Arco Polar Expeditions
The history of Arco Polar Expeditions was a period spanning from 1891-1918 (27 years) during which Ixnay's Arctic was explored by different Arcer explorers. This period was a massive expansion of Arcer naval influence outside of the Malentine and Songun Seas, and much of these travels were sponsored by the Arcerion Naval Service as part of its ongoing efforts to expand its ability to conduct blue-water operations.
During this time period, the Arctic became the focus as it held a great amount of scientific and geographical importance to the Arcer community. As most of Crona was Indigenous, there was few maritime-based opportunities for Acers to explore or venture beyond the South Cronan Peninsula. Therefore, with the initial state-sponsored expedition of 1891, Arcer explorers, navigators, geographers, and officers ventured North through the Odoneru to stake their claim to the frozen expanses of the Arctic Circle. There was 10 major expeditions, although smaller, privately-funded ones also occurred throughout this period but were not as intensely logged or chronicled.
The primary focus of many of the early expeditions were the use of new or novel technologies that expanded the limits of human endurance and physical stamina due to the exceedingly harsh conditions. As well, the Arco climate, mostly plains and warm in nature, did not immediately outfit or set up the explorers for success, and the initial exposure/frostbite casualties of the 1891 and 1893 expeditions reflect this. Although official estimates vary between public and private sources, somewhere between two and three dozen Arcers died during these forays North.
The expeditions also claimed several important achievements for Arcerion, notably being the first nation to have a citizen reach the North Pole, both geographic and magnetic. Previously, nomadic indigenous locals were assumed to have reached it, this was the first time a modern nation state had achieved the accomplishment. Additionally, much of the Arctic coastline was mapped during the first three expeditions, with John Howland's expedition accomplishing not only the survey task, but also the successful mission to Ixnay's North Pole. The expeditions all generated a fair amount of scientific data for the greater Cronan scientific community, much of which became a focal point for inviting Arcer explorers and scientists to Levantia and Sarpedon for conferences and university tours to give lectures and share results with newer explorers.
Origins
Expeditions 1891-1918
Expedition of 1891
This was the first expedition undertaken by Arcerion to the Arctic, leaving in February of 1891 from the Songun port of Chester-on-Moore, the voyage not being entirely completed until late 1892. Led by Walter Hetherington, assisted by the soon-to-be-famous John Howland, it was primarily aimed at an initial survey and geographic mapping of the Arctic peninsulas to the East of Northern Crona, jutting out into the Albion Sea. During this expedition, Hetherington and Howland performed the first full oceanographic and coastal surveys of the Northern Albion Sea. It also discovered two islands Elizabeth Island and Gibson Island. Elizabeth Island, named for Hetherington's first daughter, was discovered during the initial entrance into the Northern reaches of the Albion Sea. Gibson Island was named after a member of the expedition who died after succumbing to cold-weather exposure injuries sustained while exploring the island. During the 1891 expedition, four separate landings and explorations were made by John Howland, the two aforementioned islands, as well as a pair of shore trips onto two separate peninsulas. The expeditions themselves were marked by harsh conditions due to the Arctic weather.
The government sponsored expeditionary research in much of the Cronan Interior for safari-style forays into the continent, however serious maritime navigational exercises and missions had not been accomplished at this point by any Cronan nations. As such, the government contacted the Geography and Survey Department at the Carnish Anglican University in Kurst, Arcerion for a proposal on how they could feasibly explore the Arctic Circle. The head of the department at the time, Walter Hetherington, began recruiting from several sources. Scientific expertise was acquired from the university as well as several architecture and engineering firms in Kinnaird and Kurst. For experience in colder climates and experts on mountaineering and long-distance patrolling, he requested volunteers from Chester Fusliers and Arcerion Easthampton Borderers, a pair of infantry regiments that had particular expertise fighting rebel and guerilla forces in Arcerion's Southeastern mountains. Of these was a former Captain with the Easthampton Borderers, John Howland, By far the most important selection however was the maritime and naval experience, of which Arcerion had limited beyond the Malentine and Songun Seas. Several merchantmen saw profitable opportunities, and career naval officers themselves saw this as a way to stake their claim and make their mark in the annals of the Arcerion Naval Service. As such, dozens of sailors and seamen from Chester-on-Moore and Kurst volunteered for the task. With the personnel assembled and beginning preparations in Chester-on-Moore, the government purchased a pair of sailing ships had to be procured. The Navy had no suitable ships for cold-weather sailing, and as such a pair of ships that had already been commissioned for the Navy were retrofitted during the construction and converted to Arctic exploration vessels. The three-masted Barquentines, named Chester and Emily, would each host a compliment of forty men and the requisite supplies for travel to the Arctic circle. Training and supplies continued to be procured and conducted until February of 1891, when the expedition set off. With an initial stop in Cape Town, the expedition then set off for the Kiravian port of Sirana, following this with a resupply stop in the Republic of New Archduchy. By this point, the journey had been ongoing for several months, with the final pre-Arctic resupply stop made at the Kiravian colony of Xepramonta. Arrival approximately three months after they had set out for the journey, the two ships first sighted the Arctic Coast on the 2nd of May, 1891. With average temperatures at night around -10°C, and during the day around 5°C, the ships were frequently coated with ice. Considering the average temperature in Arcerion at its coldest is roughly the same, many of the more experienced mountaineers found this familiar, but the sailors on the Malentine and Songun Seas had not thus experienced temperatures like this so far. The first foray ashore was made by John Howland on the 6th of May, 1891 and conducted initial surveys and took some rock and soil samples. He was accompanied by three members of the Emily's crew, one of who would later perish due to exposure injuries sustained later in the expedition.
After the Albion Peninsula expedition, which lasted several days, the Chester and Emily both set off to what Hetherington would name Elizabeth Island. On Elizabeth Island, Howland found some signs of human life in the form of rock sculptures and carvings into the rocks on the Northern shore, and the limited cave exploration in the area, and assessed it was from some of the first Indigenous peoples that would have migrated to Crona during the pre-historic era. Upon preparations to leave Elizabeth Island, the Emily struck an iceberg and required repairs, and the crews remained moored off the North Shore for an extra four days while the sailors repaired the damaged hull enough to permit continuing travel.
Setting off at the end of May, the expedition made it around another peninsula and discovered another island. It was here that Nathan Gibson would become the first Arcer to die in the Arctic. John Howland again led an expedition ashore onto the island, but on their second night a snowstorm destroyed much of their camp and supplies. Over a day's travel away from the moored ships, they struggled back across rocky and snow-swept terrain back to the Chester, many of the members suffering from frostbite and hypothermia. Nathan Gibson passed away the next day, which greatly affected morale. Walter Hetherington named the island in his honour, and they conducted a burial on the shore nearby, the gravesite which is still there to this day, constructed of local rocks and with a large cross hewn out of stone and secured with rope. The expedition continued, moving across the sea to the final part of the coastline where they sent another shore party for a longer stint, Howland leading one of two parties, both returning within a week to the coast to be recovered.
The expedition concluded as the ships sailed South, successful in their voyage despite the loss of one of their members. They made the same ports of call upon their return, and upon their return to Arcerion, stopped for brief respite in Chester-on-Moore before a receiving parade in Kurst. The scientific data and navigational charts were methodically studied and used to plan the expedition of 1893, which was again to be led by Walter Hetherington. The impact culturally was incredibly significant. Walter Hentherington and John Howland became household names in Arcerion, and the Carnish Royal Family send a letter of congratulations to the Arcer Parliament congratulating the nation on its expedition, even going so far as extending the invitation to Hetherington to visit Carna to be received by the Crown Regent.