Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
20
Admiralty Range: “The pinnacled mountains towering range beyond range in majestic
grandeur under a coverlet of matchless white; . . . the sky of clearest blue and deepest gold
when the sun is at its lowest; but perhaps more than all, the utter desolation, the awe-
some, unearthly silence pervading the whole landscape.”
Still no whales. Returning to Cape Adare on January 24, they determined that the
northern tip of the peninsula became a long cobble beach several hundred meters long.
One of the whaleboats was lowered, and, after an hour of hard pulling, the sailors reached
the shore. As they hit the beach, there was a great burst to be the first oV the boat. In the
aftermath, three diVerent men claimed to have been the first to set foot on the continent
of Antarctica. Captain Kristensen was in the bow and jumped as the keel struck land. He
claimed that Borchgrevink jumped out second from the stern, but Borchgrevink claimed
to have gotten ahead of the captain at the shore, to steady the boat for him. Likewise,
a seventeen-year-old New Zealander, Alexander von Tunzelman, who had signed on at
Stewart Island, claimed to have been first out of the bow to hold the boat.
Except for discovery of the first plants on the continent and accomplishment of the
first landing on the mainland (tainted with acrimony), the expedition had been a disaster:
no whales, few seals, and Bull and the captain always at each other. But as he sailed back
on the Antarctic, Borchgrevink was hatching a bold plan, one that would return him to
the ice, back to the beach at the tip of Cape Adare, and there to establish a base and to
winter over.
The Antarctic landed in Australia on March 11, 1895. Four and a half months later,
Borchgrevink was in London presenting a paper to the Sixth International Geographical
Congress on his Antarctic accomplishments and his plans. The timing was critical. For
several decades, momentum had slowly been building in England and in other countries
for further exploration of Antarctica. One of the principal proponents was Sir Clements
Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society, and also chairman of the Geo-
logical Congress. At the meeting he promoted a resolution which read, “The exploration
of the Antarctic regions is the greatest piece of geographical exploration still to be un-
dertaken.” Delivered with such raw enthusiasm, Borchgrevink's reported landing and his
plans invigorated the discussion at the meeting. While Markham promoted a National
Antarctic Expedition, Borchgrevink promoted himself. He proposed that he lead a party
that would be dropped at the beach at Cape Adare with shelter and supplies to winter
over. He reported that he had observed a route to the top of the Adare Peninsula that con-
nected to the mountainous plateau, over which he would mount dog teams in an attempt
to reach the Magnetic South Pole.
When oYcial sources were unwilling to support this brash outsider, Borchgrevink
turned to private donors. The following year he met Sir George Newnes, the publisher
of a popular magazine called Tit-Bits, who provided Borchgrevink with £40,000 in ex-
change for the promise of exclusive rights to his story. Privately this commitment riled
the members of the Royal Geographical Society, who by that time had managed to raise
only about half this amount for the National Expedition.
By August 1898 an old, refitted whaling ship, renamed the Southern Cross, was sailing
from London carrying thirty-one men and ninety Siberian huskies. The group included
