The Worst Journey in the World | Page 4

of Waterloo there was still an undiscovered continent in the
South.

For those who wish to read an account of the history of Antarctic
exploration there is an excellent chapter in Scott's Voyage of the
Discovery and elsewhere. I do not propose to give any general survey
of this kind here, but complaints have been made to me that Scott's Last
Expedition plunges the general reader into a neighbourhood which he is
supposed to know all about, while actually he is lost, having no idea
what the Discovery was, or where Castle Rock or Hut Point stand. For
the better understanding of the references to particular expeditions, to
the lands discovered by them and the traces left by them, which must
occur in this book I give the following brief introduction.
From the earliest days of the making of maps of the Southern
Hemisphere it was supposed that there was a great continent called
Terra Australis. As explorers penetrated round the Cape of Good Hope
and Cape Horn, and found nothing but stormy oceans beyond, and as,
later, they discovered Australia and New Zealand, the belief in this
continent weakened, but was not abandoned. During the latter half of
the eighteenth century eagerness for scientific knowledge was added to
the former striving after individual or State aggrandizement.
Cook, Ross and Scott: these are the aristocrats of the South.
It was the great English navigator James Cook who laid the foundations
of our knowledge. In 1772 he sailed from Deptford in the Resolution,
462 tons, and the Adventure, 336 tons, ships which had been built at
Whitby for the coal trade. He was, like Nansen, a believer in a varied
diet as one of the preventives of scurvy, and mentions that he had
among his provisions "besides Saur Krout, Portable Broth, Marmalade
of Carrots and Suspissated juice of Wort and Beer." Medals were struck
"to be given to the natives of new discovered countries, and left there as
testimonies of our being the first discoverers."[1] It would be
interesting to know whether any exist now.
After calling at the Cape of Good Hope Cook started to make his
Easting down to New Zealand, purposing to sail as far south as possible
in search of a southern continent. He sighted his first 'ice island' or
iceberg in lat. 50° 40´ S., long. 2° 0´ E., on December 10, 1772. The
next day he "saw some white birds about the size of pigeons, with
blackish bills and feet. I never saw any such before."[2] These must
have been Snowy Petrel. Passing through many bergs, where he notices
how the albatross left them and penguins appeared, he was brought up

by thick pack ice along which he coasted. Under the supposition that
this ice was formed in bays and rivers Cook was led to believe that land
was not far distant. Incidentally he remarks that in order to enable his
men to support the colder weather he "caused the sleeves of their
jackets (which were so short as to expose their arms) to be lengthened
with baize; and had a cap made for each man of the same stuff, together
with canvas; which proved of great service to them."[3]
For more than a month Cook sailed the Southern Ocean, always among
bergs and often among pack. The weather was consistently bad and
generally thick; he mentions that he had only seen the moon once since
leaving the Cape.
It was on Sunday, January 17, 1773, that the Antarctic Circle was
crossed for the first time, in longitude 39° 35´ E. After proceeding to
latitude 67° 15´ S. he was stopped by an immense field of pack. From
this point he turned back and made his way to New Zealand.
Leaving New Zealand at the end of 1773 without his second ship, the
Adventure, from which he had been parted, he judged from the great
swell that "there can be no land to the southward, under the meridian of
New Zealand, but what must lie very far to the south." In latitude 62°
10´ S. he sighted the first ice island on December 12, and was stopped
by thick pack ice three days later. On the 20th he again crossed the
Antarctic Circle in longitude 147° 46´ W. and penetrated in this
neighbourhood to a latitude of 67° 31´ S. Here he found a drift towards
the north-east.
On January 26, 1774, in longitude 109° 31´ W., he crossed the
Antarctic Circle for the third time, after meeting no pack and only a
few icebergs. In latitude 71° 10´ S. he was finally turned back by an
immense field of pack, and wrote:
"I will not say it was impossible anywhere to get farther to the south;
but the attempting it would have been a dangerous and