The Papers of Sir George Hubert Wilkins
A low-res image CD is now available to users
who wish to browse the entire Wilkins image collection. The cost
for the CD is only $25 and includes more than 4000 images.
Researchers interested in purchasing the cd should contact the
polar
curator
Sir George Hubert Wilkins
achieved distinction for his work in the Arctic and Antarctic
Regions. Among his most notable achievements are the following:
a pioneer in aeronautical photography and motion picture
coverage of war; the navigator of his Lockheed Vega on its
historic flight over the Arctic Circle in April 1928; the
navigator of his Lockheed Vega on its historic flight over
Antarctica in December 1928; passenger aboard the Graf
Zeppelin on its around the world flight in 1929; the
commander of the submarine Nautilus on its trip to the
Arctic Circle in 1931; second-in-command of four Lincoln
Ellsworth Antarctic Expeditions in the 1930s; passenger aboard
the airship Hindenburg on its maiden voyage to the
United States in 1936; the commander of the Alaskan-Canadian
section of the contingent searching for lost Soviet aviators in
1937-1938; and consultant to the United States Military on
matters of hot and cold weather clothing and survival
techniques, submarine travel in the polar regions, Arctic
defense systems, and issues related to geography and geology.
Sir George Hubert Wilkins was born at Mt. Bryan East, South
Australia, on October 31, 1888. He studied engineering at the
Adelaide School of Mines in Australia. Wilkins soon became
interested in photography and cinemagraphics and devoted much
time to this pastime, including working for a year in Sydney,
Australia in a tent cinema operation. In 1908, Wilkins was hired
by the Gaumont Company of London as a cinematographer and by the
London Daily Chronicle as a reporter. In 1910, he learned to fly
with the help of
Claude Grahame-White, an English flyer and a contemporary of
the Wright brothers. In 1912, the Gaumont Company sent Wilkins
to Constantinople to photograph and shoot movies of the Balkan
War.
From early on, Sir Hubert Wilkins was interested in polar
exploration, both by airplane and submarine, and the
establishment of weather stations in the polar regions. In 1913,
he got his first assignment to a polar expedition when
Vilhjalmur Stefansson hired him as a photographer for an
expedition to the Arctic. From 1913-1916, Wilkins traveled with
Stefansson and eventually became second-in-command of the
expedition.
In 1917, during World War I, Wilkins enlisted in the
Australian Flying Corps and was appointed commander of the
photograph section of the Australian Forces in France. In 1919,
after the war, he was the navigator on the Blackburn
Kangaroo during the England to Australia Air Race.
Wilkins returned to polar exploration in 1919 by making his
first trip to the Antarctic. From 1919-1920, he was second-in-
command of the
British Imperial Antarctic Expedition. From 1921-1922,
Wilkins was chief of the scientific staff and naturalist for the
Sir Ernest Shackleton Quest Antarctic Expedition.
In 1922, the
Quakers hired Wilkins to travel to Russia and Eastern Europe
to report on the works of the
Society of Friends' Emergency and War Victims' Relief Committee.
This 1922-1923 trip was also a secret fact finding mission for
the United States Government.
From 1923-1925 the
British Museum
of Natural History sponsored the Wilkins-Australia and
Islands Expedition. Wilkins examined vegetation and animal life,
collected specimens for the museum, and lived for a time with
Australian aborigines.
From 1926-1928, Wilkins was commander of the
Wilkins-Detroit Arctic Expeditions sponsored by the Detroit
Aviation Society and the
Detroit News.
It was during these expeditions that Wilkins and Ben Eielson
made their historic first Trans-Arctic airplane flight from
Point Barrow, Alaska to Spitzbergen. This event occurred in
April of 1928. For his accomplishment, Wilkins was knighted by
King George V of England.
Wilkins returned to Antarctica during the period 1928-1930 with
financial support from
William Randolph Hearst.
Wilkins and pilot Ben Eielson made their historic first
airplane flight over the Antarctic in 1928. During a break in
1929, Wilkins was a passenger aboard the
Graf Zeppelin during its around the world trip.
Wilkins reported on technical aspects of the zeppelin's flight.
On August 30, 1929, after completing the zeppelin flight,
Wilkins married Suzanne Bennett, an Australian actress. They had
met in New York during a reception honoring Wilkins and Eielson
after their flight over the Arctic Sea. The couple had no
children during their twenty nine years of marriage.
In 1931, Sir Hubert Wilkins commanded the Nautilus submarine
expedition to the Arctic. This was the first submarine to travel
under the Arctic pack ice. During the 1930s, he traveled to the
Antarctic four times as second-in-command of the
Lincoln Ellsworth Antarctic Flight Expeditions. In 1937,
Wilkins was in charge of the Alaskan-Canadian search section
which was looking for the lost Soviet Polar Expedition which was
commanded by
Sigimund Levanevsky.
In 1940-1941, Wilkins was sent to Europe and the Far East on
special missions for the United States government. He flew to
Europe to discuss U.S. contracts for supplying plane parts. In
the Far East, he visited Japan, China, Burma, and Thailand on an
economic fact-finding mission. In 1942, the United States Army
hired Wilkins as a consultant. Wilkins worked primarily for the
Army's Quartermaster Corps in the areas of hot and cold weather
clothing and survival techniques. He also assisted other
military departments in geographic and geological research,
aviation research, and submersible craft research. Wilkins was a
consultant to the United States Military until 1958.
From the 1920's until his death, Wilkins traveled throughout the
United States and other nations lecturing about polar
exploration. During his lifetime he wrote several works,
including Undiscovered Australia, Flying the Arctic,
Under the North Pole, and Our Search for the Lost
Soviet Aviators. Wilkins was affiliated with organizations
such as the
Explorers Club, The Circumnavigators Club, and the
Arctic Institute of North America. Wilkins died on December
1, 1958 at the age of seventy.
On March 17, 1959, the nuclear submarine
USS Skate surfaced at the North Pole and the crew
conducted a ceremony in which Sir George Hubert Wilkins' ashes
were scattered on the Arctic Ice.
