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Antarctic Expeditions to 1953

Summary of Antarctic Expeditions (with a known or suspected contemporaneous postal history)

Details listed by permission from: Hal Vogel, Essence of Polar Philately, (USA: American Society of Polar Philately, 2008, 2020), Appendices II-V, (separately revised).

Essence of Polar Philately by Hal Vogel

An encyclopedia of polar philately which includes chapters on acquisition, valuation and gems; and 13 appendices on Arctic/Antarctic expeditions, vessels, stations, and aerophilatelic polar events. Available from the American Philatelic Society here.

A gallery of polar postal history connected to these expeditions has being added to the website. If images have already been added to the gallery for a specific expedition then you can click on the link to view.

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YEAR EXPEDITION NAME LEADER  
1820-21 United States sealing/discovery voyage Nathaniel Palmer
1820-21 United States sealing voyages (O'Cain) Jonathan Winship
1820-22 South Shetlands sealing squadron collects rocks for NY Lyceum
1821-22 United States Fanning-Pendleton sealing/discovery squadron Benjamin Pendleton
1822-24 United States sealing and exploring cruise (Wasp) Benjamin Morrell
1822-24 British sealing expedition aboard Jane and Beaufoy James Weddell
1825-26 Enderby Antarctic sealing and exploring cruise George Norris
1826-29 French naval expedition Dumont d'Urville
1830-33 Enderby Antarctic sealing and exploring cruise John Biscoe
1837-40 French naval expedition Dumont d'Urville
1838-42 United States Exploring Expedition Charles Wilkes
1839-43 British naval expedition James Clark Ross
1845-51 British world circumnavigation naval voyage Henry Kellett
1851-53 United States whaling and sealing voyages Erasmus Rogers
1853-54 United States mercantile voyage John J. Heard
1872-76 British naval oceanographic voyage (Challenger) Nares & Thompson
1874 German pre-Transit of Venus Expedition Kapt. von Reibnitz
1874-75 French Transit of Venus Expedition Cdt Duperré
1874-75 United States Transit of Venus Expedition  George Ryan
1874-75 la Grye French Transit of Venus Expedition Jean-Jacques Bouquet de
1874-75 British Transit of Venus Expedition J. L. Wharton
1874-75 German Transit of Venus Expedition H. Seeliger
1874-76 German Transit of Venus Expedition Karl Börgen
1878-82 British naval hydrographic survey (Alert) George Nares
1882-83 German (First) International Polar Year Expedition Karl Schrader
1882-83 French International Polar Year Expedition Courcella-Senevil
1891-93 Norwegian whaling reconnaissance Carl Larsen
1892-93 Scottish whaling reconnaissance Alexander Fairweather
1892-93 Fishing boat Angèle Elisa cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Captain Bertinet
1893-95 Norwegian whaling exploration Carl Larsen
1893-95 Norwegian sealing and whaling exploration Henrik Bull
1894 The aborted American Antarctic Expedition Frederick Cook
1894-95 Fishing boat Angèle Elisa cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam L. Villepastour
1895-97 Swedish Tierra del Fuego Expedition Otto Nordenskjöld
1896-99 Princeton U. (yearly) paleontological/biological expeditions to Patagonia John Hatcher
1897 French naval vessel Lapérouse cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Captain Le Do
1897-98 French fishing vessel H.P.B. cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Captain Benard
1897-99 Belgian (Belgica) Antarctic Expedition Adrien de Gerlache
1898-99 German Deep Sea Expedition Carl Chun
1898-99 French fishing vessel H.P.B. cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Captain Hermann
1898-1900 British Antarctic Expedition Carsten Borchgrevink
1901-03 German (Gauss) South Polar Expedition Erich von Drygalski
1901-04 Swedish South Polar Expedition Otto Nordenskjöld
1901-04 Scott British National Antarctic Expedition Robert F.
1901-03 British relief expedition William Colbeck
1902-04 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition William Bruce
1903 Argentine relief of Swedish expedition Julían Irízar
1903 HMS Terpsichore visit to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Charles Coke
1903-04 British (second) relief expedition William Colbeck
1903-04 Swedish relief expedition K. H. Gyldén
1903-05 French Antarctic Expedition Jean-Baptiste Charcot
1904-1953 Various whaling and sealing expeditions
1904-05 Argentine meteorological station relief Otto Diebel
1905 British/Chilean South Georgia Exploration Co. commercial expedition Ernest Swinhoe
1905-06 Argentine meteorological station relief Albin Lind
1906 Doctor from whaler Fridtjof Nansen on South Georgia 1907-09 August Szielasko
1907-09 Swedish Magellanian Expedition Carl Skottsberg
1907-10 French southern Antarctic islands expedition Raymond du Baty
1908-10 French Antarctic Expedition Jean-Baptiste Charcot
1909 British Antarctic support expedition John Davis
1909-14 Kerguelen French (first period) exploration and commercial residence Henri Bossière
1910 National Geographic Society (US) Antarctic Expedition (aborted) Robert Bartlett
1910-12 Norwegian South Pole expedition Roald Amundsen
1910-12 Japanese Antarctic expedition Nobu Shirase
1910-13 British (South Pole) Antarctic Expedition Robert F. Scott
1911-12 German South Polar Expedition Wilhelm Filchner
1912-13 Argentine Orcadas del Sur met station relief Harald Wiström
1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition Douglas Mawson
1912-13 American Museum of Natural History (Daisy) expedition Robert Murphy
1912-14 French southern Antarctic islands scientific cruise Raymond du Baty
1914 Aborted Austrian Antarctic Expedition Felix König
1914 Aborted British Antarctic & Oceanographic Expedition J. Foster Stackhouse
1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Ernest Shackleton
1914-17 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Ross Sea Party) Æneas Mackintosh
1915-16 Auckland Islands General Grant salvage expedition Percy Catling
1915-17 United States (Carnegie) magnetic research expedition James Ault
1916 Fourth (Endurance) relief expedition Ernest Shackleton
1917-18 Ornithological studies on S. Shetland Islands while FID administrator Arthur Bennett
1918-19 Ornithological studies on S. Shetland Islands while FID administrator Arthur Bennett
1920-22 British Imperial Expedition John Cope
1920-31 Kerguelen French (second period) commercial residence Henri Bossière
1921-22 Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic Expedition Ernest Shackleton
1923-24 French biological expedition to Kerguelen Etienne Peau
1923-26 Blossom South Atlantic Expedition with (aborted) Antarctic phase George Simmons
1923-51 Discovery Committee oceanographic expeditions Discovery
1925-27 German (Meteor) South Atlantic Expedition Alfred Merz
1928 Argentine annual Orcadas Del Sur Antarctic met station relief Ernst Bruhns
1928-29 Wilkins-Hearst Antarctic Expedition Hubert Wilkins
1928-30 (First) Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Byrd
1929-30 Third Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
1929-30 Second Antarctic flight expedition Hubert Wilkins
1929-31 British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition Douglas Mawson
1930-31 Fourth Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
1930-31 French vessel Antarès cruise to Crozet, Saint Paul and Kerguelen E.L. Piton French
1931 French vessel Ile Saint-Paul cruise to Saint Paul and Amsterdam Emile Bourge
1932-33 Fifth Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Lars Christensen
1933-34 Sixth Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Lars Christensen
1933-34 (First) U.S Trans-Antarctic flight expedition Lincoln Ellsworth
1933-35 (Second) Byrd Antarctic Expedition Richard Byrd
1934 HMS Milford Bouvet Island cruise Edward Evans
1934-35 Seventh Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Klarius Mikkelsen
1934-35 (Second) U.S Trans-Antarctic flight expedition Lincoln Ellsworth
1934-37 British Graham Land Expedition John Rymill
1935-36 (Third) U.S Trans-Antarctic flight expedition Lincoln Ellsworth
1936-37 Norwegian (Christensen) Antarctic expedition Lars Christensen
1937 British naval voyage Hugh Marrack
1937-39 Aborted British Antarctic Expedition to Victoria Land aboard Westward Ernest Walker
1938-39 German (Schwabenland) Antarctic expedition Alfred Ritscher
1938-39 U.S. (Wyatt Earp) Antarctic expedition Lincoln Ellsworth
1939-45 Various pre-WWII and WWII Antarctic naval war cruises
1939-41 United States Antarctic Service Expedition Richard Byrd
1941 Richardson Pan-American Highway Expedition to Cape Horn Sullivan Richardson
1941-45 New Zealand Cape Expeditions (Sub-Antarctic WWII Coast Watchers)
1942 Resumption of base post office with Orcadas Del Sud annual relief Alfonso Chaki
1943-44 Operation Tabarin I James Marr
1944-45 Operation Tabarin II Andrew Taylor
1945 New Zealand Navy begins regular visits to Campbell Island
1945-46 UK Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey begins annual relief
1946-47 Argentina begins annual relief of existing and new Antarctic Peninsular stations
1946-47 U.S. Navy Antarctic Developments Project (Operation Highjump) Richard Byrd
1947 Chile begins establishment and annual relief of Antarctic stations
1946-48 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition Finn Ronne
1947-48 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions begins annual station relief
1947-48 Norwegian Brategg expedition Holger Holgersen
1947-48 South African naval expedition (Operation Snoektown) John Fairbairn
1947-48 U.S. Navy Second Antarctic Developments Project (Operation Windmill) G. Ketchum
1948 Australia attempts to establish Antarctic coastal station Stuart Campbell
1948-49 French (EPF) expedition André-Frank Liotard
1949 British Naval South Georgia voyage
1949-50 French expedition (EPF) establishes continental and several André-Frank Liotard
1949-52 Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition John Giaever
1949 French annual Southern and Antarctic Territory fishing protection voyages begin
1951-52 British recurring South Georgia expeditions begin
1953-54 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions begins annual presence on
1953 British-American Tierra del Fuego scientific expedition. Rendell Rhoades