Introduction
Antarctica lies at the bottom of the world encircled by the Southern Ocean and isolated from the
shores of South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The Heroic Age of Antarctic
Exploration occurred during the first decades of the 20th century, when humans first ventured
onto its ice shelves. Explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton mounted expeditions to
explore the Antarctic and place the British flag on the geographic South Pole. In January 1909,
Shackleton ventured within 100 miles of this objective when he and his crew were forced to
retreat just short of their goal (Ponting, 1975; Shackleton, 2010). Expedition members walked a
considerable distance after losing their ponies, endured blinding blizzards, and suffered illness
from eating tainted pony meat. They also nearly starved to death after cutting rations to stretch
their dwindling supplies.