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P O L A R E X P L O R AT I O N : C O U R AG E A N D C O N T ROV E R S Y

of sea monsters, shipwrecks, and warnings like, “Here are lions.” There are no lions at either pole, but without reliable infor- mation, it was not unusual for explorers to get lost. As if that wasn’t bad enough, neither the Arctic nor Antarctica has good weather for traveling. Both are cold, and Antarctica is brutal in the winter.Temperatures can sink below –100° F (–73° C). Storms in the ocean make huge waves that can capsize even the most seaworthy vessels. And then there’s the ice. Until the 19th century, ships were built of wood. Unfortunately, wood is no match for ice. Even when powered by engines later in the century, the ships could not push through ice that was several feet thick. Many unlucky sailors became encased in the ice as winter set in. They could be frozen into place for months at a time. Even the rough seas of open water were welcome compared to being trapped, with shrinking supplies of food and fuel to stay warm. Worse, the freezing ice would squeeze a ship from all sides. Sometimes the ships cracked under the pressure. Many sailors were forced to abandon their vessels. They piled into lifeboats or just onto the ice itself, in desperate attempts to make it to safety. Travel was difficult on the ice itself, too. Explorers had to be careful to avoid crevasses, which are deep gaps in the ice that are easy to fall into. They also had to be careful not to travel on ice that was too thin to support them, or that would float away from where they wanted to go. Most explorers walked or skied, using teams of dogs trained to pull sledges over the ice. Some-