Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

XX1

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 972 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

XX1  . 31Emery V/atkee sa Voyagers See also:

round the See also:Horn frequently met with contrary winds and were driven southward into snowy skies and See also:ice-encumbered seas; but so far as can be ascertained none of them before 1770 reached the See also:Antarctic circle, or knew it, if they did . The See also:story of the See also:discovery of See also:land in 64° S. by See also:Dirk Gerritsz on See also:board the " Blijde Boodschap " in 1599 has recently been shown to be the result of the See also:mistake of a commentator, Kasper Barlaeus, in 1622 . Much controversy has arisen as to whether See also:South See also:Georgia was sighted in 1675 by La See also:Roche, but the point is of no importance in the development of the See also:history of exploration . It may II safely be said that all the navigators who See also:fell in with the See also:southern ice up to 1750 did so by being driven off their course and not of set purpose . An exception may perhaps be made in favour of See also:Halley's voyage in H.M.S . " Paramour " for magnetic investigations in the South See also:Atlantic when he met the ice in 52° S. in See also:January 1700; but that See also:latitude was his farthest south . A determined effort on the See also:part of the See also:French See also:naval officer See also:Pierre See also:Bouvet to discover the South Land described by a See also:half legendary sieur de Gonneville resulted only in the discovery of Bouvet See also:Island in J4° 10' S., and in the See also:navigation of 48 degrees of See also:longitude of ice-cumbered See also:sea nearly in 55° S. in 1939 . In 1771 Yves See also:Joseph Kerguelen sailed from See also:France with instructions to proceed south from See also:Mauritius in See also:search of " a very large See also:continent." He lighted upon a land in 5o° S. which he called South France, and believed to be the central See also:mass of the southern continent . He was sent out again to See also:complete the exploration of the new land, and found it to be only an inhospitable island which he re-named in disgust the Isle of Desolation, but in which posterity has recognized his courageous efforts by naming it Kerguelen Land . The obsession of the undiscovered continent culminated in the See also:brain of See also:Alexander Dalrymple, the brilliant and erratic hydrographer who was nominated by the Royal Society to command the Transit of See also:Venus expedition to See also:Tahiti in 1769, a See also:post he coveted less for its astronomical See also:interest than for the opportunity it would afford him of confirming the truthfulness of his favourite explorer Quiros . The command of the expedition was given by the See also:admiralty to See also:Captain See also:James See also:Cook, whose See also:geographical results were criticized by Dalrymple with a force and persistence which probably had some See also:weight in deciding the admiralty to send Cook out again with explicit instructions to solve the problem of the southern continent .

Sailing in 1772 with the " See also:

Resolution," a See also:vessel of 462 tons under his own command and the " See also:Adventure " of 336 tons under /See also:amen cook . Captain Tobias See also:Furneaux, Cook first searched in vain for Bouvet Island, then sailed for 20 degrees of longitude to the westward in latitude 58° S., and then 3o° See also:east- See also:ward for the most part south of 6o° S. a higher southern latitude than had ever been voluntarily entered before by any vessel . On the 17th of January 1773 the Antarctic Circle was crossed for the first See also:time in history and the two See also:ships reached 67° 15' S. in 39° 35' E., where their course was stopped by ice . There Cook turned northward to look for South France, of the discovery of which he had received See also:news at Cape See also:Town, but from the rough determi- nation of his longitude by Kerguelen, Cook reached the assigned latitude to° too far east and did not see it . He turned south again and was stopped by ice in 61° 52' S. and 95° E. and See also:con- tinued eastward nearly on the parallel of 6o ° S. to 147° E. where on See also:March 16th the approaching See also:winter drove him northward for See also:rest to New See also:Zealand and the tropical islands of the Pacific . In See also:November 1773 Cook See also:left New Zealand, having parted com- pany with the " Adventure," and reached 6o° S. in 177° W., whence he sailed eastward keeping as far south as the floating ice allowed . The Antarctic Circle was crossed on the loth of See also:December and Cook remained south of it for three days, being compelled after reaching 67° 31' S. to stand See also:north again in 135° W . A See also:long detour to 47° 50' S. served to show that there was no land connexion between New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego, and turning south again Cook crossed the Antarc- See also:tic circle for the third time in 109° 30' W., and four days later his progress was blocked by ice in 71° 1o' S., ,o6° 54' W . This point, reached on the 3oth of January 1774, was the farthest south attained in the 18th See also:century . With a See also:great detour to the east, almost to the See also:coast of South See also:America, the expedition regained Tahiti for refreshment . In November 1974 Cook started from New Zealand and crossed the South Pacific without sighting land between 53° and 57° S. to Tierra del Fuego, then passing Cape Horn on the 29th of December he discovered the Isle of Georgia and See also:Sandwich Land, the only ice-clad land he had seen, and crossed the South Atlantic to the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope between 55° and 6o° S., thereby wiping out Dalrymple's continent from all the oceans and laying open the way for future Antarctic exploration by exploding the myth of a habitable southern continent . Cook's most southerly discovery of land See also:lay on the temperate See also:side of the both parallel, and. he convinced himself that if land lay farther south it was practically inaccessible and of no economic value .

Soon after Cook's return sealers set out on voyages to South Georgia both from See also:

England and America, but no clear accounts of the southern limits of their voyages before the sealers' See also:year 1819 can now be obtained . In See also:February of that voyages. year See also:William See also:Smith of the brig" See also:Williams" trading between See also:Monte Video and See also:Valparaiso, rounding the Horn with a wide sweep to the south, saw land in 62° 4o' S . Repeating the voyage in See also:October he saw the land distinctly, and named it New South See also:Shetland . The " Williams " was chartered by the See also:British naval See also:commander on the Pacific station, and in 182o See also:Edward Brans-See also:field, See also:master R.N., surveyed the See also:group and went as far as 64° 30' among the islands . Meanwhile See also:American sealers from Stoning-ton, See also:Connecticut, had begun operations on the newly disc covered land, and one of these, Nathaniel B . See also:Palmer, discovered the mountainous See also:archipelago still farther south which now bears his name . In 1821—1822 See also:George See also:Powell, apparently a British sealer, discovered and surveyed the South Orkrrey Islands which, though typical Antarctic lands, See also:lie outside the Antarctic region . A voyage only second in importance to that of Cook was planned in See also:Russia and sent out by the See also:emperor Alexander I. under the command of See also:Fabian von Bellingshausen in the BelNngs- " Vostok," with Lieut . Lazareff in the " Mirni " hausen. in See also:company, both vessels being about 500 tons . The See also:object of the expedition was to supplement that of Cook by circum navigating the Antarctic See also:area, taking care to keep as far south as possible in those longitudes where Cook had made his northward detours . Bellingshausen entered on his exploring See also:work by sighting South Georgia at the end of December 1819, discovered the See also:Traverse Islands, sighted the Sandwich group and met a solid ice-See also:pack in 6o° S., to get round which he made a wide detour, sailing east to the south of Cook's track, and getting south of the 6oth parallel in 8° W . On the 26th of January he crossed the Antarctic Circle in 3° W. and by February 1st had reached 69° 25' in 1° W., a latitude which has never been surpassed on that See also:meridian .

Being stopped by ice, Bellingshausen turned northward and then continued to the east well to the south of Cook's track, getting south again as the ice permitted and reaching 69° 6' S. in 18° E . On this occasion he was able to See also:

sail for three degrees of longtitude within the circle before being forced north of it by a See also:succession of heavy See also:gales . He still kept eastward south of 65° S. and crossed the circle once more in 41° E., where the number of birds seen suggested the proximity of land, and in fact Enderby Land was not very far off, though out of sight . A See also:storm of unexampled violence drove the ships northward, but they still held to the east south of 6o° S. as far as 87° E., having followed the edge of the ice through those meridians south of Kerguelen Land where Cook had made a great detour to the north . Bellingshausen now made for See also:Sydney to rest and refit, arriving there on the 29th of March 1820, after 131 days under sail from his last See also:port . At Sydney Bellingshausen heard of the discovery of the South Shetlands, and leaving See also:early in November reached the sixtieth parallel a See also:month later in longis tude 143° W., and sailing eastward kept south of that parallel through 145 degrees of longitude during sixty-five days, never out of sight of the ice, keeping See also:close along the pack edge through the great See also:gap left by Cook south of New Zealand . He managed to See also:cross the circle three times more, in 164° 3o' W., in 12o° W. and in 92° 10' W., where he reached 69° 52' S., the culminating point of the voyage . As the cruise was supplementary to Cook's, no See also:attempt was made to get south of the meridian where that great navigator made his highest latitude . On the 22nd of January 1821, the See also:day after reaching his highest latitude, Bellingshausen sighted the first land ever seen within the Antarctic Circle, the little island named after See also:Peter I . A See also:week later another and larger land, named after Alexander I., was seen at a distance of 40 M. and sketches made of its bold outline in which the See also:black See also:rock stood out in contrast to the See also:snow . Bellingshausen then made for the South Shetlands, where he stand, Biscoe brought the " See also:Tula " into See also:Hobart Town, See also:Tasmania, met the American sealers, and thence returned to Russia . The voyage was a worthy See also:pendant to that of Cook; it was carried out with a faithful devotion to instructions and consummate See also:seamanship, and as a result it left only half the periphery of the Antarctic Circle within which land could possibly project beyond the Frigid See also:Zone .

The next See also:

episode in the history of Antarctic exploration was the voyage of James Weddell, a retired master R.N., in 1823 . Weddell . Weddell was in command of the " Jane," a brig of 16o tons, with the cutter " Beaufoy " of 65 tons in company, and after cruising amo the South Orkneys during January he started for the south exploration, and as he was well equipped with chronometers his positions may be taken as of a far higher degree of accuracy than those of See also:ordinary sealers . On the loth of February he reached the highest latitude yet attained, 74° 15' S. in 34° 17' W., having seen much ice but no impenetrable pack, and at the farthest point the sea was clear and open, but the lateness of the See also:season and the length of the return voyage decided him to go no farther . Weddell made interesting collections of Antarctic animals, including the type specimen of the See also:seal which bears his name, and the See also:book in which he describes his voyage testifies to the keenness of his observations and the soundness of his reasoning . The sea which he penetrated so far to the south he named after the reigning See also:king, George IV., but it is now known as Weddell Sea . In 1829 Captain See also:Henry See also:Foster, R.N., in H.M.S . " Chanticleer " spent some months in the South Shetlands carrying on pendulum and gravity observations at the most southerly See also:harbour that could be found, and though he did not go south of 63° 50' S. the careful observations which were made threw much See also:light on the See also:physical conditions of the Antarctic regions . The See also:firm of Enderby See also:Brothers of See also:London took a conspicuous part in the exploration of the Antarctic seas during the first Blscoe. four decades of the 19th century . They encouraged the masters of the whaling and sealing See also:craft which they sent to the southern seas to take every opportunity that offered for exploration and to See also:fix the position of any land seen with the greatest possible accuracy . The voyage of the Enderbys' brig " Tula," under the command of See also:John Biscoe, R.N., with the cutter " Lively " in company, is worthy to See also:rank with Cook's and Bellingshausen's expeditions, for it repeated and advanced upon their achievements with a See also:mere fraction of their resources . Biscoe, who apparently had never heard of Bellingshausen's discoveries, was a keen explorer and a See also:man given to thinking over and reasoning upon all that he saw, and in many of his conclusions he was far in advance of his time .

At the beginning of January 1831 Biscoe, who had been See also:

hunting vainly for See also:seals on the Sandwich group, started on a voyage easterly to look for new islands, and in trying to get south of 6o° S. he had to coast the impenetrable ice-pack as far as lo° W., and continuing he got within the Antarctic Circle in 1° E. on a track parallel to that of Bellingshausen but farther east . Contrary winds delayed the little vessels, no seal-bearing lands were to be found, but in spite of difficulties, See also:constant danger from fogs and icebergs, and disappointed crews he held on eastward for five See also:weeks far to the south of Cook's track, and, except at one or two points, to the south of Bellingshausen's also . Though his highest latitude was only 69° S. in lo° 43' E. on the 28th of January, he remained south of the Antarctic Circle, or within a few See also:miles of it, for another month, when, in longitude 49° 18' E., he was rewarded by the discovery of land . But just as he was entering on a clear See also:lead of See also:water See also:running straight for a promontory which he named Cape See also:Ann, a terrific storm descended on the vessels, damaged them seriously and drove them helpless before it with the See also:driving ice . A fortnight's struggle with the See also:wind and ice brought Cape Ann into sight again on the 16th of March- but the See also:weather was not to be conquered, the sea was beginning to freeze and half the See also:crew were helpless with the effects of exposure, so Biscoe was compelled to give up the fight and reluctantly let the land—now known as Enderby Land—drop out of sight astern . With only three men able to and the " Lively," with only the master; one man, and a wounded boy alive, just escaped shipwreck in Port See also:Philip See also:Bay . After recruiting their See also:health and completing their crews the two captains put to sea again and spent some time in sealing on the shores of New Zealand and neighbouring islands . They started south once more, and crossed 6o° S. in 131° W. on the 28th of January 1832 . Biscoe kept between 6o° and the Antarctic Circle, north of Bellingshausen's route, for he dared not See also:risk the lives of his second crew, but he got south to 67° S. in 72° W., and here, on the 14th of February, he again sighted land, which, in See also:ignorance of Bellingshausen's discoveries in the same region, he believed was the most southerly land yet known . He named it See also:Adelaide Land after the See also:queen . A few days later he passed a See also:row of See also:low ice-covered islands—the Biscoe Islands—running from W.S.W. to E.N.E . Beyond these islands lay the mountains of an extensive land of which Biscoe took See also:possession in the name of King William IV., and to which the name of See also:Graham Land was subsequently given .

Biscoe returned See also:

home after an arduous two months' sealing in the South Shetlands, and the splendid results of his relentless determination as an explorer won for him the See also:gold medals of the See also:young Geographical See also:Societies of London and See also:Paris . In 1833 another of Enderbys' captains named See also:Kemp reported the discovery of land in 66° S. and 6o° E. about ro° east of Enderby Land . The last of the great voyages of Balleny. exploration due to Enderby Brothers was the cruise of the " Eliza See also:Scott " under the command of John Balleny, with the cutter " Sabrina " in company . This voyage is interesting because it was the first attempted in high latitudes from east to See also:west, and all those made in the opposite direction had suffered much from the buffetings of See also:head winds . Balleny left See also:Campbell Island south of New Zealand on the 17th of January 1839 and crossed the Antarctic Circle in 278° E. on the 29th . Heavy pack ice stopped him in 69° S., a higher latitude than had previously been reached in that region . On the 9th of February, after the little vessels had been working north-westward along the edge of the pack ice for more than a week, land was seen and found to be a group of mountainous islands—the Balleny Islands—one of which See also:rose to a height of 12,000 ft., and another was an active See also:volcano . Captain See also:Freeman of the " Sabrina " made a momentary landing on one of the islands and was nearly drowned in the attempt, but secured a few stones which showed the rocks to be volcanic . The vessels held on their way westward between latitudes 63° and 65° S., far south of any earlier voyager, and land, or an See also:appearance of land, to which the name of the " Sabrina " was given, was reported in 121° E . In 103° 40' E. an See also:iceberg was passed with a rock embedded in the ice, clear See also:proof of land existing to the south-ward . A few days later the " Sabrina " was lost in a See also:gale, but Balleny returned in safety . About 1835 the importance of obtaining magnetic observations in the far south, and the scientific interest of the study of the south polar regions led to plans being put forward for expeditions in the See also:United States, France and Great D° See also:moat D'Urv1/Ie .

See also:

Britain: The French were first in the field; an expe- dition, equipped in the frigates " See also:Astrolabe " and " Zelee " under Jules See also:Dumont D'Urville for ethnographical See also:research in the Pacific . Islands, was instructed to make an attempt to surpass Weddell's latitude in the South Atlantic Ocean, and this D'Urville tried to do with conspicuous See also:ill-success, for he never reached the See also:Ant-See also:arctic Circle though he spent the first two months of 1838 round the edge of the ice-pack south of the South Shetlands and the South Orkneys . Some portions of the land south of the South Shetlands were charted and named See also:Joinville Island and See also:Louis Philippe Land; but the addition to knowledge was not great . Two years later, after fulfilling the See also:main purpose of his expedition in the Pacific, D'Urville resolved for the See also:glory of France to attempt to reach the Magnetic See also:Pole, towards which he was aware that a British and an American expedition were directing their course . He left Hobart Town on the 1st of January 1840, and on the loth he crossed the 66th parallel in 140° E. and discovered land 3000 or 4000 ft. high, which he named Adelie Land and took possession of by landing on a rocky islet off the icebound coast . Ten days later in 64° 30' S . D'Urville cruised westward along a high ice-barrier, which he believed to be connected with land, from longitude 131° E. and he named it the Clarie Coast . A few days later he left the Antarctic regions for the Pacific . As early as 1836 the United States See also:Congress had authorized an American Exploring Expedition in the See also:programme of which Antarctic exploration had a leading See also:place . Lieut . Wilkes . See also:Charles Wilkes was appointed to command the expedition of five vessels in See also:August 1838, and his instructions, dated in that month, required him amongst other things (1) to follow Weddell's route as far as possible, (2) to visit the most southerly point reached by Cook in the Antarctic, and (3) to make an " attempt to penetrate within the Antarctic region, south of See also:Van See also:Diemen's Land, and as far west as longitude 45° E., or to Enderby Land." The ships were in See also:bad repair and ill-adapted for navigation in the ice, and many of the See also:officers were not devoted to their See also:chief; but in spite of great difficulties Wilkes fulfilled his programme .

In following Weddell's route Wilkes in March 1839 fared no better than D'Urville in the previous year, but the " Flying See also:

Fish " of 96 tons under See also:Lieutenant See also:Walker reached 70° S. in 105° W., thus nearly reaching Cook's position of 1774 . The third See also:item of the Antarctic programme was made the subject of the most strenuous endeavour . Wilkes sailed from Sydney in the See also:Vincennes " on the 26th of December 1839, accompanied by the " See also:Peacock " under Lieut . William L . See also:Hudson, the " See also:Porpoise " under Lieut . Cadwaladar Ringgold, and the " Flying Fish " under Lieut . See also:Pinkney . They went south to the west of the Balleny Islands, which they did not see, and cruised westward along the ice-barrier or as near it as the ice-pack allowed towards Enderby Land nearly on the Antarctic Circle . The weather was bad with fogs, snowstorms and frequent gales, and although land was reported (by each of the vessels) at several points along the route, it was rarely seen distinctly and the officers were not agreed amongst themselves in some cases . Unfortunate controversies have arisen at intervals during sixty years as to the reality of Wilkes's discoveries of land, and as to the See also:justice of the claim he made to the discovery of the Antarctic continent . Some of the land claimed at the eastern end of his route has been shown by later expeditions not to exist; but there can be no doubt that Wilkes saw land along the See also:line where Adelie Land, Kemp Land and Enderby Land are known to exist, even if the positions he assigns are not quite accurate . No one, however, could establish a claim to the discovery of a continent from sighting a discontinuous See also:chain of high land along its coast, without making a landing .

It seems no more than due to a gallant and much-persecuted officer, who did his best in most difficult circumstances, to leave the name of Wilkes Land on the See also:

map of the region he explored . Unlike the other two expeditions, that equipped by the British See also:government in 1839 was intended solely for Antarctic See also:Ross. exploration and primarily fer magnetic surveys in the south polar seas . There were two ships, the " See also:Erebus "of 370 tons, and the " Terror " of 340, stoutly built craft specially strengthened for navigation in the ice . Captain James See also:Clark Ross, R.N., was in command of the " Erebus " and of the expedition; Commander See also:Francis Rawdon Moira See also:Crozier of the " Terror." A young surgeon, Joseph See also:Dalton See also:Hooker, joined the Royal See also:Navy in See also:order to go on the expedition, and he lived to take a keen interest in every subsequent Antarctic expedition down to that of Captain Scott in 1910 . Ross had intended to make straight for the meridian of the Magnetic Pole, but, finding that D'Urville and Wilkes had already entered on those seas he deter-See also:mined to try to make a high latitude farther east, and leaving Hobart Town on the 12th of November 1840 he crossed the Antarctic Circle on the 1st of January 1841 and entered the pack ice on the 5th in 174° E . Instead of proving an impenetrable obstacle, the pack let the two ships work through in five days, and they emerged into open sea . Sailing towards the Magnetic Pole they found a chain of great mountains rising from a coast which ran due southfrom a prominent cape (Cape Adare) in 710 S . The continent was taken formal possession of for Queen See also:Victoria by landing on Possession Island, the mainland being inaccessible, and the ships continued southward in sight of the coast of Victoria Land, where the loftiest See also:mountain was named Mt See also:Melbourne after the See also:Prime See also:Minister, until the twin volcanoes named Erebus and Terror were sighted in 78° S. on the 28th of January . From Cape Crozier, at the See also:base of the mountains, a line of lofty cliffs of ice ran east-wards, the great ice-barrier, unlike any object in nature ever seen before, rising perpendicularly from the water to the height of 200 or 300 ft. and continuing unbroken for 250 M . Along the barrier the highest latitude of 78° 4' S. was attained, and the farthest point to the east was 167° W., whence Ross turned to look for a winter harbour in Victoria Land . Being desirous to winter near the South Magnetic Pole, Ross did not explore McMurdo Bay between Mt Erebus and the north-running coast, where, as we now know, a harbour could have been found, and as he could not reach the land elsewhere on See also:account of ice extending out from it for 15 or 16 n., after sighting the Balleny Islands at a great distance, on the 2nd of March the ships returned to Hobart . This was the most remarkable Antarctic voyage for striking discoveries ever made .

In November 1841 the " Erebus " and " Terror " returned to Antarctic See also:

waters, steering south-east from New Zealand and entering the ice-pack in about 6o° S. and 146° W., the See also:idea being to approach the great barrier from the eastward, but by the end of the year they had just struggled as far as the Antarctic Circle and they, together with the pack, were several times driven far to the northward by heavy gales in which the ships were at the See also:mercy of the floating ice . During a storm of terrible severity on the 18th of January the rudders of. both ships were smashed, and not until the 1st of February did they break out of the pack in 67° 29' S., 159° W . The barrier was sighted on the 22nd and the ships reached 78° 10' S. in 161° 27' W., the highest latitude attained for 6o years . To the eastward the barrier See also:surface rose to a mountainous height, but although Ross believed it to be land, he would only treat it officially as " an appearance of land," leaving the See also:confirmation of its discovery as King Edward Land to the next century . No more work was done in this See also:quarter; the " Erebus " and " Terror " turned the e