Clarence O. Fiske was born in Pennsylvania in 1922. As a boy scout, he was inspired by polar explorers like Dr. Paul Siple and Admiral Richard Byrd. After joining the Navy, Fiske learned to fly planes and helicopters.
In 1946 he joined the Ronne [pronounced “Ronnie”] Expedition to the Antarctic. Among Fiske’s duties were ice forecasting and climatology. He also drove the expedition’s weasel, a tracked vehicle designed for snow. He ran the sewing machine, assembled sled dog harnesses, and rigged up the camp telephone system.
Upon his return from Antarctica, Fiske joined expeditions to the Arctic Circle. He racked up hair-raising experiences, including being lowered into icy crevasses, tangling with polar bears, and falling overboard in Arctic waters. In 1955 he returned to Antarctica as part of “Operation Deep Freeze,” where he was a helicopter pilot.
A fjord on the west coast of Greenland and a geographic cape in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica are both named after Fiske.
See the C.O. Fiske papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more about his time as a polar explorer.