In 1990–1991, McDowell chartered the MV Frontier Spirit during its inaugural season of operations for several voyages to Antarctica from Hobart, Australia and Bluff, New Zealand.

Three years later, Wikander became chairman of the board when Patrick Shaw joined the company as president and CEO.

[citation needed] In 2012, the company advertised that it was offering the first "carbon-neutral" polar expeditions with the Ocean Diamond.

[1] In 2016, the company mounted an Arctic expedition involving internet personalities and YouTube creators including Ben Brown, Tim Kellner and Tom Scott led by retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

[3] In April 2021, Quark took delivery of its first solely owned ship Ultramarine from Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia.