Under the North Pole

Wilkins, a seasoned polar explorer and a veteran of the Australian Flying Corps, made his reputation when he "successfully carried out a remarkable program of pioneering air exploration which culminated in his historic flight with Carl Ben Eielson as pilot from Barrow in Alaska, eastward over the Arctic Ocean, to Spitsbergen, in April 1928... In 1931 came his famous venture by submarine in Arctic waters made with the twofold purpose of exploring the region from Spitsbergen westward via the North Pole to the Siberian coast and experimenting with the craft as a weather station, both above and below the ice and in radio contact with the outside world.