Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
18
west. With both the weather and the ice again closing in, the only prudent course was to
set sail for Australia for the winter.
The next season Ross returned to the Antarctic hoping to extend his exploration east
of the previous year's discoveries. Entering the pack at about 146° W, Erebus and Terror
were stuck for fifty-three nerve-wracking days before breaking through to open water.
They sailed on to the Barrier, but were able to extend their easterly penetration only sev-
enty miles, their southerly record an additional six.
The glory belonged to the first of the two voyages: the discoveries of an active polar
volcano, a major mountain range, and the massive face of the largest ice shelf on Earth
(later named the Ross Ice Shelf) (Fig. 1.10). The coastal aspects of northern Victoria Land
as far south as Mount Melbourne were sketched onto the map, but from there down to
Mount Erebus, the mountains were an indistinct emanation viewed at a great distance.
Most opportunely for those who would follow into the Ross Sea, the expedition had dis-
covered the gateway to the interior, from which a half-century later heroic assaults would
be staged on the Geographic South Pole.
The latter half of the nineteenth century was a period dominated by capitalist motives.
Exploration for the sake of discovery gave way to ventures promising a profit. Sealers and
whalers continued to ply the Antarctic margin, but governments and wealthy patrons
were unmoved by the barren landmass, even in the name of glory through reaching the
Geographic or Magnetic South Poles. One such would-be whaler was Henrik Bull, a Nor-
wegian who had immigrated to Australia and was aware of Ross's reports of the sight-
ing of many whales during his voyage of discovery. When he was unable to find backing
to outfit a whaling vessel to the Ross Sea, Bull traveled to Sweden and made a pitch to
eighty-four-year-old Svend Foyn, inventor of the explosive harpoon and designer of the
first steam-powered whaler, and a rich man because of both. Foyn was enthusiastic about
the proposition and oVered one of his retired steam whalers, the Kap Nor, which was
promptly fitted out and renamed the Antarctic. Foyn placed the ship under the command
of Captain Leonard Kristensen, and designated Bull as his “agent.” Throughout the ex-
pedition, the two wrangled, generating tension among the entire crew.
When the Antarctic reached Melbourne, a number of the crew jumped ship or were
dismissed. One of the men to sign on as an able-bodied seaman was Carsten Borch-
grevink, a schoolteacher of Norwegian birth, who was flush with the fever of Antarctica.
Once on board he assumed the role of resident scientist and through his impetuousness
was soon dining at the captain's table. The Antarctic left Melbourne on September 26,
1894, but because of a broken propeller it had to detour to New Zealand for repairs. After
finally sailing south, the ship was stuck in the pack for thirty-eight days before breaking
out into clear water on January 13, 1895. From there the captain set a course straight to-
ward Cape Adare. The trouble was they were sighting no whales.
On January 18 they landed on a rocky beach at Possession Island. Borchgrevink went
oV exploring and came back with a sampling of lichens, the first plants to be found south
of the Antarctic Circle, and a prize that had escaped the watchful eye of Robert McCor-
mick a half-century before. From there the men sailed south, past Cape Hallett and Coul-
man Island (see Fig. 1.5). Bull was awestruck and perhaps intimidated by the scene of the
