Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
21
four scientists: Nicolai Hansen, a biologist; Hugh Evans, his assistant; Louis Bernacchi, a
physicist; and William Colbeck, a magnetic observer, who together would be responsible
for observing the weather, rocks, living organisms, magnetic field, and aurora.
The expedition was stuck in the pack for forty-three days before escaping to the
north quite close to the point where they had entered. A second attempt farther east at
about 174° E took only six hours crossing a light pack into open water of the Ross Sea.
On February 17, 1899, the Southern Cross glided into an ice-free Robertson Bay, landing
the party at the same spot that Borchgrevink had stood four years before (see Fig. 1.5).
The Norwegian-Australian named it “Ridley Beach” to honor his English ancestry on his
mother's side. Supplies were hurriedly unloaded, and two wooden huts were constructed.
On March 3 the Southern Cross sailed north, leaving ten men and seventy-five dogs to face
the polar night. The last penguins left the beach eleven days later.
Once the sea ice had frozen in Robertson Bay, various members of the party took
short forays to its perimeter, but nowhere could they find a place to climb out, because
steep cliVs and ice walls came down to the sea all around. Consequently, exploration was
limited to the volcanic inner faces of the Adare Peninsula, to the impassable margin of the
mainland, and to several small islands within the bay. On the western side of the bay, they
did discover that the bedrock is composed of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, whose
layers were deformed into tight folds.
As total darkness descended and with no work routine, the party became slothful and
began to grate on one another's nerves. Hansen fell ill in July, possibly because of scurvy
(though none of the others showed signs of it) or to the residual eVects of a malady con-
tracted while passing through the tropics. His condition steadily deteriorated, until he
died on October 14, less than a half-hour after the first penguin returned to Ridley Beach.
The ice had cleared from Robertson Bay by the first of the year, leaving the men
anxious for the return of the Southern Cross. On January 27 the ship arrived. By Feb-
ruary 2 it was fully loaded and the party was cruising south along the Victoria Land
Coast. They managed a landing on the northwest side of Coulman Island, and then
poked into the strait between the mainland and the island. Lady Newnes Bay, named
for the wife of the patron of the expedition, opened to the south but was filled with
thick ice tongues descending from the adjacent mountains (Fig. 1.11). From there the ship
veered out from the coast, turned south, then sailed deep into Wood Bay to the north
of Mount Melbourne (Fig. 1.12). Traveling back west about twenty miles along the pen-
insula that terminates at Cape Washington, they discovered a broad cobble beach and a
cove that gave promise of safe haven for a ship were it to winter over. From there they
sailed south into the outskirts of what later would be called Terra Nova Bay. An ice
foot attached to the land south of Mount Melbourne appeared to extend all the way to
McMurdo Bay, with the mountains beyond it of lesser elevation than the high peaks to the
north.
About thirty miles south of Cape Washington, the Southern Cross tied up to the ice
foot for magnetic measurements. Bernacchi climbed up to its flat top, where he glimpsed
the polar plateau through a breach in the mountains. The emptiness of the scene released
in him a deep shudder.
