Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/296

LEFT ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS 238 ARCTIC OCEAN the knowledge of the region. He navi- gated through what he named the Pour- quoi Pas? from 60 "^ to 124° W., chiefly between lat. 69° and 70°, sailing a great deal of unknown water. He discovered two entirely new regions which he named Loubet Land in honor of the President of France, and Charcot Land, presum- ably in honor of himself. His chief contribution to South Polar geography was the proof that Palmer Land was a vast continuous area — in reality a con- tinent, and not divided by water as pre- vious explorers had held. Following these and previous explorations, there has ensued a development of the fisheries of these regions totaling yearly several million dollars, over which from 50° S. Great Britain has proclaimed control. The Australian quadrant has always been regarded as the nearest and best way of reaching the South Pole itself. The largest portion of Antarctica, too, lies in this boundary. Still it was the last to invite the explorer. The first credit belongs to a Captain Balleny (1839), who added five islands to the maps in long. 165° E., lat. 67° S. The first enterprise of real importance was the small U. S. squadron under Captain Wilkes (1840), which followed the Ant- arctic circle for 1,600 miles. Land was seen now and then. The same year a French squadron under D'Urville discov- ered Adelie Land, whereupon a meteoro- logical station was located. He was about 700 miles from Wilkes' route. Other so- called land mapped by D'Urville, how- ever, later proved to be only glacier. Drygalski (1902), following largely in the track of Wilkes, confirmed his dis- coveries, which had been more or less discredited for half a century. Lieuten- ant Ernest Shackleton's two expeditions in this section — in 1909 and 1912 — were highly important to the annals of explo- ration so far as it could be extended in such a region. Douglas Mawson set out from Australia in 1911 to explore much debatable country. He added King George V. Land to the map, extending as far south as lat. 70° 30' S. His com- panion Wild, meantime, discovered and mapped Queen Mary Land. Davis (1912) discovered unknown land between Maw- son and Wild. All these discoveries, extending over 55 degrees of longitude, have finally given some reality to the size of the great ice-continent, and it is now believed be- yond question that Antarctica stretches unbroken between the Kaiser Wilhelm Land of Drygalski (1902) 86° E. and Carmel Land, discovered by Amundsen, in 158° W. over 116 degrees of longitude. Mawson discovered glaciers in King George Land, which cover more than 1,000 square miles in the ocean. One of Lieutenant Shackleton's discoveries was an ice-cap — named for him — cover- ing 36,000 square miles of the Antarctic Ocean, and 180 by 200 miles in length and breadth. The largest ice-cap known, however, is Ross' Barrier, discovered by Ross (1841), of which Scott, one of Shackleton's lieutenants, estimates the surface area at 120,000 square miles, which is larger than the states of New York and Pennsylvania combined. No sketch of Antarctic discovery should omit the great value of the finds of J. C. Ross (1841). He added nearly 8 degrees of longitude to Victoria Land, discovered the Ross "Barrier," and reached lat. 78° 10' S., long. 161° 27' E. Borchgrevink (1900) passed the first winter by man within the Arctic Circle and reached 78° 50'. Scott, of England (1901-1903), discov- ered King Edward VIL Land between long. 152° and 153° W. He made a definite effort to reach the southern mag- netic pole the following year, attaining 82° 17' S. Shackleton, in 1909, in a dash for the Pole, made a wonderful journey, by sledge, making the record of 88° 23' S. He got within 97 miles of the Pole and within 366 miles of the record. Scott's second expedition (1911-1913), was tragical, in that it resulted in the death of himself and four companions on their way back from having finally found the Pole. They reached it Jan. 18, 1912, to find Amundsen's record of his own discovery 35 days before. Roald Amund- sen, long inured to Polar adventure in the north, set out from Norway in 1911 with the avowed conquest of the South Pole. He started from the edge of the great Ross Barrier where he had wintered in sledges, and after an 870 mile journey located the southern apex of the planet on Dec. 14, 1911. It is on a plateau of 10,500 feet altitude above sea-level — and there are no mountains in the vicinity. Amundsen also made the important dis- covery of the southerly extremity of the Ross oceanic ice-cap (Ross Barrier) in 85° S. 164° W., adding to the knowledge of the extent of the continent of Ant- arctica. See Amundsen, Roald. ARCTIC OCEAN, that part of the water surface of the earth which sur- rounds the North Pole, and washes the northern shores of Europe, Asia, and America; its southern boundary roughly coinciding with the Arctic circle (lat. 66° 32' N.). It incloses many large islands, and contains large bays and gulfs which deeply indent the northern shores of the three continents.