Ferdinand Nicolias

The company Shutterstock' minimalist painting of Ferdinand in the year 2015

Ferdinand Nicolias was an Austrian explorer in the 1500's. He had previously worked as a privateer for Emperor Henry IV, but quit his job after becoming sick of Prince Henry and his constant nagging and demeaning of Ferdinand's privateer skills.

Ferdinand was born to Philis and Bernard Nicolias in 1483. Bernard was a fisherman for the Holy Roman Empire, which is where Nicolias grew his love for the sea. His mother made maps for the government, which is where Ferdinand gained his interest in the world and exploring every inch of it. He was most fascinated with the continent of Antarctica. The others such as North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Afria, Australia, and Where had all been charted and lived on, at least to some extent. Antarctica however, had only received one visitor, and that was the man who discovered it. Unfortunately his name has been lost to time. However, he had never lived or even stepped foot on the continent, merely discovered it. Ferdinand had always wanted to be the first person to ever have sustainable life on the continent. After quitting his privateering job, he figured that he had all the free time in the world, and that now was the time to finally achieve his dreams. He had scheduled an expedition of the Holy Roman Empire to check on his town in the year 1704 to see how he had done. Ferdinand set out on his ship, the "S.S. Charter" in 1545.

Ferdinand's expedition is known as one of the great tragedies of the Holy Roman Empire, and a depressing tale to all of mankind. The only reason his journey is even known is through his perfectly preserved journals that were frozen solid in the ice...not far from his corpse.

The first problem was the weather. He had sailed into a horrible blizzard and his sight was incredibly limited, and his boat crashed ashore Antarctica. Most of his provisions were lost and he narrowly escaped the sinking wreckage, none of his warm clothing had survived. He merely had his leather tunic and trousers, a pair of boots and his sailing cap, as well as less than a quarter of the food and water he had originally brought. This is documented in his journals, where he says: "I have washed ashore the great snowy tundra, and lost most of what I came with. However, I have no choice. I have no way back home. I must be more sure now of my destiny than ever before. I know that I can accomplish this feat."

The second was the cold. Ferdinand did not have the warm clothes he packed, and because of the blizzard that was raging, he could not make a fire. He did the only thing he could do. He hunted a penguin, successfully killed it, and squeezed himself inside of it for warmth. He would survive many nights this way. He wrote in his journal saying: "My first night has been a harsh one. I am sealed inside of the warm of the beast known as the "Pengu". It is disgusting, and I have vomited several times already. I must press on though, for my honor and that of my family. This will truly be a trying time." He would get used to this, saying later: "It has been a week of surviving inside of the Pengus. I am used to the odor now, and I somewhat treasure the safety it provides. This is me now."

The third was the food. Due to the intense cold it was all perfectly preserved in the ice. However, this was the challenge. He could not start a fire, therefore he could not unfreeze the food. The blizzard raged for over a month(though he would die before it ended), and in this time he had not had a single bite to eat, aside from the raw penguin meat, which was only making him more unhealthy. Luckily he was able to drink drops of water slowly dripping off of the ice. He wrote in his journal: "Dear Mama, and Papa, should this journal ever find you. I am starving. All I can eat is the raw meat of the pengu, and it makes me sick to my core. I believe there are parasites inside of me, eating alongside. I am so hungry. I fear I will not make it. Though I must press on."

The fourth was the polar bears. The only other animal Ferdinand had the privilege of encountering was the polar bear. He had a main camp where he spent most of his days at. It contained the large crate that held the food he had. He stored his journals nearby, and tried to survive on penguins nearby. Despite being frozen, his food was still smelly. It was mostly fish and meat. This of course, is the polar bears primary meal. One fateful day, about 3 and a half weeks into his expedition, a family of polar bears wandered into his camp. He emerged from his penguin one morning, dripping with blood and meat, and saw the family overturning the crate, trying to reach the food inside. They quickly turned their attention to him, and attacked. They scratched him badly and he only escaped by jumping into the freezing water. The polar bears decided this was too much work and hunted the penguins nearby. This frightened the rest of the penguins, and so none would come near his base. When he eventually climbed out of the war, colder than he had ever been, he began his search for penguins. None were in the immediate vicinity, so he quickly collapsed and froze to death, only a few steps away from his crate of food and frozen journals. His final entry reads: "So cold. No more Peng. No food. Scratches. Why did I come. Why." There are some unintelligible scribbles further down the page, likely due to spasms as he froze to death.

His body, food, and journals were discovered on a voyage to check how his colony was doing in the year 1704.