Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Figure 1.5. (opposite) Sat-
ellite image of northern
Victoria Land. Northern
Victoria Land is three hun-
dred miles wide, making
it the largest such por-
tion of the Transantarctic
Mountains. Although Ross
and subsequent explor-
ers charted coastal areas,
the interior of northern
Victoria Land remained
unknown until aerial
reconnaissance in the
middle of the
twentieth
century. The green line
on Tucker Glacier is the
traverse of the New Zea-
land geological party from
Hallett Station during the
International Geophysi-
cal Year (IGY), 1957-1958
(Chapter 7). The magenta
dots mark the stations of
the Topo North survey of
1961-1962. The orange dots
mark stations of the Topo
West survey, 1962-1963. Ice
tongues in Lady Newnes
Bay and Wood Bay are out-
lined by black dots.
bay that would oVer the ships safe harbor, but a heavy swell broke on a tight pack block-
ing the entrance. From there they steered to the southeast, rounding the black cliV and
sailing south along the coast for several hours before lying farther oVshore for the night
(Fig. 1.5).
Ross recorded the sights:
It was a beautifully clear evening, 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 varying from seven to ten thousand feet above the level of the
ocean. The glaciers that filled their intervening valleys, and which descended from
near the mountain summits, projected in many places several miles into the sea, and
terminated in lofty perpendicular cliVs. In a few places the rocks broke through their
icy covering, by which alone we could be assured that land formed the nucleus of
this, to appearance, enormous iceberg.
Ross bestowed the name Admiralty Range on these lofty mountains. The appar-
ently highest summit he named Mount Sabine, after Edward Sabine, foreign secretary of
the Royal Society and an ardent supporter of the expedition. Because of its closer prox-
imity to the shore, Mount Sabine at 12,200 feet was perceived to be higher than a pair
of peaks in the interior of the Admiralty Range. Mount Minto (13,660 feet) and Mount
Adam (13,153 feet), named for high lord commissioners of the Admiralty under whom
Ross served, are actually the highest summits in all of Victoria Land (Fig. 1.6). Ross
named the cape at the northern end of the dark cliV Adare, after Viscount Adare, a friend
of Ross, and the bay behind it Robertson Bay, after the surgeon on the Terror.
The South Magnetic Pole lay about five hundred miles to the southwest beyond the
mountains. There at Cape Adare, at the corner of this new land, the choice was to sail ei-
ther west or south. Which direction might better oVer a waterway to the pole?
The next day while sailing close to shore, the ships were caught in a strong tidal cur-
rent. To escape, they slipped into the lee of a small island. A narrow boulder beach oVered
possible access, so two boats were let down with a landing party. Captain Ross was the
first out of the bow, with the others quickly following. With the simplest of ceremonies,
the party planted a flag and Ross claimed the island for Mother England. Liquor was
passed around and everyone drank a toast to Her Majesty, the young Queen Victoria,
and another to Prince Albert. At 71° 56′ S, 171° 07′ E, it remains to this day “Possession
Island.” The island was composed of a dark volcanic rock called basalt and was home to
several tens of thousands of cheeky Adélie penguins that pecked at the men's legs as they
made their way between the birds' rocky nests.
For the next two weeks, the expedition worked its way south, trying to stay in close
to the mountains, but gales and ice floes repeatedly forced them away. On good days,
when the weather cleared, the ships would work as close as they dared, nosing toward in-
dentations in the coastline, but each was filled with an apron of fast ice that rimmed the
shore. On one of these days when they were able to see the Admiralty Range with clar-
ity, Ross wrote, “we gazed with feelings of indescribable delight upon a scene of gran-
deur and magnificence far beyond anything we had before seen or could have conceived”
