Carsten Borchgrevink (1864–1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel. He was a precursor of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and others associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He began his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, from which he brought back a collection of the first specimens of vegetable life within the Antarctic Circle. From 1898 to 1900 Borchgrevink led the British-financed Southern Cross Expedition, which in 1899 became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier in nearly 60 years. There he set a Farthest South record at 78° 50′ S. He was one of three scientists sent to the Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society to report on the aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster. Recognised and honoured by several countries, he received a handsome tribute in 1912 from Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole. (Full article...)