Video: Did you ever imagine you'd be watching a failed expedition to the North Pole from 1903?

In 1903, the Ziegler-Fiala expedition made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole. Most of us have only read about it, but now, we have a chance to actually see it, thanks to recently released footage from the National Geographic archives.

One of the many expeditions that failed, the expedition was notable for the fact that although the members of the crew were stranded for two years near the Arctic circle, all but one of them survived. The crew was able to bring back invaluable research data in the fields of tides, magnetism, auroras, meteorology and the depth of the sea.

Here's more archival footage from the British Film Institute. It shows the ship travelling through pack ice before it was eventually crushed.