men intended to increase their testing and employment of motorized transports. Even as the first expedition had scientist Larry Gould as the second-in-charge, this one had another scientist, Thomas Poulter, as second-in-command.

Stuart Paine was a foot soldier, a dog driver, in Admiral Byrds second expedition to Antarctica. His diary, as published here, is a significant contribution to the literature of exploration in Antarctica. Of the second expedition, little has appeared in print from expeditionary members themselves. Byrds tome Discovery serves as the official record of the expedition, but his Alone is the highly personal account that achieved international fame. Thomas Poulter also published a book; so, too, did Paul Siple, who was a biologist on the expedition and later headed South Pole station during the International Geophysical Year. Stuart Paine himself, with Jane Brevoort Walden, wrote about the expedition and his experiences in The Long Whip: The Story of a Great Husky (1936).

Apart from Alone, which stemmed from a diary, diaries of the secondexpedition have not appeared. Such diaries enable readers to gain new insights into historical events and personalities. Typically, diarists record entries shortly after an event happens, not days or weeks later. As a private document not intended for immediate or full publication, the writer can be more honest about feelings and colleagues than may be possible or desirable in a published work.

As a diary, Paines writing is much more candid and personal than his published account in The Long Whip. At times, Paine stood in awe of his circumstances; on May 1, 1934, he wrote, To live almost within sight of the unknown is a sensation rarely experienced by the fair inhabitants of this earth. To actually penetrate it remains for even fewer. God grant that I may be allowed this privilege. Yet Paine also expressed despair and bitterness, commenting on April 1, 1934, As far as I can see, our whole trip was futile and in vain. We are merely tools for the Admirals ambitions.

During and after the expedition, others have questioned whether Byrd worked for science or fed his own appetite for fame and recognition. Both were correct. Byrds was one of the last privately financed expeditions from the United States to Antarctica. Typically, explorers like Byrd promoted themselves and their expeditions to private foundations, to science organizations, and especially to wealthy benefactors. Byrd was extraordinarily successful in attracting funding from private donations, especially the wealthy, from newspapers that invested in explorers as a source of stories, and from lectures and books after the expedition returned. This was the business model that Byrd followedzealously so. Charles Murphy, Byrds publicist whom Paine befriended, played a key role in the expedition, seeding stories that fed the appetite of the media and the imagination of the public.