Hubert Wilkins
Encyclopedia
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(31 October 188830 November 1958) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.
Early life
Hubert Wilkins was a native of HallettHallett, South Australia
Hallett is a small town with a large history. Situated on the Barrier Highway north of Burra and south-east of Jamestown, Hallett lies close to Goyder's Line, plotted in the nineteenth century by George Goyder, separating the land suitable for cropping from the land suitable for grazing...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, the last of 13 children in a family of pioneer settlers and sheep farmers. His birthplace at Netfield, 13 km west of Hallett (150 km North of Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
) is today an historic site. The original homestead has been restored by generous donation. He studied at the Adelaide School of Mines. As a teenager, he moved to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
where he found work with a traveling cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, to Sydney as a cinematographer, and thence to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he became a pioneering aerial photographer whilst working for Gaumont
Gaumont British
Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the French film company Gaumont. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British....
Studios. His photographic skill earned him a place on various Arctic expeditions, including the controversial 1913 Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...
-led Canadian Arctic Expedition.
World War I
In 1917, Wilkins returned to his native Australia, joining the Australian Flying Corps in the rank of Second LieutenantSecond Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
. Wilkins later transferred to the general list and in 1918 was appointed as an official war photographer. In June 1918 Wilkins was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for his efforts to rescue wounded soldiers during the Third Battle of Ypres. The following month Wilkins was promoted to Captain
Captain (OF-2)
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery...
and became officer commanding No.3 (Photographic) Sub-section of the Australian war records unit. His work frequently led him into the thick of the fighting and during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line
Battle of the Hindenburg Line
The Battle of St Quentin Canal was a pivotal battle of World War I that began on 29 September 1918 and involved British, Australian and American forces in the spearhead attack and as a single combined force against the German Siegfried Stellung of the Hindenburg Line...
he assumed command of a group of American soldiers who had lost their officers in an earlier attack, directing them until support arrived. Wilkins was subsequently awarded a bar to his Military Cross.
Subsequent to the war, Wilkins served in 1921-1922 as an ornithologist aboard the Quest
Quest (ship)
The Quest, a low-powered, schooner-rigged steamship that sailed from 1917 until sinking in 1962, is best known as the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922. It was aboard this vessel that Sir Ernest Shackleton died on 5 January 1922 while the vessel was in...
on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
Shackleton-Rowett Expedition
The Shackleton–Rowett Expedition was Sir Ernest Shackleton's last Antarctic project, and the final episode in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The venture, financed by businessman John Quiller Rowett, is sometimes referred to as the Quest Expedition after its ship Quest, a converted...
to the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
and adjacent islands.
Preparations for the Nautilus Expedition
In 1930 Wilkins and his wife Suzanne were vacationing with a wealthy friend and colleague Lincoln EllsworthLincoln Ellsworth
Lincoln Ellsworth was an arctic explorer from the United States.-Birth:He was born on May 12, 1880 to James Ellsworth and Eva Frances Butler in Chicago, Illinois...
. During this outing Wilkins and Ellsworth hammered out plans for a trans-Atlantic expedition involving a submarine. Regarding the purpose of this expedition Wilkins said:
An expedition of this magnitude would not be inexpensive. Wilkins had to be creative in financing this undertaking. Lincoln Ellsworth contributed $70,000, plus a $20,000 loan. Newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst added $61,000 for exclusive rights to the story. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute pitched in $35,000. Finally, Wilkins himself doled out $25,000 of his own money. Since Wilkins was not a U.S. citizen he was unable to purchase the 1918 submarine that was scheduled to be decommissioned. However, he was permitted to lease the vessel for a period of five years at a cost of one dollar annually from Lake & Danenhower, Inc. Wilkins renamed the submarine The Nautilus after Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The ship was 175 feet in length and weighed in at 560 tons. It was capable of diving to a depth of 200 feet and could support a crew of twenty men for five days. The submarine was outfitted with a custom designed drill that would allow it to bore through ice pack overhead for ventilation. The crew of eighteen men was chosen with great care. Among their ranks were U.S. Naval Academy graduates as well as navy veterans of WWI.
In short, the expedition is for the purpose of gathering data in connection with a plan for comprehensive meteorology study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological stations are established it will be possible to forecast for several years in advance, the seasonal conditions, and to collect scientific data of academic and economic interest from an area hitherto unapproached by a scientific staff equipped with a complete scientific laboratory and facility for comfortably carrying out their investigation and provided with adequate means of sustenance and means of safe retreat. Millions of dollars are spent each year by various institutions in oceanographical and geophysical research. A submarine will provide means for similar investigations in an economic and safe manner, in areas as yet untouched by scientists.
Nautilus Expedition
The expedition suffered losses before they even left New York Harbor. Willard Grimmer the quartermaster was knocked overboard and drowned in the harbor. Wilkins was undaunted and drove on with preparations for a series of test cruises and dives before they were to undertake their trans-Atlantic voyage. Wilkins and his crew made their way up the Hudson River to Yonkers, eventually reaching New London, CT where additional modifications and test dives were performed. Satisfied with the performance of both the machinery and the crew, Wilkins and his men left the relative safety of coastal waterways for the uncertainty of the North Atlantic on June, 4 1931. Soon after the commencement of the expedition the starboard engine broke down, and soon after that the port engine followed suit. On 14 June 1931 without a means of propulsion Wilkins was forced to send out an SOS and was rescued later that day by the USS Wyoming. The Nautilus was towed to Ireland on 22 June 1931, and later was taken to England for repairs. On 28 June the Nautilus was up and running and on her way to Norway to pick up the scientific contingent of their crew. By 23 August they had left Norway and were only 600 miles from the North Pole. It was at this time that Wilkins uncovered another setback. His submarine was missing its diving planes. Without diving planes he would be unable to control the Nautilus while submerged. Wilkins secretly felt that his mission was deliberately sabotaged by a crew member. Wilkins was determined to do what he could with out the diving planes. For the most part Wilkins was thwarted from discovery under the ice floes. The crew was however able to take core samples of the ice, as well as testing on the salinity of the water and tests on gravity near the pole. The Nautilus expedition had suffered one setback after another, but they continued on bravely. However, even Wilkins had to acknowledge when his adventure into the arctic was becoming too fool hardy. Wilkins received a wireless plea from one of his financiers Hearst which said, "I most urgently beg of you to return promptly to safety and to defer any further adventure to a more favorable time, and with a better boat." Wilkins ended the first expedition to the poles in a submarine and headed for England, but was forced to take refuge in the port of Bergen Norway because of a fierce storm that they encountered en route. The Nautilus suffered serious damage that made further use of the vessel unfeasible. Wilkins received permission from the United States Navy to sink the vessel off shore in a Norwegian fjord on 20 November 1931.Later life & career
After his service on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, Wilkins in 1923 began a two-year study for the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
of the bird life of Northern Australia. This ornithology project occupied his life until 1925. His work was greatly acclaimed by the museum but derided by Australian authorities because of the sympathetic treatment afforded the Aborigines and criticisms of the ongoing environmental damage in the country.
In March 1927, Wilkins and pilot Carl Ben Eielson explored the drift ice north of Alaska, touching down upon it in Eielson's airplane in the first land-plane descent onto drift ice. Soundings taken at the landing site indicated a water depth of 16,000 feet, and Wilkins hypothesized from the experience that future Arctic expeditions would take advantage of the wide expanses of open ice to use aircraft in exploration.
Wilkins was the first recipient of the Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal
Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal
The Samuel Finely Breese Morse Medal was established in 1902. Designed by Laura G. Fraser, this medal is awarded by the American Geographical Society for "achievements and pioneering in geographical research."-History:...
, which was awarded to him by the American Geographical Society
American Geographical Society
The American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
in 1928. On 15 April 1928, only a year after Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
's flight across the Atlantic, Wilkins and Eielson made a trans-Arctic crossing from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
, arriving about 20 hours later on 16 April, touching along the way at Grant Land on Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...
. For this feat and his prior work, Wilkins was knighted, and during the ensuing celebration, he met an Australian actress in New York Suzanne Bennett
Suzanne Bennett
Suzanne Bennett was an Australian-born actress on Broadway in the United States. After her August 30, 1929 marriage to the celebrated explorer Sir George Hubert Wilkins, she was known as Lady Hubert Wilkins...
whom he later married.
Now financed by William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, Wilkins continued his polar explorations, now flying over Antarctica in the San Francisco. He named the island of Hearst Land after his sponsor, and Hearst thanked Wilkins by giving him and his bride a flight aboard Graf Zeppelin
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German built and operated passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was a Graf or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life,...
.
Wilkins led the failed Nautilus expedition
USS O-12 (SS-73)
USS O-12 was an O-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 6 March 1916 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut....
to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
in the summer of 1931. Despite the failure to meet his intended objective, he was able to prove that submarines were capable of operating beneath the polar ice cap, thereby paving the way for future successful missions.
On 16 March 1958, Wilkins appeared as a guest on the TV panel show What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
.
Wilkins died in the United States in 1958. The US Navy took his ashes to the North Pole aboard the submarine USS Skate
USS Skate (SSN-578)
USS Skate , the third submarine of the United States Navy named for the skate, a type of ray, was the lead ship of the Skate class of nuclear submarines...
on 17 March 1959. The Navy confirmed on 27 March that "In a solemn memorial ceremony conducted by Skate shortly after surfacing, the ashes of Sir Hubert Wilkins were scattered at the North Pole in accordance with his last wishes."
The Wilkins Sound
Wilkins Sound
Wilkins Sound is a seaway in Antarctica that is largely occupied by the Wilkins Ice Shelf. It is located on the southwest side of the Antarctic Peninsula between the concave western coastline of Alexander Island and the shores of Charcot Island and Latady Island farther to the west.Its northern...
and the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica are named after him, as are the airport at Jamestown, South Australia
Jamestown, South Australia
Jamestown is a town in the Mid North region of South Australia north of Adelaide. It is on the banks of the Belalie Creek and on the railway line between Gladstone and Peterborough, and ultimately on the main line linking Adelaide and Perth to Sydney...
, and a road at Adelaide Airport. The majority of Wilkins' papers and effects are archived at The Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
Byrd Polar Research Center
Byrd Polar Research Center
Byrd Polar Research Center, sometimes abbreviated BPRC, is a polar and alpine research center at Ohio State University.- History :The Byrd Polar center at Ohio State University was established in 1960 as the Institute for Polar Studies. The name was changed to in 1987. Research foci were...
.
Works
- 1928 Flying the Arctic, Grosset & Dunlap
- 1928 Undiscovered Australia, Putnam
- 1931 Under The North Pole, Brewer, Warren & Putnam
- 1942 with Harold M. Sherman: Thoughts Through Space, Creative Age Press. Republished as
Further reading
- R. A. Swan, 2006 Wilkins, Sir George Hubert (1888 - 1958), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition, Australian National University, ISSN 1833-7538
- Thomas, Lowell 1961 Sir Hubert Wilkins: His World of Adventure McGraw-Hill.
- Nasht, Simon 2005 The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins Australia's Unknown Hero Sydney, Australia: Hachette/Hodder & New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 0 7336 1831 6
- Voyage of the Nautilus, Documentary 2006, AS Videomaker/Real Pictures
- Jenness, Stuart E. 2006 The Making of an Explorer, McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2798-2
- Maynard, Jeff (2010). Wings of Ice: The Air Race to the Poles. Random House Australia. ISBN 978 1 74166 934 3
External links
- Australian War Memorial Entry for Sir George Hubert Wilkins
- Register of The Sir George Hubert Wilkins Papers
- Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry for GH Wilkins
- Sir Hubert Wilkins biography from Flinders Ranges Research
- In Search of Sir Hubert Short bio on Sir Hubert Wilkins
- Searching for Sir Hubert Documentary Filmmaker site
- The 1931 Nautilus Expedition to the North Pole
- The Last Explorer: Simon Nasht Life&Times radio documentary, first broadcast by ABC Radio National, 29 August 2009