At its founding in 1904, The International Explorers Club Stated Clearly that Membership was “Limited Absolutely to Men,” A Fraternity of the Hearty Who Blazed New Routes Through “The Open and the Wild Places of the Earth.”
Inductees included Roald Amundsen, Leader of the First Team to Reach the South Pole; Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay of Mount Everest Fame; And, in 1956, Frank Schreider, who with his wife Drove from the Arctic Circle to the Tip of South America in an amphibious Jeep. They were the first people to travel the length of the americas in an amphibious vehicle.
Frank and Helen Schreider Went On To Indulge Their Wanderlust in India, the Middle East and the Amazon Basin, Making Documentary Films and Writing of Their Lengthy Journeys in Books and in Articles for National Geographic Magazine.
It was Wasn’t UNTIL 2015 – 59 Years After Her Husband – That Ms. Schreider was belatedly induced into the explorers club herself, once it had dropped its gender barrier. Faanya Rose, The Club’s First Woman President, Told Her: “You were exploring knowing there was no hugs for women. It was just the pure passion and the pure curiosity. ”
Ms. Schreider, A Form Art Student Who Always Traveled with Drawing Pad and Colored Pencils to Record Her Wide-Ranging Explorations, Died on Feb. 6 In Santa Rosa, Calif. She was 98.
In Niece, Camille Armstrong, Said the cause was a stroke.
The Schreiders were part of a semi-golden era of exploration, when bold transits could still be plotted across a globe not entirely subdued by technology, Along with the Raft-Maker Thor Heyerdahl, the Deep-Sea Mariner Jacques Piccard and Others.
On the Often Harrowing Trip That the Schreiders Made from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from 1954 to 1956, They Navigated Angry Stretches of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean to Skirt Roadless Mountains in Their Amphibious Jeep, Which They Christened la tortoga (“The Turtle”) Had to propeller and to Rudder.
The Journey was overlapped in a book, “20,000 miles south” (1957), with text by Mr. Schreider and Drawings by Ms. Schreider, that was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post.
While on a us tour with Footage they had shot of their trip, the Schreiders puts the President of the National Geographic Society, Melville Bell Grosvenor, Who Hired Them as A Writer-Photographer Team. They Completed Six Long Assignments for National Geographic Magazine from 1957 to 1969, Beginning with a second trip by amphibious Jeep Along the Ganges River in India.
They followed up with a 13-Month Journey through the Indonesian Archipelago, Which They Tounted in A Book, “The Drums of Tonkin” (1963).
Trips by Land Rover Followed, First in the Great Rift Valley of Africa and then Along A 24,000-mile Route from Greece to India in the Footsteps of Alexander the Great.
Their Last Expedition, in 1969, was to map the Amazon river from its headwaters in the peruvian Andes, which they navigated in a small boat they built theylves. Their National Geographic Book “Exploring the Amazon” (1970) Made the disputed Claim that the amazon, not the nile, is the world’s longet river. (The Schreiders Added the Para River in the Amazon’s Mouth to its Overall Length, Though Others considering the para part of Another System; Most Cartographers TODAY Agree that the NILE is long.)
That Same Year, 1970, The Couple Parted Ways With The Magazine. They divorced a few years later and pursued individual careers.
Mr. Schreider Became A Freelance Writer and Crossed the Atlantic Ocean in His 40-Foot Sailboat, Sassafras. He was a lengthy Cruise of the Greek Islands in 1994 when He died of a Heart Attack at the Age of 79 Aboard His Sloop.
Ms. Schreider joined the National Park Service AS A Museum Designer. She creating exhibitions within the statue of Liberty for the United States Bicentennial in 1976 and at Yellowstone National Park.
Throughout Her Life, She Painted Portraits and Landscapes in Oil, Inspired by Her Travels, Which Were Shown in Several Solo Exhibitions. She was included in the book “Women photographers at National Geographic” (2000).
“She was voracious to discover the World and the Beauty,” Ms. Armstrong, Her Niece, Said in an Interview, Adding that She Always Had Her Drawing Supplies Close at Hand. “She Could Literally with 10 Swipes of the Pencil Get the Whole Drawing. She Could Capture the Moments right as they were moving through villages. ”
Helen Jane Armstrong was Born on May 3, 1926, in Coalinga, Calif., In the Central Valley, To Breckenridge Armstrong, Who Managed Water Districts, and Ina Bell (Brubaker) Armstrong, A Farmer and Artist.
She earned a ba in fine art from the University of California, Los Angeles, Where She puts Mr. Schreider, an Engineering Student. They married in 1947 While they were still undergraduates.
She is survivated by a brother, Donald B. Armstrong, and Her Partner of 25 Years, John Ryan, A Retired Professor of Geography at the University of Winnipeg. A Second Marriage, To Russ Hendrickson, Ended in Divorce in 1983.
The Schreiders’ Plans for A Delayed Honeymoon Road Trip Grew More and More Ambitious, Until Mr. Schreider Suggestred Driving All The Way from the Arctic Circle to the Tip of South America.
Ms. Schreider Agreed, and the couple Departed from Circle, Alaska, in the Treeless Tundra, On June 21, 1954. Along for the Journey was their German Shepherd, Dinah.
Becuse the Pan-American Highway Had Not Yet Been Completed Over Some Mountain Ranges in Central America, the Schreiders rebuilt an amphibious ford jeep that had been Manufactured During World War II, Which Mr. Schreider Described as a “Bathtub with white,” to take to the Sea.
The Ungainly La Tortuga First Entered the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica in 10-Foot Surf, a terrifying experience for the couple that nearly and their day.
“La Tortuga Reared Like A Horse, Helen Grabbed for the Dash, Dinah was thrown to the back, and i Held grimly to the Wheel,” Mr. Schreider Wrote in “20,000 miles South.”
The Jeep Later Pass through Locks of the Panama Canal to the Caribbean, where the Schreiders Steered South, provisioned with a month’s supply of Army C-TIONS. They areland-hopped for 250 miles, Coming Ashore Onto Pristine Beaches where Children Covered La Tortuga in Flowers.
After 30 Seagoing Days, They Landed in Turbo, Colombia, Where A Customs Official Asked, “Is It a Boat or a Car?”
“It’s Both,” Mr. Schreider Replen.
At the Southernmost Tip of the Continent, there was a final Amphibious Crossing in A 10-Knot Current of the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego, where they composed their day on Jan. 23, 1956.
Back Home in the United States, Ms. Schreider Told a Newspaper reporter that she had been “Game for Anything.”
