ROSS MAKES DISCOVERIES IN THE ANTARCTIC SEAS
Now, while explorers were busy opening up Australian inland, Ross was
leaving the Australian waters for his voyage to the south. Four years
after the return of the Ross polar expedition, Sir John Franklin had
been made Governor of Van Diemen's Land, where he was visited by the
ships sent out from England on the first Antarctic expedition under
the command of Sir James Ross, who had returned to find himself famous
for his discovery of the North Magnetic Pole.
An expedition had been fitted out, consisting of the _Erebus_ and the
_Terror_--ships which later on made history, for did they not carry
Sir John Franklin to his doom in the Arctic regions some years later?
The ships sailed in the autumn of 1839 by way of the Cape of Good Hope,
and excited great interest at Hobart Town, where the commanders, Ross
and Crozier, were warmly received by the Governor. In a bay, afterwards
called Ross Cove, the ships were repaired after the long voyage, while
an observatory was built by the convicts under the personal
supervision of Sir John Franklin. Interesting news awaited the
explorers, too, at Hobart Town. Exploration had taken place in the
southern regions by a French expedition under D'Urville and an
American, Lieutenant Wilkes--both of which had made considerable
discoveries. Ross was somewhat surprised at this, for, as he said,
"England had ever _led_ the way of discovery in the southern as well
as in the northern regions," but he decided to take a more easterly
course, and, if possible, to reach the South Magnetic Pole.
On 5th November 1840 the ships were off again, shaping their course
for Auckland Island, nine hundred miles from Hobart Town. The island
had been discovered in 1806 by Captain Bristow. He had left some pigs,
whose rapid increase filled the explorers with surprise. Christmas
Day found them still sailing south, with strong gales, snow, and rain.
The first iceberg was seen a few days later, and land on 11th January.
"It was a beautifully clear evening," says Ross, "and we had a most
enchanting view of the two magnificent ranges of mountains whose lofty
peaks, perfectly covered with eternal snow, rose to elevations of ten
thousand feet above the level of the ocean." These icy shores were
inhospitable enough, and the heavy surf breaking along its edge
forbade any landing. Indeed, a strong tide carried the ships rapidly
and dangerously along the coast among huge masses of ice. "The ceremony
of taking possession of these newly discovered lands in the name of
our Most Gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria was proceeded with, and
on planting the flag of our country amid the hearty cheers of our party,
we drank to the health, long life, and happiness of Her Majesty and
His Royal Highness Prince Albert."
The end of the month found them farther south than any explorer had
sailed before. Everything was new, and they were suddenly startled
to find two volcanoes, one of which was active; steam and smoke rising
to a height of two thousand feet above the crater and descending as
mist and snow. Mount Erebus and Mount Terror, Ross called them, in
memory of his two ships. They sailed on, but soon were stopped by a
huge barrier of solid ice like a great white wall, one thousand feet
thick and one hundred and eighty feet above sea-level. They knew now
they could get no farther this season--they had reached a point one
hundred and sixty miles from the Pole. Could they but have wintered
here "in sight of the brilliant burning mountain and at so short a
distance from the Magnetic Pole," they might easily have reached it
the following spring,--so they thought,--but reluctantly Ross had to
turn. "Few can understand the deep feelings of regret with which I
felt myself compelled to abandon the perhaps too ambitious hope I had
so long cherished of being permitted to plant the flag of my country
on both Magnetic Poles of our globe."
The whole of the great southern land they had discovered received the
name of Queen Victoria, which name it keeps to-day. They had been south
of the Antarctic Circle for sixty-three days, when they recrossed it
on 4th March. A few days later they narrowly escaped shipwreck. An
easterly wind drove them among some hundreds of icebergs. "For eight
hours," says Ross, "we had been gradually drifting towards what to
human eyes appeared inevitable destruction; the high waves and deep
rolling of our ships rendered towing with boats impossible, and our
situation was the more painful from our inability to make any effort
to avoid the dreadful calamity that seemed to await us. The roar of
the surf, which extended each way as far as we could see, and the dashing
of the ice fell upon the ear with painful distinctness as we
contemplated the awful destruction that threatened in one short hour
to close the world and all its hopes and joys and sorrows upon us for
ever. In this deep distress we called upon the Lord ... and our cry
came before Him. A gentler air of wind filled our sails; hope again
revived, and before dark we found ourselves far removed from every
danger."
[Illustration: PART OF THE GREAT SOUTHERN ICE BARRIER, 450 MILES LONG,
180 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL, AND 1000 FEET THICK. From Ross's _Voyage
in Antarctic Regions_.]
April found them back again in Van Diemen's land, and though Ross sailed
again the following autumn into southern latitudes, he only reached
a point some few miles farther than before--being again stopped by
a great wall barrier of thick ice. After this he took his ship home
by way of Cape Horn, and "the shores of Old England came into view
on the 2nd of September 1843." After an absence of four years Ross
was welcomed home, and honours were showered on him, including the
award of the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Paris.
"Till then they had deemed that the Austral earth,
With a long, unbroken shore,
Ran on to the Pole Antarctic,
For such was the old sea lore."