WHALING VOYAGES 17 



Balcena, the Diana, the Active, and the Polar Star 

 of Dundee. 



In 1892 the whole of this fleet stood to the South 

 to hunt for whales in the vicinity of the South Shetlands. 

 They each brought home with them some fresh piece of 

 information. On board the Balcena was Dr. William S. 

 Bruce. This is the first time we meet with him on his 

 way to the South, but it was not to be the last. 



Simultaneously with the Scottish whaling fleet, the 

 Norwegian whaling captain, C. A. Larsen, appears in the 

 regions to the south of the South Shetlands. It is not 

 too much to say of Captain Larsen that of all those who 

 have visited the Antarctic regions in search of whales, he 

 has unquestionably brought home the best and most 

 abundant scientific results. To him we owe the dis- 

 covery of large stretches of the east coast of Graham 

 Land, King Oscar II. Land, Foyn's Land, etc. He 

 brought us news of two active volcanoes, and many 

 groups of islands. But perhaps the greatest interest 

 attaches to the fossils he brought home from Seymour 

 Island the first to be obtained from the Antarctic 

 regions. 



In November, 1894, Captain Evensen in the Hertha 

 succeeded in approaching nearer to Alexander I. Land 

 than either Bellingshausen or Biscoe. But the search 

 for whales claimed his attention, and he considered it his 

 duty to devote himself to that before anything else. 



A grand opportunity was lost : there can be no doubt 



VOL. I. 2 



