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Antarctic Expeditions post 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.

If you have any postal history images that could be displayed please contact the webmaster!

YEAR EXPEDITION         LEADER
1954-55 U.S. Navy Antarctic Reconnaissance Expedition     Glen Jacobsen
1955 South African Bouvet Island reconnaissance     Paul Dryden-Dymond
1955-56 Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition I Peter Mott
1955-57 Gough Island Scientific Survey       Robert Chambers
1955-59 British Royal Society International Geophysical Year Expedition  
1955 Beginning of Soviet Union stations establishment and relief  
1955 Beginning of USA (Operation Deep Freeze) stations establishment and relief
1955-58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition       Fuchs & Hillary
1956-57 British Royal Antarctic cruise       Prince Philip
1956-57 Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition II   Peter Mott
1956 Beginning of Japanese stations establishment and relief  
1956 Beginning of Japanese fisheries voyages    
1956-60 Norway station establishment and relief    
1957 Beginning of New Zealand continental stations establishment and relief
1957-68 Belgium station establishment and relief (1964-68 with Holland)  
1958 United States naval operation (Project Argus) rocket firing  
1958 Argentine (Les Eclaireurs) tourist cruise     Eduardo Llosa
1959 Argentine (Yapeyú) tourist cruise       Juan Carrera
1959 Chilean (Navarino) tourist cruise       Fernando Garcia
1959 Polish expedition (recurring occupation beginning 1978)     Wojciech Krzeminski
1959 Proposed Italian Bouvet Island expedition     Silvio Zavatti
1959 German Democratic Republic begins recurring expeditions (later a station)
1959 Möwe III visit to Marion Island     Heinr. Krohn
1959-60 First Antarctic voyage of Chile's Piloto Pardo    
1959-60 British yacht (Mischief) cruise       Harold Tilman
1960 South Africa begins continental stations establishment and relief  
1962 West Germany (BRD) begins expedition participation (later its own stations)
1962-63 New Zealand Auckland Islands expedition     Robert Falla
1962-72 PM-3A nuclear power plant operations at U.S. McMurdo Station  
1964-65 South Indian Ocean Expedition       Warwick Deacock
1965 Argentine "Operación 90" traverse to South Pole  
1966 First of a series of Lindblad (U.S.) tourist cruises Lars-Eric Lindblad
1966-67 British yacht (Mischief) cruise       Harold Tilman
1966-67 American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition       Nicholas Clinch
1967-68 Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition South Pole traverse   Masayoshi Murayama
1968 Italian expedition         Aide Segrè
1968 Argentine "Operación Rescate" Argentine Island base member rescue  
1969-70 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey expedition    
1969-72 Poncet French yacht (Damien) cruise     Janichon & Poncet
1970-71 British Joint Services Expedition to Elephant Island   Malcolm Burley
1970-71 Italian yacht (San Giuseppe Due) cruise     Giovanni Ajmone-Cat
1970 Beginning of occasional Norwegian Antarctic expeditions    
1971-72 Pederson South Pole expedition       Einar Pedersen
1971-79 French & USA participation in International Antarctic Glaciological Project
1972-73 French yacht (Damien) cruise       Jérôme Poncet
1971-73 U.S. deep sea drilling (Glomar Challenger) voyage  
1972-74 Australian yacht (Ice Bird) cruise     David Lewis
1973 Argentine Air Force trans-continental flight     I. A. González
1973 Spanish (Cabo San Roque) tourist cruise     José Balaga
1973 Resumption of Italian Antarctic expeditions that would continue  
1974 U.S. oceanographic voyage (Melville & Glomar Challenger)  
1975-76 West German Antarctic fisheries voyage     Hempel, Sahrhage & Steinberg
1976-77 First of a series of Chinese (Taiwan) fisheries voyage Chen Chiang
1976-77 Poland begins with a fisheries voyage and eventually mans an
1977 Russian relief vessel Mikhail Somov long-term trapping in Antarctic ice
1977 Pan American Airways world bi-polar flight    
1977-79 Qantas and Air New Zealand Antarctic tourist flights  
1977-78 Oceanographic Research Foundation (Solo) cruise     David Lewis
1977-78 Italian (Enrico C) tourist cruise    
1977-78 Scott Polar Research Institute radio-echo sounding expedition   David Drewry
1978-79 South Korean fisheries voyage (later would establish an Antarctic station)
1979-82 Transglobe Expedition (included Antarctic phase)     Ranulph Fiennes
1980-81 International Antarctic Biomedical Expedition       Desmond Lugg
1980-81 First of a series of Japanese geophysics voyages   Yasufumi Ishiwada
1981 Soviet -U.S. joint Weddell Sea expedition     Sarukhanyan & Gordon
1981-82 British Joint Services South Georgia Expedition     Robert Veal
1981-82 Beginning of Indian Antarctic expeditions with established stations  
1981-82 Japanese mountaineering expedition       Naomi Uemura
1981-82 French oceanographic voyage aboard R/V Explora    
1982-83 Beginning of Brazilian expeditions eventually with established station  
1982-83 Spanish (private) Antarctic expedition       Guillermo Crynes
1982-83 Yacht Williwaw Antarctic cruise       Willy de Roos
1983 Australian and Austrian private (Cheynes II) expedition   James Smith
1983 Seven Summits Expedition       Wells & Bass
1983-85 British Joint Services Expedition to Brabant Island   Chris Furse
1984-85 Project Blizzard expedition       Blunt & Vining
1984-85 Chinese (PRC) recurring expedition with one, then a second Antarctic
1984-85 Uruguayan recurring expedition with manned station    
1985 Russian relief vessel Mikhail Somov long-term trapping in Antarctic ice
1985-86 South Korean Antarctic Peninsula scientific and mainland climbing expedition
1985-86 Project Blizzard expedition       Blunt & Vining
1985-86 Austrian expedition         Bruno Klausbruckner
1985-86 Greenpeace expeditions begin       Peter Wilkinson
1985-86 Italian Terra Nova Bay reconnaissance for base establishment   Ezio Sterpone
1985-87 In The Footsteps of Scott expedition     Mear & Swan
1986-87 Dutch expeditions resume as occasional projects     Hein van Bohemen
1986-87 Norwegian-British Ninety Degrees South expedition     Monica Kristensen
1986-87 Spanish expedition reconnaissance leading to establishment of permanent station
1986-87 Resumption of Belgian series of Antarctic expedition projects  
1986-88 International (Joides Resolution) geophysics voyage    
1987-88 First of a series of tourist air/ground expeditions   Martyn Williams
1987-88 Beginning of Ecuador Antarctic presence with Antarctic station  
1987-88 International (Joides Resolution) geophysics voyage    
1987-88 Beginning of Peru Antarctic presence with Antarctic station  
1987-88 South Korea established King Sejong station    
1987-88 Beginning of Swedish Antarctic expedition base presence  
1988-89 Canadian participation with French Antarctic expedition    
1988-89 Beginning of Finnish Antarctic expedition base presence  
1989-90 International Trans-Antarctic Expedition       Steger & Etienne
1989-90 Trans-Antarctic traverse expedition       Messner & Fuchs
1990-91 Beginning of Pakistan Antarctic presence with Antarctic station  
1990-91 Beginning of Czech Republic Antarctic presence with manned station
1990-91 North Korean Antarctic expedition      
1991 Russian relief vessel Mikhail Somov long-term trapping in Antarctic ice
1991-92 Beginning of joint Finnish-Norwegian-Swedish Antarctic base expeditions  
1992-93 All Women's (traverse) Expedition       Anne Bancroft
1992-93 Swiss research project (continuing occasionally at other nations' stations)
1993-94 Beginning of Bulgaria Antarctic presence with manned station  
1992-93 Jamaican Antarctic expedition      
1995-96 Beginning of Ukraine Antarctic presence with manned station  
1995-96 First solo, unsupported traverse to South Pole   Borge Ousland
1995-1996 Attained South Pole and South Magnetic Pole (and NP) David Hempleman-Adams