Felix König
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Felix König (born c.1880) was an Austrian scientist, alpinist and Antarctic explorer. He was a member of Wilhelm Filchner's Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1913, which failed in its attempt to determine the nature of the link, if any, between the Weddell Sea and the Ross Sea, and thereby resolve the question as to whether the continent was a single landmass or a group of several elements. In the course of the expedition König, along with Filchner, was part of the group, that disproved the existence of the land known as New South Greenland, or "Morrell's Land", supposedly discovered in 1823 by the American sealer captain, Benjamin Morrell.
On his return to Austria, König sought to continue Filchner's unfinished work, and for this purpose organised an Austrian Antarctic Expedition, which he hoped would depart in the summer of 1914. However, he found that his plans conflicted with those of Ernest Shackleton, who was concurrently preparing the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on similar lines. Attempts to reconcile the two ventures failed; in the event, König's expedition was abandoned in August 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War, in which he served as an officer in the Austrian army. He was captured, and spent most of the conflict as a prisoner-of-war in Siberia. He never returned to the Antarctic.
In the Antarctic, 1911–1913
The main geographical objective of this expedition was to determine the relationship between the eastern and western landmasses of Antarctica; were they connected by land, or were there two landmasses separated by water?[4][5] The expedition would involve travel over uncharted terrain, in which König's alpine experiences might be a valuable asset.[6]
The expedition ship, Deutschland, entered the Weddell Sea in January 1912, and penetrated to 77°44'S. The ship reached an inlet, which Filchner named Vahsel Bay, after Deutschland's captain, Richard Vahsel.[7][8] Here he set attempted to up his Weddell Sea base camp, unfortunately on insecure ice; changes in the winds and tides caused the berg to break free, carrying the camp with it. Most of its equipment was retrieved, but after several attempts to re-establish the base the ship became caught in the ice and began to drift northwards. The expedition then endured a long, frustrating winter trapped in the Weddell Sea ice.[9][10]
The question as to whether overall control of the expedition lay with Filchner, or with the more experienced Vahsel – he had been second officer on the Gauss Expedition of 1901–03 – had not been satisfactorily resolved, and created a situation of divided command.[11][12] Factions formed behind these alternative leaders, followed by animosities and threats of violence.[8] König, firmly aligned with Filchner, alleged that he had been shot at;[13] Filchner slept behind locked doors with a loaded pistol by his side, for protection.[14]
During the course of the winter drift, König participated with Filchner in an ice journey to investigate the location of land reportedly sighted by the American sealer Benjamin Morrell in 1823. This involved a hazardous trek over nearly 40 miles of treacherous sea ice. They found no trace of the land, and depth soundings confirmed that there was no land nearby. [9][15][16]
Deutschland finally escaped from the ice in late October 1912, and reached South Georgia on 19 December.[8] Here, the expedition dissolved; back in Germany, Filchner was largely exonerated from blame for the debacle, but had lost his taste for polar exploration, and decided to return to his original field of work, in Central and East Asia.[17]
