“Civilization means to me, steps from barbarism to refinement. It means that the weak will have rights as well as the strong and that science will have greater consideration and will produce the benefits that we will use in our progress toward universal culture.”

A wealthy American, Lincoln Ellsworth, offered Wilkins a way to continue his life’s work. Ellsworth wanted to be the first person to cross the continent of Antarctica. He had little practical experience in exploring and suggested that he pay Wilkins to organise the crossing for him. Wilkins agreed.

Wilkins helped design a revolutionary new plane suitable for flying in Antarctica. He purchased an expedition ship (named for Ellsworth’s hero, Wyatt Earp) and hired a crew. He also hired a pilot because Ellsworth was unable to fly.

Wilkins went south with Ellsworth on three occasions. The plane was damaged on the first expedition, poor weather prevented flying on the second but, on the third in 1935, Ellsworth and his pilot succeeded in flying across Antarctica. Having finished working for Ellsworth, Wilkins continued to seek sponsors for his submarine expedition to the North Pole.

He also flew on the maiden voyage of the Hindenburg airship. In 1937, he searched unsuccessfully for Russian aviators lost in the Arctic, then travelled to Moscow to ask Joseph Stalin to give him a Russian submarine. Stalin declined, so Wilkins returned to America to mount another expedition to Antarctica for Lincoln Ellsworth.

Ellsworth’s fourth expedition reached Antarctica in January 1939. At the time, Antarctic claims were being disputed, so while Ellsworth was attempting to claim the area for America, Wilkins secretly went ashore, left a record of his visit and claimed the area for Australia. At the end of the expedition Wilkins, Ellsworth and the Wyatt Earp crew sailed to Australia. Ellsworth returned to America. Wilkins stayed in Australia to promote the idea of Australian Antarctic bases and weather stations.

Wilkins put his proposal to the Australian Government, but with World War II looming, the government decided it was not the time to be concentrating resources in Antarctica. Disappointed, Wilkins returned to America in June 1939, where his wife, Suzanne, had purchased a 100-acre farm near Montrose, Pennsylvania.

Now aged fifty-one, Wilkins could not settle down to live in one place, but agreed the farm would be an ideal repository to store all the photographs, papers and artefacts he had accumulated throughout his life and which were currently being held by friends in different locations. He purchased a new Chevrolet station wagon and drove around America, or flew around the world, collecting his things and taking them back to Pennsylvania.

Wilkins had friends in many European countries, including Germany, France and Italy. As he travelled between countries which were now at war, he joined the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS—the forerunner of the CIA) and became a spy for America. He also travelled extensively throughout Asia and South East Asia.

While in America he toured and lectured, occasionally visiting Suzanne at the farm to deposit more material. Meanwhile, Suzanne, knowing that Wilkins would never settle to live in one place permanently, had commenced an affair with Winston Ross, a nightclub singer. Ross now lived with Suzanne at the farm and had taken over the responsibility of coordinating and storing Wilkins’ lifetime collection of material.