Discovering the unknown continent - Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent - page 4

Figure 1.3 One of the first Antarctic benthic organisms

discovered, Glyptonotus antarcticus , described and

illustrated by James Eights in 1853.

other than killing as many animals as possible.
They kept their sealing grounds secret to limit
competition and the ships

logs and other written
materials provide very limited evidence about
where they went and when. This has led to
continuing argument over who

'

rst saw the

continent and who landed there rst. It does

seem likely, however, that Captain John Davis
from the Cecilia , tender to the American sealer

Huron , was the first to land on the Antarctic Peninsula, probably around Hughes

Bay (64 20´S 61 15´W) on 7 February 1821.
James Weddell was a sealer who reached as far south as 74 15´ in the sea
that now bears his name, a record that lasted for almost 90 years. This remarkable
discovery of open water so far south was certain to be doubted so Weddell had the
accuracy of the log witnessed by his Chief Of cer and two seamen. Unusually for a

sailor, he was interested in science, well read and with a good command of English.
His published account of his voyage aboard the Jane (1822 - 24) contains many

interesting scienti c observations on ice, penguins, seals and geology and it

first collected Leptonychotes weddelli , the Weddell seal.
Some, like the American James Eights, used the sealers to visit the Antarctic.
In 1829

was he who

31 he visited Staten Island, Tierra del Fuego and the South Shetland
Islands. Collecting specimens of rocks, lichens and marine animals he was the

-

first to describe the geology of the South Shetlands, provide lists of the birds, seals
and whales that he saw and describe three new species of benthic animals. His
collection of the grass he found was identi ed by the Royal Botanic Gardens,

Kew, and was the first scienti c record of any flowering plant in Antarctica.

Despite his important scienti c achievements - his scienti c papers form the

start of what we might consider as the ' professional ' scienti c output from

Antarctica he did not go on the later United States Exploring Expedition led

by Charles Wilkes and his work remained almost unknown for nearly 100 years.
In the intervening period a major Russian expedition, led by the Estonian
Thaddeus Fabian von Bellinghausen, was sent in 1819 by Tsar Alexander I to explore
towards the South Pole. This was imperial exploration meant to directly rival the
activities of the British Navy and make sure that Russia was seen as a great power.
His discoveries of Peter I Island, the

-

first land to be sighted within the Antarctic
Circle, and the South Sandwich Islands, where he recorded volcanic activity for the