The age of Antarctic exploration isn’t confined to the history books; it’s still happening today. Sailing to the frozen continent, you’ll cruise through the straits these explorers charted, step inside the huts they built and visit the places where they wintered. These are five explorers whose footsteps you can follow.
Ernest Shackleton: An epic tale of survival
Coming within just 97 nautical miles of the south pole, Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition (1907-09) was his first of three expeditions led by the explorer. His better-known Endurance expedition (1914-17) ended with the ship crushed by the Weddell Sea ice and 28 men stranded.
Shackleton’s open-boat journey to South Georgia and his rescue of the entire party is one of the great survival stories of the frozen continent. The wreck of the Endurance was found in the Weddell Sea in 2022.
Today, expedition cruises can explore several Shackleton sites on Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica itineraries.
- Grytviken, South Georgia: Shackleton died here in January 1922 at the start of his final expedition, and his grave is in the whalers’ cemetery. Visitors traditionally toast him with a dram of whisky. Frank Wild’s ashes were interred beside him in 2011. The South Georgia Museum is also here and covers Shackleton’s story.
- Elephant Island: The stranded men camped at Point Wild, named for Frank Wild, Shackleton’s second-in-command, who led the party left behind. A bust of Captain Luis Pardo, who commanded the Chilean tug that finally rescued them, stands there. Surf and weather make landings rare, but ships often sail past.
- Cape Royds, Ross Island: The Nimrod expedition’s hut is accessible on Ross Sea voyages.
- Fortuna Bay and Stromness, South Georgia: Shackleton’s final stretch of the crossing ended at Stromness. Some voyages offer a short hike along part of the route. Landings at the Stromness station itself are restricted for safety reasons.
One of the most prominent names in Antarctic exploration, Shackleton has plenty named in his honour. But, not all are accessible. The Shackleton Glacier, Shackleton Coast and Shackleton Range all bear his name, though they’re deep in the Antarctic interior or along the remote Ross Sea coast and not typical cruise stops.
Jean-Baptiste Charcot: The gentleman scientist
A French doctor turned explorer, Charcot led two Antarctic expeditions, aboard the Français (1903-05) and the Pourquoi-Pas? (1908-10). During his voyages, he mapped vast stretches of the western Peninsula coast and wintered in two now-famous harbours often visited by expedition cruises.
Visited by Quark Expeditions and Silversea, Port Lockroy on Goudier Island, which Charcot named after Édouard Lockroy, a French politician who supported his expedition, is one of the most popular stops along the Peninsula. Its main attraction is the Base A museum, a restored British wartime station run by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, with a gift shop and the world’s southernmost post office.
Further south still, Booth Island holds Charcot’s first winter quarters at Port Charcot, while Petermann Island features a cairn from his second wintering. Aside from walking in Charcot’s footsteps, the island also shows up on many itineraries for its Gentoo and Adélie penguin colonies.
Named in his honour, Ponant’s polar-class icebreaker cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot is built to reach deep into the ice, including the Weddell and Ross Seas.
Douglas Mawson: The home of the blizzard
Leading the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-14), Mawson charted thousands of kilometres of coastline in East Antarctica. His base at Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay is one of the windiest places on Earth at sea level.
Today, Mawson’s Huts at Cape Denison are preserved and protected, but reaching them depends on sea ice, weather and permits, so only a few East Antarctic or voyages from Hobart manage it.
Some of those voyages also stop at Macquarie Island, Australia’s slice of Antarctica, where Mawson’s expedition set up a radio relay station. In Hobart, a replica of the huts operates as a museum, which is a good place to visit before you set sail.
The ship Douglas Mawson is ’ newest vessel, launched in 2025 and named for the explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson. Its inaugural Antarctic voyage, a 24-day “Mawson’s Antarctica” itinerary from Hobart departing December 11, 2025, retraced his Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14.
Adrien de Gerlache: The man who named your route
As you sail the Antarctic Peninsula, you’ll travel through de Gerlache’s discoveries; channels and straits named after himself or ones he named in honour of historic explorers. The Belgian officer led the Belgica expedition of 1897-1899, which charted the strait that now bears his name.
When the ship became trapped in pack ice in the Bellingshausen Sea, which sits on the western side of the peninsula, de Gerlache’s crew became the first to spend a winter south of the Antarctic Circle.
Named for the explorer himself, the Gerlache Strait is now a main sailing channel for Peninsula-bound cruises. Many ships also pass through the Lemaire Channel, which de Gerlache named for the Belgian explorer Charles Lemaire, and the Neumayer Channel, named for German explorer Georg von Neumayer.
Belgica’s first mate, Roald Amundsen, who later did reach the South Pole, now sails the region in namesake. Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX) operates an expedition ship called MS Roald Amundsen.
Robert Falcon Scott: Huts frozen in time
In a race to the south pole, Robert Falcon Scott led two British expeditions to the Ross Sea region, Discovery (1901-04) and Terra Nova (1910-13). The second reached the South Pole only to find that Amundsen had beaten them there. Unfortunately, Scott and his companions didn’t return from their journey in March 1912.
On a Ross Sea voyage, which usually departs from New Zealand or Tasmania, you’ll have the opportunity to visit Scott’s huts. Discovery Hut at Hut Point and the Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans are preserved by the Antarctic Heritage Trust, with tins, bunks and equipment still in place.
Meanwhile, Scott Base, New Zealand’s research station on Ross Island, is nearby, though access depends on the operator and the national programme’s permission. Back on the New Zealand mainland, the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch has extensive Scott collections.
