_Part of Shackleton’s expedition reached for the first time the South
Magnetic Pole--that is, where the south part of the compass needle
points. Those in the picture, reading from left to right, are Dr.
Mackay, Professor David, and Douglas Mawson._]
The record of Antarctic exploration from 1772 to date may be divided
into two periods; the first from 1772 to 1898 and 1899, a period of
summer voyages only, the work carried on entirely by ships, with
no land or sledge work, and no attempt to winter in that region.
During this period, though other nations, notably the United States
and France, took part in the work, the work of Great Britain was
so pronouncedly preponderant as to more than equal all the others
combined. The second period is from 1899 to date, and is the period
of overland exploration with sledges. In this period, as in the last
period of Arctic exploration, three men, Scott, Shackleton, and
Amundsen, each having for his object the attainment of the South
Pole, pushed so far beyond all predecessors as to be in a class by
themselves, two of them, Amundsen and Scott, actually reaching the Pole.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1897, Harper & Bros.