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Antarctica's Lost Aviator: The Epic Adventure to Explore the Last Frontier on Earth
By the 1930s, no one had yet crossed Antarctica, and its vast interior remained a mystery frozen in time. Hoping to write his name in the history books, wealthy American Lincoln Ellsworth announced he would fly across the unexplored continent, and to honor his hero, Wyatt Earp, he would carry his gun belt on the flight. The obstacles to Ellsworth’s ambition were he didn’t like the cold, he avoided physical work, and he couldn’t navigate. Consequently, he hired the experienced Australian explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, to organize the expedition on his behalf. While Ellsworth battled depression and struggled to conceal his homosexuality, Wilkins purchased a ship, hired a crew, and ordered a revolutionary new airplane constructed. The Ellsworth Trans-Antarctic Expeditions became epics of misadventure, as competitors plotted to beat Ellsworth, pilots refused to fly, crews mutinied, and the ship was repeatedly trapped in the ice. Finally, in 1935, Ellsworth took off to fly from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. A few hours after leaving, radio contact with him was lost and the world gave him up for dead. Antarctica’s Lost Aviator brings alive one of the strangest episodes in polar history, using previously unpublished diaries, correspondence, and film to reveal the amazing true story of the first crossing of Antarctica and how, against all odds, it was achieved by the unlikeliest of heroes.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 5, 2019
17 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 26, 2020
The title of this book should have been "How a series of accomplished people helped a narcissistic incompetent claim credit for their work because he had inherited a lot of wealth". While the events of this are interesting, the central figure is so lacking that it detracts from the book.
April 19, 2023
I came across this book when I figured out that the Dewey call number for “sad boat” (polar exploration that generally goes sideways) is 919. So now whenever I go to a new library, I check out what books they have shelved in 919, this being one.
I was so excited to start this book. The blurb really got me, promising “epics of misadventure, as competitors plotted to beat Ellsworth, pilots refused to fly, crews mutinied, and the ship was repeatedly trapped in the ice.” It’s a perfect maelstrom of sad boat!
However, Lincoln Ellsworth wasn’t a very likable person, and I’m not sure Maynard was particularly sympathetic to him. I appreciate that we learn that Ellsworth was most probably gay without any sort of moralizing attached to that, but at times I feel that Maynard became a bit judgmental regarding the characters of all the men profiled in this book. None of them seemed particularly pleasant to be around, although that might just as well be the sort of personality that decides to undertake these difficult expeditions. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Richard Byrd probably did not make it to the North Pole as he insisted he did, but I did enjoy reading more about the man for whom my home library was named when I was a child.
It absolutely infuriated me to learn that Roald Amundsen, that great Norwegian explorer, was lost searching for Umberto Nobile, after all the awful things he said about Nobile in his autobiography (mostly deserved, I’m sure). I nearly threw the book across the room when I read about that.
Unfortunately, it seems as though Ellsworth had more money than sense, but considering his vast fortune, that didn’t really matter that much. At least no one perished on his expeditions, though they could easily have gone sideways.
This book details a now little-known explorer and his quest to fly over Antarctica, and gives more insight into some of the more famous explorers of his time. I enjoyed it.
I was so excited to start this book. The blurb really got me, promising “epics of misadventure, as competitors plotted to beat Ellsworth, pilots refused to fly, crews mutinied, and the ship was repeatedly trapped in the ice.” It’s a perfect maelstrom of sad boat!
However, Lincoln Ellsworth wasn’t a very likable person, and I’m not sure Maynard was particularly sympathetic to him. I appreciate that we learn that Ellsworth was most probably gay without any sort of moralizing attached to that, but at times I feel that Maynard became a bit judgmental regarding the characters of all the men profiled in this book. None of them seemed particularly pleasant to be around, although that might just as well be the sort of personality that decides to undertake these difficult expeditions. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Richard Byrd probably did not make it to the North Pole as he insisted he did, but I did enjoy reading more about the man for whom my home library was named when I was a child.
It absolutely infuriated me to learn that Roald Amundsen, that great Norwegian explorer, was lost searching for Umberto Nobile, after all the awful things he said about Nobile in his autobiography (mostly deserved, I’m sure). I nearly threw the book across the room when I read about that.
Unfortunately, it seems as though Ellsworth had more money than sense, but considering his vast fortune, that didn’t really matter that much. At least no one perished on his expeditions, though they could easily have gone sideways.
This book details a now little-known explorer and his quest to fly over Antarctica, and gives more insight into some of the more famous explorers of his time. I enjoyed it.
April 9, 2020
A nice read, even though a bit long at times
April 23, 2019
I really liked learning this bit of history about a most unlikely polar explorer and his quest. I don’t have a strong belief that people are villains or heroes; nearly everyone is some shade of gray. Lincoln Ellsworth sounded like an unusual man, suffering from a variety of social, familial, and mental issues but with the money and stamina to brave the polar regions when that could be a deadly affair.
I really like the way the story was told, and the humanity with which so many of the people were presented. These events should definitely be better known, and I hope this book makes it happen.
I really like the way the story was told, and the humanity with which so many of the people were presented. These events should definitely be better known, and I hope this book makes it happen.
March 4, 2019
A history of polar exploration that principally chronicles the life and adventures of American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, but also includes brief histories of those explorers who followed polar pioneers Ernest Shackelton, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott. Jeff Maynard’s work is moving and fascinating on several different levels. The physical and technological challenges to successful North and South Pole exploration were daunting enough, but of course people will add their own complications and Maynard does an excellent job of recounting the personal and political issues which made conquering the final unknown land and ice masses of earth even more difficult and complex.
Lincoln Ellsworth was a rich man by inheritance who featured a personality that most found insufferable. Rejected by his father because Lincoln had rejected the idea of assuming leadership of the father’s business empire, he sought to distinguish himself along paths of his own choosing. To a large extent, he bought his way into his adventures, but he was also possessed a vision for himself and a determination that periodically enabled him to pursue his ambitions of discovering and exploring the unknown. He would overcome both the myriad challenges of polar exploration and his own burdensome psychological quirks.
Maynard has done an admirable job of not only recounting harrowing polar explorations in a most concise and lucid fashion, but he has also presented the complex personalities of Ellsworth and his chief rival, Richard Byrd, in a manner that enables the reader to draw his/her own conclusions regarding the merits and foibles of these two men. Ellsworth and Byrd were virtually opposite personality types: Ellsworth a painfully withdrawn introvert and Byrd, a flamboyant extrovert. Both were very well known and controversial figures in their own time, but today Byrd is a relatively well-known historical figure, while Ellsworth’s slide into obscurity began while he was still alive. Both men accomplished feats that remain astounding to this day, given the incredibly nightmarish polar conditions and technological limitations of the equipment then available. Neither man was above attempting to assume a lion’s share of whatever credit was available for their respective successes, which of course did not endear them to their expedition mates. The author relates the bitter rivalries between several other polar explorers and some of the chicanery employed by those competing for scarce resources and the glory of being first and foremost. We also read about acts of consummate bravery and selflessness such as Roald Amundsen’s attempt to locate and rescue Italian explorer Umberto Nobile and the crew of the Italia, an airship that had crashed during a flight over the North Pole.
For me, what makes this book especially memorable is Maynard’s portrait of Lincoln Ellsworth: a driven dreamer of a man often tortured by indecision and a consequent crippling inertia; additionally he is afflicted with an emotional hermit personality that made him a severe trial to himself and others. The title literally relates to Ellsworth’s third attempt to fly across the South Polar continent, but I believe “lost” also refers to Ellsworth’s sense of self and additionally, his marginal historical position in the popular histories of polar exploration. Ellsworth’s internal battles seem no less fierce than his battles with the polar elements, although some of Ellsworth’s antics and bizarre peccadilloes are of the type that are humorous – as long as you were not there when he was going off. As for the judgment of history, Ellsworth deserves a better fate, but it seems pretty clear how circumstances (competing with better self-promoters) and his own predilection for alienating his contemporaries (who would often omit him from their own histories of polar exploration) have conspired to relegate him to the shadows of polar exploration, but this book should help correct this.
Appendices include a lucid explanation of the navigational challenges faced by polar explorers during Ellsworth’s time and the mechanical devices and measurement techniques used to overcome them. Includes an index, notes and a bibliography. A must for all polar exploration enthusiasts.
Lincoln Ellsworth was a rich man by inheritance who featured a personality that most found insufferable. Rejected by his father because Lincoln had rejected the idea of assuming leadership of the father’s business empire, he sought to distinguish himself along paths of his own choosing. To a large extent, he bought his way into his adventures, but he was also possessed a vision for himself and a determination that periodically enabled him to pursue his ambitions of discovering and exploring the unknown. He would overcome both the myriad challenges of polar exploration and his own burdensome psychological quirks.
Maynard has done an admirable job of not only recounting harrowing polar explorations in a most concise and lucid fashion, but he has also presented the complex personalities of Ellsworth and his chief rival, Richard Byrd, in a manner that enables the reader to draw his/her own conclusions regarding the merits and foibles of these two men. Ellsworth and Byrd were virtually opposite personality types: Ellsworth a painfully withdrawn introvert and Byrd, a flamboyant extrovert. Both were very well known and controversial figures in their own time, but today Byrd is a relatively well-known historical figure, while Ellsworth’s slide into obscurity began while he was still alive. Both men accomplished feats that remain astounding to this day, given the incredibly nightmarish polar conditions and technological limitations of the equipment then available. Neither man was above attempting to assume a lion’s share of whatever credit was available for their respective successes, which of course did not endear them to their expedition mates. The author relates the bitter rivalries between several other polar explorers and some of the chicanery employed by those competing for scarce resources and the glory of being first and foremost. We also read about acts of consummate bravery and selflessness such as Roald Amundsen’s attempt to locate and rescue Italian explorer Umberto Nobile and the crew of the Italia, an airship that had crashed during a flight over the North Pole.
For me, what makes this book especially memorable is Maynard’s portrait of Lincoln Ellsworth: a driven dreamer of a man often tortured by indecision and a consequent crippling inertia; additionally he is afflicted with an emotional hermit personality that made him a severe trial to himself and others. The title literally relates to Ellsworth’s third attempt to fly across the South Polar continent, but I believe “lost” also refers to Ellsworth’s sense of self and additionally, his marginal historical position in the popular histories of polar exploration. Ellsworth’s internal battles seem no less fierce than his battles with the polar elements, although some of Ellsworth’s antics and bizarre peccadilloes are of the type that are humorous – as long as you were not there when he was going off. As for the judgment of history, Ellsworth deserves a better fate, but it seems pretty clear how circumstances (competing with better self-promoters) and his own predilection for alienating his contemporaries (who would often omit him from their own histories of polar exploration) have conspired to relegate him to the shadows of polar exploration, but this book should help correct this.
Appendices include a lucid explanation of the navigational challenges faced by polar explorers during Ellsworth’s time and the mechanical devices and measurement techniques used to overcome them. Includes an index, notes and a bibliography. A must for all polar exploration enthusiasts.
October 24, 2025
Ever since I was a teenager going to see a dentist who had set up shop in a house associated with Lincoln Ellsworth in Hudson (OH), and was marked as such, I've had some curiosity about the man. This curiosity was reawoken after reading Mark Piesing's book on Umberto Nobile ("N-4 Down"), in which Ellsworth is a secondary character.
That brings us to this book, which examines Ellsworth, and his relationships with the complex of polar explorers of the time. To cut to the chase, even if it wasn't really all his fault, Ellsworth seems to have been an unusually annoying man who was tolerated for his ability to sign large checks to support his interests; particularly if they allowed him to adopt the pose of doing great things. There is something inevitably rather pathetic about all this.
Still, there is no denying that on November 23, 1935, Ellsworth kept in his nerve, was finally able to embrace his chosen destiny of making an indelible mark in the annals of polar exploration, and lived to tell the tale. The sad thing is that while for Ellsworth's own sake you might hope that it would be a transformative experience for him, it was more like the hit of a drug, the high of which could only be followed by another hit. In any case, the Golden Age of Flight, where the next long flight was a triumph, was on the verge of ending, probably with the demise of Amelia Earhart in 1937.
Apart from that, where Maynard really shines as a writer is in detailing the logistics of all these efforts to open up the polar spaces to the human experience. If nothing else, as an Australian, it allows Maynard to write about an Australian hero of polar exploration, one Sir Hubert Wilkins, who did most of the heavy lifting behind Ellsworth experiencing his moment of personal glory.
That brings us to this book, which examines Ellsworth, and his relationships with the complex of polar explorers of the time. To cut to the chase, even if it wasn't really all his fault, Ellsworth seems to have been an unusually annoying man who was tolerated for his ability to sign large checks to support his interests; particularly if they allowed him to adopt the pose of doing great things. There is something inevitably rather pathetic about all this.
Still, there is no denying that on November 23, 1935, Ellsworth kept in his nerve, was finally able to embrace his chosen destiny of making an indelible mark in the annals of polar exploration, and lived to tell the tale. The sad thing is that while for Ellsworth's own sake you might hope that it would be a transformative experience for him, it was more like the hit of a drug, the high of which could only be followed by another hit. In any case, the Golden Age of Flight, where the next long flight was a triumph, was on the verge of ending, probably with the demise of Amelia Earhart in 1937.
Apart from that, where Maynard really shines as a writer is in detailing the logistics of all these efforts to open up the polar spaces to the human experience. If nothing else, as an Australian, it allows Maynard to write about an Australian hero of polar exploration, one Sir Hubert Wilkins, who did most of the heavy lifting behind Ellsworth experiencing his moment of personal glory.
May 19, 2019
The story of the various polar excursions carried out by the largely forgotten Lincoln Ellsworth. A man with few personal strengths but a desire to do something heroic, he used his inherited wealth to finance expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic. Leaving the logistics to others, he tended to be the financier and the passenger.
His last expedition was a flight over a major part of Antarctica from Dundee Island to Byrd's Little America camp. Having to land three times, the final leg of the flight got them to within a dozen miles of the Little America camp where they waited out a rescue.
Maynard presents a very balanced narrative of the various events, much of which looks at the moods of Ellsworth. Excellent material on the many men that worked with Ellsworth. He nicely captures the uncertainties and suspense of the Antarctica flight.
His last expedition was a flight over a major part of Antarctica from Dundee Island to Byrd's Little America camp. Having to land three times, the final leg of the flight got them to within a dozen miles of the Little America camp where they waited out a rescue.
Maynard presents a very balanced narrative of the various events, much of which looks at the moods of Ellsworth. Excellent material on the many men that worked with Ellsworth. He nicely captures the uncertainties and suspense of the Antarctica flight.
January 19, 2022
Epic adventure is a bit of a stretch.. more like... a long sludge through finances, bad hires and under developed equipment. The simple fact that these guys wanted to explore unknown territories is fascinating and still fills me with wonder. Although flying over Antarctica is a left over on the plate of adventures... the navigational challenges were definitely extreme, the weather - extreme, landing a taking off - extreme but at the end of the day they rode in a plane for 14 hrs.
The protagonist is a spoiled wanna be and creates very little compassion for his cause. Overall I am glad I read this story but can't help walking away thinking what exactly did they accomplish...? They flew over a landmass, for the first time...
The protagonist is a spoiled wanna be and creates very little compassion for his cause. Overall I am glad I read this story but can't help walking away thinking what exactly did they accomplish...? They flew over a landmass, for the first time...
December 17, 2022
This book held many surprises that kept my interest. I particularly enjoy historical adventure stories of many kinds and sailing stories in such a remote area of the world in the early twentieth century seemed like a perfect choice. It not only included such tales but also included the interpersonal and international relationships and connections, world history at the time, navigational challenges at the poles, etc., but to my amazement, the Ellsworth men are both buried locally to me! Both these men had their social and familial issues but nonetheless it piqued my interest to learn that this wealthy Chicago businessman, Mr. James Ellsworth, Sr., generously provided funds to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio.
September 18, 2019
Fairly interesting account of Lincoln Ellsworth's quest to make a name for himself by doing something manly, eventually participating in making the first trans-antarctic flight. The wide-ranging story includes many other better known contemporary explorers, and sometimes feels a bit bogged down in those details. However, the book finally soars in the latter third when it looks like Ellsworth's previous travails are going to bear fruit, despite his many personal flaws. Unfortunately, he still remains an obscure and enigmatic figure today. I could imagine this making a rip-roaring cinematic experience.
August 3, 2024
What makes this book interesting is the overview of the activity of two of Ellsworth's colleagues/competitors: Amundsen and Byrd. The fact that Amundsen and Byrd have some dark corners is not hidden. Ellsworth, himself, has a less that stellar character that is not softened in any way. Nevertheless, all three explorers endured fascinating ordeals in the Arctic and Antarctica.
July 22, 2019
I had no idea any of this story before reading the book. Enjoyed learning something new as I read.
I wish I was aware of the appendixes on navigation in the polar regions before finishing the book, things would've made more sense.
Good book
I wish I was aware of the appendixes on navigation in the polar regions before finishing the book, things would've made more sense.
Good book
February 13, 2020
A very interesting read, especially since it covers Amundsen's airship voyage to the North Pole. Elsworth doesn't come across too well, but he's an interesting character. There's also a lot about Richard Byrd. It's well worth the read as part of the history of Polar travel.
January 9, 2019
Very interesting! Full review coming for Shelf Awareness.
June 24, 2019
it's interesting in regards to the terrain, learning about an exclusive territory, and offers some relateable characters.
September 11, 2019
An interesting read. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I was familiar with the polar explorations of Amundsen, Scott and Byrd but had absolutely no idea who Lincoln Ellsworth was.
April 30, 2020
Spotify audiobook
January 3, 2022
A study of the leverage of inherited wealth and the human compulsion for exploration. Lost Aviator is a page-turner.
July 11, 2023
Not sure how much of an "epic adventure" this was, but a pretty interesting book nonetheless
January 30, 2024
Read during a trip to Antarctica, I enjoyed this book. A very quirky main character and an extraordinary story, even moreso as true.
July 8, 2022
Solid book, very factual. A bit short on the specifics of ellesworths time being lost but portrays the man's quirkiness well. Still a good read
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews