12 THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH POLE 



After calling at the Auckland Islands and at Camp- 

 bell Island, Ross again steered for the South, and the 

 Antarctic Circle was crossed on New Year's Day, 1841. 

 The ships were now faced by the ice-pack, but to Ross 

 this was not the dangerous enemy it had appeared to 

 earlier explorers with their more weakly constructed 

 vessels. Ross plunged boldly into the pack with his 

 fortified ships, and, taking advantage of the narrow 

 leads, he came out four days later, after many severe 

 buffets, into the open sea to the South. 



Ross had reached the sea now named after him, and 

 the boldest voyage known in Antarctic exploration was 

 accomplished. 



Few people of the present day are capable of rightly 

 appreciating this heroic deed, this brilliant proof of 

 human courage and energy. With two ponderous craft 

 -regular 'tubs' according to our ideas these men 

 sailed right into the heart of the pack, which all previous 

 polar explorers had regarded as certain death. It is not 

 merely difficult to grasp this; it is simply impossible 

 to us, who with a motion of the hand can set the screw 

 going, and wriggle out of the first difficulty we encounter. 

 These men were heroes heroes in the highest sense of 

 the word. 



It was in lat.69 15' S. and long. 176 15' E. that Ross 

 found the open sea. On the following day the horizon 

 was perfectly clear of ice. What joy that man must have 

 felt when he saw that he had a clear way to the South ! 



