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Rh mountains and Hodgson was indefatigable in collecting marine fauna, while Bernacchi kept up the physical and meteorological observations. The second winter was lightened by the use of acetylene gas for the first time, and the dark months were passed in better spirits and better health than in the case of any previous polar wintering. In the spring of 1903–1904 Scott undertook a great journey on the western plateau, starting on the 26th of October without dogs. By the 30th of November he had reached a point on the featureless plateau of dead-level snow, 300 m. due west from the ship, the position being 77° 59′ S., 146° 33′ E. and 9000 ft. above sea-level. The ship was reached again on the 25th of December, and on the 5th of January the “Morning” arrived accompanied by a larger vessel, the “Terra Nova,” sent out by the Admiralty with orders to Captain Scott to abandon the “Discovery” and return at once. Fortunately, although all the stores and collections had been transferred to the relief ships, the “Discovery” broke out of the ice on the 16th of February 1904 and Captain Scott had the satisfaction of bringing her home in perfect order. The relief ships had provided so little coal that a most promising voyage to the westward of the Balleny Islands had to be abandoned in 155° E.; but it showed that the land charted by Wilkes east of that meridian did not exist in the latitude assigned.

Simultaneously with the “Discovery” expedition and in full co-operation with it as regards simultaneous meteorological and magnetic observations, the German government equipped an expedition in the “Gauss” which was specially built for the occasion. The expedition was under the charge of Professor Erich von Drygalski and the scientific staff included Professor Vanhoffen as naturalist, Dr Emil Philippi as geologist and Dr Friedrich Bidlingmaier as meteorologist and magnetician. The ship was under the command of Captain Hans Ruser of the Hamburg-American line. A supplementary expedition set up a station for simultaneous observations on Kerguelen Land The “Gauss” crossed the parallel of 60° S. in 92° E. early in February 1902 and got within 60 m. of the charted position of Wilkes’s Termination Land, where a depth of 1730 fathoms was found with no sign of land. The pack made it necessary to turn south-westward and land was seen to the eastward on February 1902 on the Antarctic Circle in the direction of Termination Land. Soon afterwards the “Gauss” was beset and spent the winter in the ice. Land of considerable extent was seen to the south and was named Kaiser Wilhelm II. Land; the most conspicuous feature on it was a hill of bare black rock with an elevation of about 1000 ft, which was called the Gaussberg, and was situated in 67° S., 90° E. This was the only bare land seen, and its neighbourhood was thoroughly investigated by sledge parties, but no distant journey was undertaken. In February 1903 the “Gauss” was freed from the ice; but although Drygalski struggled for two months to thread the maze of floes to the eastward and south he could gain no higher latitude and was able to force his way only to 80° E. before seeking the open sea. The scientific observations and collections were most extensive and of great value.

Two private expeditions organized by men of science were in the Antarctic region simultaneously with the British and German national expeditions, and the synchronous meteorological and magnetic observations added to the value of the scientific results of all the parties. Dr. Otto Nordenskjöld, nephew of the discoverer of the North-East Passage, led a Swedish party in the “Antarctic,” with Captain C. A. Larsen in command of the ship, and reached the South Shetlands in January 1902, afterwards exploring on the east side of Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land, and wintering on shore on Snow Hill Island in 64° 25′ S. From this point a long journey on ski over the flat sea ice bordering King Oscar Land was made to the south, but the Antarctic Circle was not reached. Meanwhile the “Antarctic” had succeeded in penetrating the pack in the Weddell Sea almost to the circle in 50° W., where D’Urville and Ross had failed to get so far south. A second winter was spent at the base on Snow Hill Island, and, the ship having been lost in the ice on her way to take them off, the party was rescued by a brilliant dash of the Argentine gunboat “Uruguay,” under Captain Irizar, before the relief ship sent from Sweden arrived.

Meanwhile Dr W. S. Bruce, largely aided financially by Mr James Coats and Captain Andrew Coats, equipped a Scottish expedition in the “Scotia,” with Captain Thomas Robertson in command of the ship, and a scientific staff including Mr R. C. Mossman as meteorologist, Mr R. N. Rudmose Brown as naturalist, and Dr J. H. H. Pirie as geologist. The principal object of the expedition was the exploration of the Weddell Sea. The “Scotia” sighted the South Orkneys on the 3rd of February 1903, and after a short struggle with the pack she found an open sea to 70° 25′ S., where she was beset on the 22nd in 18° W., and whence she returned by a more westerly course, re-crossing the Antarctic Circle in 40° W. This important voyage midway between the tracks of Weddell and Ross, who alone of all who tried had reached 70° S. in this region, practically demonstrated the navigability of Weddell Sea in favourable conditions, and the oceanographical observations made were the most valuable yet carried out in the Antarctic region. The following year, starting from the Sandwich group, Bruce crossed the Antarctic Circle about 22° W., and was able to make a straight run south to 74° 1′ S., where the “Scotia” was stopped by the ice in 159 fathoms of water, the sea having shoaled rapidly from a great depth. From the 3rd of March to the 13th the “Scotia” remained in shallow water, catching occasional glimpses of a great ice wall with snow covered heights beyond it, along a line of 150 m., and dredging quantities of continental rocks. On this evidence the name Coats Land was given to the land within the barrier. The “Scotia” crossed the Antarctic Circle northward in 11° W., having in the two years explored a totally unknown sea for a distance of thirty degrees of longitude. A meteorological station was established by Mr Mossman on Laurie Island, in the South Orkneys (61° S.) in March 1903, and kept up by him for two years, when it was taken over by the Argentine government, and it now has the distinction of being the most southerly station at which continuous observations have ever been taken for over five years.

In January 1904 Dr Jean B. Charcot, a man of science and an accomplished yachtsman, left the Fuegian archipelago for the Antarctic in the “Français,” in command of a French exploring expedition equipped at his own instance. He cruised through the islands of the Palmer Archipelago, and wintered in a cove of Wandel Island 65° 5′ S. near the southern entrance of Gerlache Strait. On the 25th of December 1904 the “Français” was free, and continued to cruise southward along the coast of Graham Land, to the south of which, on the 15th of January, when nearly in latitude 67°, a new coast appeared, mountainous and stretching to the south-west, but Charcot could not determine whether it was joined to Graham Land or to Alexander Land. While approaching the land the “Français” struck a rock, and was so much damaged that further exploration was impossible, and after naming the new discovery Loubet Land, the expedition returned. Charcot organized a second expedition in 1908 on board the “Pourquoi Pas?” and, leaving Punta Arenas in December, returned to the Palmer Archipelago, and during January 1909 made a detailed examination of the coast to the southward, finding that Loubet Land Was practically continuous on the north with Graham Land and on the south with Alexander Land, which was approached within a mile at one point. Adelaide Island, reported by Biscoe as 8 m. long, was found to be a large island 70 m. in length, consisting of a series of summits rising out of an icefield. The Biscoe Islands were found to be much more numerous than was formerly supposed. The expedition wintered at Petermann Island in 65° 10′ S., and attempts were made to reach the interior of Graham Land, though with little success. After coaling from the whalers’ dépôt at Deception