Dumont d’Urville – Expedition to Antarctica
In 1837, Dumont d’Urville was asked by King Louis-Philippe I to explore the South Pole. The main objective of the expedition was to reach Antarctica and travel as far toward the pole as ice conditions would allow. In addition to the Astrolabe, the king provided him with a second ship, the Zélée.
On September 7, 1837, the two ships set sail. They traveled into the South Atlantic, around the Strait of Magellan, and then further south into Antarctica, reaching their southernmost point at 63° south latitude. The journey toward the South Pole was not very successful. Poor equipment, ice, fog, and snow prevented them from advancing further. Dumont d’Urville returned to France with valuable data and the realization that he had discovered a continent. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of a scurvy outbreak that claimed the lives of 22 of the 183 men on both ships.
Dumont d’Urville then sailed to Chile to obtain supplies and give the remaining crew a chance to recover, though many crew members deserted during this time. From Chile, he sailed across the Pacific, visiting the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the Caroline Islands, and New Guinea. He continued via Indonesia and Southeast Asia, along the west coast of Australia, to Hobart in Tasmania.
When summer returned, Dumont d’Urville decided to attempt another expedition into Antarctica, partly in the hope of finding the magnetic South Pole, which was believed to lie in the unexplored region between the 120th and 160th meridians. This time, the journey was more successful. On January 19, 1840, land was sighted, and he named it Terre Adélie after his wife, Adèle Dorothée. Today, a French research station established in 1956 stands there and bears his name.
With rock samples, he was able to prove that he was on a separate continent. He raised the French flag, marking Terre Adélie as a strategically and politically significant acquisition for France in Antarctica.
The return journey took him via New Guinea and St. Helena in the Atlantic. On November 6, 1840, after three years and two months, the two ships reached their home port of Toulon. D’Urville was promoted to rear admiral, and the Geographical Society awarded him its highest honor.
After his return, he was promoted to rear admiral in December 1840 and awarded the Grand Gold Medal of the Geographical Society, recognition of his significant achievements and discoveries. In the following months, he devoted himself intensively to compiling and publishing his work “Voyage to the South Pole and Oceania,” in which he sought to document his experiences and scientific findings.
However, before he could complete this life’s work, tragedy struck: on May 8, 1842, he died together with his wife and his 16-year-old son in the devastating Meudon rail accident. This disaster is considered one of the first major railway catastrophes in France and brought his life and promising work to a sudden and tragic end.
Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal
