The Ronne Family

Norwegian-American Antarctic Explorer - Finn Ronne

Preface:

Many people who did not know Finn Ronne have continued to spread the negative impressions of a very few people – people who were on Antarctic expeditions under Finn's leadership.  They refer to Finn’s dictatorial style, his “paranoia” about leaks from expeditions regarding his leadership, his firm inflexible management style and his lack of camaraderie and humor. 

First, one has to understand Finn’s austere Norwegian heritage, where discipline, strict order, and hard work were key, as well as his military sense of respecting leadership.  And second, one must acknowledge that as leader, he was ruthless and driven to achieve the goal, as these expeditions were totally his responsibility, in terms of safety, accomplishment of goals, and overall success, but they were staffed by younger volunteers who were looking to the expeditions for reckless adventure and rowdy fun.  The differences of heritage, culture, age & generation gap, personal style and expedition goals set up inevitable clashes. 

It became apparent to Finn early in his career that the success and safety of expeditions rested with discipline among the men.  Danger and trouble came when men did not follow the basic safety precautions and this triggered his anger, not so much because they defied him, but because their carelessness and purposeful hi-jinks put the entire expedition and the members in jeopardy.  In turn, this just fueled the men to plot childish revenge on him all the more.  These willful skirmishes have become legendary; they are almost humorous. 

In truth, Finn was an extremely disciplined man, and had superior talents and instincts for coping with any and all conditions in the Polar Regions.  In a crisis, he was calm, resourceful, and competent, which resulted in full success, few failures and an admirable safety record, despite the odds, including deliberate sabotage.  He was highly respected by his illustrious peers for his outstanding abilities and “polar sense.”  Some of his contemporaries were jealous of his abilities and achievements, including Richard Byrd, and were obsessed with stopping him from mounting his Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (1946 - 48). 

He also had a fabulous sense of humor and could party and tell “off-color” jokes as well as anyone.  He was loyal to his friends and was always ready to help a person in need.  He could be warm and charming; people were drawn to his charisma.  He was a true hero.

- Karen Ronne Tupek, 2006

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Full Biography:                                                                                      Short Bio Version

                                                                                         150 Words and 225 Words Versions

Finn Ronne was a Norwegian-American Explorer of the Polar Regions, particularly the Antarctic.  Ronne went to the Antarctic nine times and his work greatly contributed to the mapping of the area and the exploration of the Ronne Ice Shelf on his private Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (1946 – 48).

Ronne was born 20 December 1899 in Horten, Norway.  As a boy, Ronne developed an interest in polar exploration, reading about the expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen, Sir John Franklin, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.  It was natural that his interests lay in that direction, because his father, Martin Rønne, was a seaman and polar explorer who had worked many times with the Norwegian explorers Nansen and Roald Amundsen and served in Amundsen's successful expedition to the South Pole in 1911.  It may have been his father's influence that inspired Finn Ronne to spend years of his life mapping and exploring Antarctica.  

At Horton Technical College, Ronne earned a degree in engineering, specifically naval architecture and boiler construction.  In 1923, Finn immigrated to the United States, where he gained citizenship in 1929. He took a job with the Bethlehem Steel Company in New Jersey, designing ship machinery.  In 1924, he moved to Pittsburgh and, for the next fifteen years, worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation as a mechanical engineer.

As a proficient athlete, naval architect and engineer, Ronne took part in two of RADM Richard E. Byrd's expeditions to the Antarctic.  In 1928, Ronne's father joined the American explorer, Richard Byrd on his first expedition to the Antarctic (Martin Ronne was the only member to have been there before.)  While the expedition was under way, Byrd sent a message inviting Ronne, an expert skier, to join him on his next expedition as a dog driver and radio operator.

In January 1934, Byrd mounted a second expedition to Antarctica, and the team set up base in the Bay of Whales, which had been Byrd's old base.  Finn occupied his father’s bunk, as he and Byrd discovered upon their arrival that Finn’s father Martin had inscribed name “Finn Ronne” above the bunk in the wood, prophesizing that of all his children, Finn would be the son to follow him to the Antarctic.  Ronne was a member of the group sent out onto the Ross Ice Shelf to find a suitable location for an advance base where Byrd was to spend a winter alone.

The expedition returned to the USA in 1935 and, when they sailed into the US Navy Yard in Washington, President Franklin D Roosevelt welcomed them personally and later, set up the US Antarctic Service Expedition to protect American interests in the area. 

Ronne was selected by Richard E. Byrd as his executive officer for the 1939-41 U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition.  Ronne helped choose the site for one of the two base camps, East Base at Marguerite Bay on Stonington Island.  He was personally responsible for discovering about a thousand miles of new Antarctic coastline.  In November 1940, he set off with Carl Eklund, on a sledge journey south along the Antarctic Peninsula, to map the area for the first time.  The couple covered a journey of 1,264 miles in 84 days and surveyed 500 miles of coastline.  During the course of their survey, found that Alexander I Land, where the Russians had landed during their expedition of 1919 to 1921 was in fact an island, meaning that the Russians had not actually discovered the Antarctic mainland. 

After serving several years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he rose to the rank of captain, he returned to Antarctica after the War with the financial support of the American Geographical Society as well as government supplies and a ship.  In February 1947, Ronne sailed for the Antarctic from Beaumont, Texas, beginning his own Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition and from 1947-48 mapped and explored the Weddell Sea coastline,

His wife Edith Ronne accompanied him on this expedition, serving as research scientist and journalist. She was the first American woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent and she, along with the chief pilot's wife, Jennie Darlington, were the first women to winter over in Antarctica.  Finn named his largest discovery for his wife, the last unknown coastline in the world – at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, first calling it Edith Ronne Land, but it was later changed to Ronne Ice Shelf.

At the time, ownership of the Antarctic Peninsula and Stonington Island was in dispute.  Argentina, Chile and Great Britain all laid claim to the area, but the United States maintained that the region should remain open for exploration by anybody.

Ronne re-occupied the 1940 buildings and used Stonington Island as his base, becoming friendly with a British group who were nearby.  The two expeditions worked together, with the British setting up ground control survey points and the Americans concentrating on aerial mapping. 

In December 1947, a flight identified a vast floating ice shelf, at the head of the Weddell Sea, which became known as the Ronne Ice Shelf.  The expedition explored about a quarter of a million square miles of territory and mapped a further 450,000 square miles that had never been explored previously.  Before they returned to the USA in 1948, they had taken about 14,000 aerial shots and had collected data on geology, oceanography, meteorology and other sciences.  On his return he announced that he had proved that Antarctica was a single continent and not two islands.

Ronne began to plan another expedition, which would probably have been given the backing of the US government, but the beginning of the Korean War, coupled with interference by Byrd, who opposed a further expedition, meant that his plan came to nothing.

For the next few years, Ronne lectured and wrote about the Antarctic, and acted as a consultant to the US Navy.  World attention focused on Antarctica in the 1950s.  In 1956, the Navy organized Operation Deepfreeze to complete the mapping of Antarctica and establish centers for scientific research.  Ronne, recognized for his expertise in Antarctica, was asked to lead an expedition and be scientific and military leader for a United States Weddell Sea Station as part of these activities during the International Geophysical Year.  He thus became the only leader of U.S. bases in the Antarctic in command of both the scientific and military personnel.

The team left for the Antarctic in 1957 and found difficulty getting through the ice on the Weddell Sea to reach the Ronne Ice Shelf, where they set up base camp.  In making exploratory flights over the region, they not only discovered new land and mountains, but they also found a large, ice covered island in the middle of the Ronne Ice Shelf and collected important data on glaciers.

Returning to the USA in 1958, Ronne joined the US Navy for four years.   He assisted in chosing the location of the Thule Air Force Base in Greenland.  He was also an advisor to the CIA about cold weather clothing.  During his lifetime, he made many more trips to the Antarctic, as well as the Arctic, and he was involved in arranging the first commercial tourist cruises to the Antarctic.

In 1962, he lead a small private expedition to Svalbard (Spitzbergen) close to the North Pole above Norway.  There, he negotiated an unprecedented visit to the Russian town of Barentsburg during the heart of the Cold War, where he, along with his wife and daughter and some friends, were welcomed at a banquet highlighted with diplomatic toasts to both countries.

In 1971, he visited Antarctica for the last time, together with his wife, on a journey that commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of Amundsen's discovery of the South Pole.  They were the first couple to stand at the South Pole.

During his lifetime he wrote several books on the Antarctic and many scientific papers, leaving a legacy of outstanding Antarctic research and attaining a number of polar records, including covering 3,600 miles by ski and dog sled, more than any other explorer in history.  Ronne received three Medals of Honor and numerous military awards for his service, for geographical exploration and for the advancement of science.  He was awarded the St. Olav's Medal by the King of Norway. 

Finn Ronne died from heart failure in his sleep on January 12, 1980 at the age of 80, at his home in Bethesda, Maryland.  He was buried in Section 2 at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Very Short Version - 150 Words:

Norwegian-American Finn Ronne, a former member of the Explorer’s Club Board of Directors , was a noted Antarctic Explorer and veteran of five over-wintering expeditions.  His father was on Amundsen’s expedition to discover the South Pole in 1911 and the first Byrd Expedition.  Finn followed as a member of Byrd’s second expedition.  He was second in command of the Antarctic Service Expedition in 1940, establishing the East Base on Stonington Island.  His life dream was realized when he led his Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition from 1946-48, returning to Stonington Island.  The Ronne expedition accomplished great scientific work, plus discovered and mapped the last unknown coastline in the world, naming many features, including the Ronne Ice Shelf.  He was military and scientific leader of Ellsworth Station during the 1956-7 IGY.  He rose to Captain in the U.S. Navy, lectured and authored four books, and continued polar travels until his 1980 death.

or 225 Words:

Norwegian-American Finn Ronne, a one-time member of the Board of Directors of the Explorer’s Club, was a noted Antarctic Explorer and veteran of five over-wintering expeditions.  Like his father Norwegian sail-maker Martin Rønne, who was a member of Amundsen’s expedition to discover the South Pole in 1911 and the first Byrd Expedition, he followed as a member of Byrd’s second expedition.  Hooked on the Antarctic, he was second in command of the Antarctic Service Expedition in 1940, establishing the East Base on Stonington Island in the peninsula.  His life dream was accomplished when he led his own Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition from 1946-48 returning to Stonington Island.  Though known for taking the first women on an expedition, his wife Edith “Jackie” Ronne who served as research scientist and journalist, and the wife of his chief pilot, the Ronne expedition accomplished much scientific work and discovered and mapped the last unknown coastline in the world, naming many features, including the Ronne Ice Shelf.  In all, they explored a quarter of a million square miles of territory and mapped further 450,000 square miles of newly-discovered lands.  He served as military and scientific leader of Ellsworth Station on the Ronne Ice Shelf during the 1956-7 IGY.  He rose to Captain in the U.S. Navy, lectured and wrote four books, and continued polar travels until his death in 1980. 

Short Bio Version

Finn Ronne was born 20 December 1899 in Horten, Norway.  His father, Martin Ronne, was a polar explorer and served in Roald Amundsen's successful expedition to the South Pole in 1911, and later on American Richard E. Byrd’s first Antarctic Expedition as the only member to have been there before.  It may have been his father's influence that inspired Finn Ronne to spend years of his life mapping and exploring Antarctica.  Ronne got his education in engineering (naval architecture) at Horten College.

In 1923, Finn immigrated to the United States, where he gained citizenship in 1929.  He spent a number of years working for Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburg.  As a proficient athlete, naval architect and engineer, Ronne took part in two of RADM Richard E. Byrd's expeditions to the Antarctic.  He was ski expert on the Second Byrd Expedition 1933-35 and was selected by Richard E. Byrd as his executive officer for the 1939-41 U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition.  He was personally responsible for discovering about a thousand miles of new Antarctic coastline.

After serving several years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he rose to the rank of captain, he returned to Antarctica after the War with the financial support of the American Geographical Society and from 1946-48 mapped and explored the Weddell Sea coastline, attaining a number of polar records, including covering 3,600 miles by ski and dog sled, more than any other explorer in history.  On his return he announced that he had proved that Antarctica was a single continent and not two islands.

His wife Edith Ronne accompanied him on this expedition, serving as research scientist and journalist. She was the first American woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent and she, along with the chief pilot's wife, Jennie Darlington, were the first women to winter over in Antarctica.  Finn named his largest discovery for his wife, the last unknown coastline in the world – at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, first calling it Edith Ronne Land, but it was later changed to Ronne Ice Shelf.

World attention focused on Antarctica in the 1950s. The Navy organized Operation Deepfreeze to complete the mapping of Antarctica and establish centers for scientific research.  Ronne, recognized for his expertise in Antarctica, was asked to be scientific and military leader for a United States Weddell Sea Station. He thus became the only leader of U.S. bases in the Antarctic in command of both the scientific and military personnel.

During his lifetime he wrote several books on the Antarctic and many scientific papers, leaving a legacy of outstanding Antarctic research.  Ronne received three Medals of Honor and numerous military awards for his service, for geographical exploration and for the advancement of science.  He was awarded the St. Olaf's Medal by the King of Norway. 

Finn  Ronne died January 12, 1980 at the age of 80, in Bethesda, Maryland.  He was buried in Section 2 at Arlington National Cemetery. 

.  Antarctic Medal

 Photos Courtesy of Ron Williams

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