THE ANTARCTIC REGION
The Mystery of the South Pole--Ignored by Early Navigators--An
Accidental Dutch Discovery--Captain Cook Sets Sail--Discouraged by
the Ice--Turns Back in Despair--A Second Accidental
Discovery--Weddell breaks the Barrier--Antarctic Land
revealed--British resume the Search.
While the desire to penetrate into the mysteries of the North held the
mind of mankind from the earliest times, the very existence of a similar
world of ice, at the opposite pole, was undreamed of until a few
centuries back. At the time when the world was generally held to be a
flat disc, this is not to be wondered at, seeing that there could only
be one other side possible under that belief, and that side the "under
world," into which it was not desirable that human beings should ever
penetrate. But the time came when the world was demonstrated to be a
sphere, and the more thoughtful of men realised the necessity of having
some theory wherewith to explain what form the world would take at the
opposite pole to the North. The theory which found most general
acceptance was that which contended for a similar distribution of sea
and land at the South as was currently supposed to exist at the North
Pole. It was argued that only by such a distribution could the balance
of the earth be maintained. Nor did the theorists stop there. The
ancient geographers delighted their hearts by imagining a southern
division of land and sea inhabited by identical animals, covered with
the same kind of verdure and plants, and occupied by similar races of
men to the North. In the absence of any evidence to contradict it, this
theory held for many years.
In the Middle Ages, when the Portuguese and Spaniards were sailing from
sea to sea, and later, when their successors, the Dutch, roamed the
ocean, carrying their flags to the East and the West, none seem to have
penetrated into the ice-bound regions of the South. The Cape of Good
Hope was doubled. Cape Horn was sailed round. Australia was located, and
even the south of Tasmania was visited. But further south the world was
still unknown.
An explanation of this may be found in the fact that in southern
latitudes the drift of ice is very much further away from the Pole than
is the case in the north. In the northern hemisphere massive ice-floes
are not encountered until the 70th parallel of latitude has been passed,
while it is not until the 75th parallel is passed that the ice becomes
so packed as to appear to be stationary. In the southern latitudes, on
the other hand, drift ice is encountered in the 50th parallel, and by
the time the 60th parallel is reached, the ice is found to be as close
set as it is in the 80th parallel in the north. In the islands off
Tierra del Fuego the mountains remain covered with snow down to the
water's edge through all the summer months, though the latitude is only
54 deg. S.
This may be due, in a large measure, to the small quantity of land
existing in the south, as compared with the north. The heat of the sun
does not radiate from the sea with the same intensity as it does from
the earth, whence the ice, drifting from the south into the oceans
nearer the equator, melts more slowly, and is consequently enabled to
travel longer distances, thus lowering the temperature of the
surrounding atmosphere and still further delaying the melting process.
At a comparatively recent period, the limit of the floes, in the
southern oceans, was much nearer the equator than it is to-day, for the
most southerly parts of Africa, Australia, and America all show
unmistakable evidences of having, within recent times, been under a
great ice covering.
It was not until 1600 that the first contact was made with the southern
world of ice. Dirk Gerritz, a Dutch navigator, sailing with a squadron
for the East Indies, was separated from his other ships while passing
through the Straits of Magellan and was driven as far as 64 deg. S. He
discovered, in that latitude, a rocky coast line covered with snow. The
discovery did not excite any great interest at the time, and, for a
period of nearly two centuries, nothing was done to probe further into
the mysteries of the South. In 1769 an expedition was sent out under
Captain Kerguellen to explore the regions lying to the south of the Cape
of Good Hope. He was successful in locating the group of islands, still
known as Kerguellen Islands, and sailed thence to Australia,
demonstrating that no land, other than these islands, existed between
the Cape of Good Hope and Australia.
In 1772, Captain Cook, who had already done so much to reveal the
southern hemisphere to the knowledge of man, left the Cape of Good Hope
with two ships, the _Resolution_ and the _Adventure_, in search of the
continent believed to exist somewhere beyond the regions hitherto
visited. In 48 deg. 41' S. latitude, and 18 deg. 24' E. longitude, a sudden fall
in the temperature from 67 deg. to 38 deg. Fahr. was experienced. On the
following day an iceberg, fifty feet in height and nearly half a mile in
length, was sighted. The course was continued to the south, but the
third day after sighting the first berg the sea had become so full of
ice that no further progress to the south was possible, although the
latitude was only 54 deg. 50' S., the corresponding latitude in the northern
hemisphere being that of the city of Hull.
Skirting the ice-packs and working always to the southward, the vessels
managed to reach 55 deg. 16' S. during the next three days, some few seals,
penguins, and other birds being seen on the floating ice as the ships
passed. The temperature was never above freezing, the sails were frozen
and the rigging covered with icicles. The fact that the ice was found to
be composed of fresh water, convinced Cook that there must be land still
further to the south, lying behind the ice-floes. He, therefore, kept on
to the east, always sailing as far to the south as the line of the ice
permitted. In reality, he was sailing round the Antarctic, from west to
east, skirting along the ice limit. In January 1773 the vessels were in
61 deg. S. and 139 deg. E. longitude. A month later he was nearly five hundred
miles to the south of the course Tasman had sailed when he discovered
Tasmania, but still no land was seen amongst the ice. This being the
summer season in the southern hemisphere, it was necessary to seek
winter quarters to the north if the ships were to escape imprisonment in
the ice for the season.
After a winter passed in the Pacific Ocean, Captain Cook took his ships
again to the south, towards the end of the year, and by January 30,
1774, they were in 71 deg. 10' S. latitude and 106 deg. 54' W. longitude.
Further progress to the south was barred by a line of high ice cliffs.
Describing the circumstances Captain Cook wrote:--
"At four o'clock A.M. we perceived the clouds, over the horizon to the
south, to be of an unusual snow-white brightness, which we knew
announced our approach to field ice. Soon after, it was seen from the
topmast head, and at eight o'clock we were close to its edge. It
extended east and west, far beyond the reach of our sight. In the
situation we were in, just the southern half of our horizon was
illuminated by the rays of light, reflected from the ice, to a
considerable height. Ninety-seven ice hills were distinctly seen within
the ice-field, besides those on the outside. Many of them were large and
looking like a ridge of mountains rising one above another till they
were lost in the clouds. The outer, or northern, edge of this immense
field was composed of loose or broken ice, close packed together, so
that it was not possible for anything to enter it. This was about a mile
broad, within which was solid ice in one continued compact body. It was
rather low and flat (except the hills), but seemed to increase in height
as you traced it to the south, in which direction it extended beyond our
sight.... I, who had ambition, not only to go further than any one had
gone before, but as far as it was possible for man to go, was not sorry
at meeting with this interruption, as in some measure it relieved us, at
least, shortened the dangers and hardships inseparable from the
navigation of the southern polar regions."
Returning again to the Pacific in order that his men might recuperate
after their hardships in the ice region, Captain Cook made a third
attack upon the Antarctic problem the following year--1775--when he
sailed to the south along the 27th meridian of west longitude. In
latitude 59 deg. S. three rocky islets were discovered. They rose to a
considerable height, one of them terminating in a lofty peak shaped like
a sugar-loaf, to which the name of Freezeland Point was given, not, as
it might very well have been, in description of the land itself, but
after the man who first sighted it. Far to the east of this peak there
appeared a long coast line with lofty, snow-capped mountains, the
summits often rising higher than the clouds. To the extremity of this
coast the name of Cape Bristol was given. Land sighted still more to the
south was named Southern Thule.
As there appeared to be more probability of success being won on this
voyage, the ships proceeded to explore the seas in the neighbourhood of
these new lands; but a repetition of the trials and difficulties met in
the previous year brought the hopes to nought. Whichever way they sailed
they encountered ice, either in massive bergs, or lines of cliffs, miles
in length. On February 6, 1775, the cold hostility of the region daunted
even the brave heart of Captain Cook. He decided to turn back, writing
in his log: "The risk one runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and
icy seas is so great, that I can be bold enough to say that no man will
ever venture further than I have done, and that the lands which lie to
the south will never be explored."
Modern achievement in the Antarctic regions forms a curious commentary
on this outspoken opinion of so intrepid an explorer as the man who
laid the great island-continent of Australia open for the colonisation
of the British. But for the time being the opinion ranked sufficiently
with the authorities to put an end to all attempts to solve the mystery
of the Antarctic. Years passed without anything being done to penetrate
into the unknown, until, in 1819, Captain William Smith, commanding the
brig _William_, on a voyage from Monte Video to Valparaiso, was driven
as far to the south as 62 deg. 30', in which latitude and longitude 60 deg. W.
he discovered a group of islands and named them the South Shetlands. The
discovery was reported to the commander of H.M.S. _Andromache_, who at
once sailed to the locality and further explored the islands. These were
found to be a scattered group lying between 61 deg. and 63 deg. S., consisting
of twelve fairly large isles, and a number of small rocky islets.
Several of the isles were mountainous, and one peak was observed which
was estimated to be 2500 feet high. Beyond this brief expedition nothing
was done by the Navy, but during the next few years a considerable
amount of knowledge was gained by whaling captains who penetrated
further to the south.
Amongst others, Powell, in 1821, discovered land to the south of the
South Shetlands, naming it Trinity Land; while Palmer, an American
skipper, sailed along a coast to which he gave the name Palmer's Land.
A Russian navigator, Bellinghausen, exploring to the south and west of
the South Shetlands, located Alexander's Land, still more to the south
than Palmer's Land.
These repeated additions to the general knowledge gradually discredited
Captain Cook's assertion. The newly opened areas were found to be
replete with whales, seals, and other commercially valuable animals, and
ships of the mercantile marine continued to push nearer and nearer the
Pole. In 1822 a firm of traders sent out two vessels to the Antarctic
under the command of Captain Weddell, after whom the great Antarctic
seal is named. The vessels were small ships in comparison with the
modern build. One, the larger, was the _Jane_, a brig of 160 tons, and
the other a cutter, the _Beaufoy_, 65 tons. As Captain Weddell had
already done much geographical service in the South, his employers
instructed him to do all he could to discover fresh lands, and to
penetrate as far into the ice to the South as was possible. He succeeded
so well in carrying out the latter part of his instructions that, on
February 28, 1823, he carried the flag to 74 deg. 1' S.
For some years nothing more of note was done, but in 1831, Captain
Biscoe, on board the brig _Tula_, located land--named Enderby's Land,
after his employers--in 65 deg. 57' S. latitude and 47 deg. 20' E. longitude.
Wind and storms intervening, he was unable to do more than identify one
promontory, which he named Cape Ann. The year following Biscoe added to
his record the discovery of Adelaide Island, Graham's Land, and a range
of mountains he named after himself, Biscoe's Range. He landed on the
newly discovered territory on February 21, 1832, and took possession of
it in the name of Great Britain. Seven years later, on board the _Eliza
Scott_, Biscoe found an island in 66 deg. 44' S. latitude and 165 deg. 45' E.
longitude, the shores of which were so precipitous that no landing could
be effected. Describing it, he wrote: "But for the bare rocks from where
the icebergs had broken, we should scarcely have known it for land, but
as we stood in for it we plainly perceived smoke arising from the
mountain tops. It is evidently volcanic, as specimens of stones, or
rather cinders, will prove."
Two years earlier the French Government had taken up the work the
British Government had neglected from the time of Captain Cook's
condemnation, and had despatched two ships, the _Astrolabe_ and the
_Zelee_, to try and get into higher latitudes than those reached by
Weddell. The Government of the United States also sent out vessels to
continue the work already so successfully done by American whaling
skippers. The voyages did not add materially to the discovery of land,
although some valuable scientific facts were observed and recorded.
The British Government then bestirred itself, and two ships, the
_Erebus_ and _Terror_, were placed under the command of Sir James C.
Ross, with Captain Crozier as second in command, to proceed to the
Antarctic regions and explore them.