Frank V. Browning (1882–1930) was a native of

Devonshire Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is a ...

and explorer of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. He was part of the

Terra Nova Expedition The ''Terra Nova'' Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition had various scientific and geographical objec ...

of 1910–1913. In this service he was one of the castaways of the Northern Party that was marooned overwinter on

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. It ...

in 1912.

Antarctica

Frank Vernon Browning was born in June 1882 in

Stockland, Devon Stockland is a village and civil parish in Devon, close to the Somerset boundary. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Yarcombe, Membury, Dalwood, Widworthy, Offwell, Cotleigh and Upottery. Its nearest neighbour ...

. After ending his schooling he joined the Royal Navy in June 1900. Continuing in the Senior Service, he made Petty Officer 2nd Class in November 1905. As a Petty Officer he joined the Terra Nova Expedition, bound for Antarctica, in 1910. As a messdeck seaman, Browning helped sail the ''Terra Nova'' from Cardiff to

McMurdo Sound McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo o ...

in Antarctic waters. His expedition mates remembered his kindness to the ship's cat, which was named ''Nigger'', this being an acceptable name for a black cat in 1910. After the ''Terra Nova'' anchored at

Cape Evans Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, Antarctica, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay. History The cape was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, wh ...

, Browning joined the Shore Party and embarked upon active Antarctic service. Expedition commander

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

and one of his officers, Victor L. A. Campbell, chose Browning to serve under Campbell in what became the ''Northern Party'', a subsidiary expedition to a patch of Victoria Land Antarctic coastline northwest of the main base. The Northern Party was supposed to explore a section of rocky and icy coast, collect geological specimens, and then be retrieved by the ''Terra Nova''. However this retrieval did not take place. Instead, during the winter of 1912, the party was icebound and marooned on

Inexpressible Island Inexpressible Island is a small, rocky island in Terra Nova Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Description The island is bounded in the east by Evans Cove and the Hells Gate Moraine, and in the west by the Nansen Ice Sheet. The eastern side is re ...

, an island on the coast being explored. They were forced to fall back on their own resources. This was the Antarctic winter in which expedition commander Scott and his immediate companions perished while attempting to return from the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. More fortunate than Scott, Browning and his fellow members of the Northern Party were on a coastline with some animal life that could be killed and eaten. Although the sledging rations that they had brought with them ran out, they were able to carve an emergency ice cave for themselves and hunt meat to survive. Browning won the plaudits of his comrades for killing a predator seal whose stomach contained 36 edible fish. The fresh seal meat contained

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) an ...

and, unlike Scott's polar party, the Northern Party did not come down with scurvy. With an inadequate but survival-level diet, the members of the Northern Party suffered intensely from other symptoms, including

ptomaine poisoning Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease) ...

. Under near-lethal conditions, the members of the Northern Party managed to trek towards their expedition's main base during the spring of the 1912–1913 sledging season, and Browning and his comrades were rescued.

Legacy

Mount Browning Mount Browning () is a mountain, high, which rises opposite the terminus of Boomerang Glacier in the Northern Foothills, on the coast of Victoria Land. It was first roughly mapped by the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907–09. This area was e ...

, a 762m-high mountain on the coast of Victoria Land, and Browning Pass, a mountain gap through which ice flows and feeds the

Campbell Glacier Campbell Glacier () is a glacier, about long, originating near the south end of Mesa Range and draining southeast between the Deep Freeze Range and Mount Melbourne to discharge into north Terra Nova Bay. The lower end of the glacier was observed by ...

, are named in honor of Petty Officer Frank V. Browning.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Frank V. 1882 births 1930 deaths Terra Nova expedition