CONCERNING OUR MISSION 57 



how much they owed to the rank and file. For my part I can 

 but say that success in such an expedition as ours is not due to 

 a single individual, or to a few individuals, but to the loyal 

 co-operation of all its members, and therefore I must ever 

 hold in grateful memory that small company of petty officers and 

 men who worked so cheerfully and loyally for the general good. 



I have now endeavoured to give the reader some idea of 

 the good ship ' Discovery,' and of the gallant crew which 

 manned her ; it remains to give a clearer account of the 

 mission on which she was despatched. 



It was Sir Clements Markham who first suggested that for 

 convenience of reference the Antarctic area should be divided 

 into four quadrants, to be named respectively the Victoria, the 

 Ross, the Weddell, and the Enderby. Having given a brief 

 outline of the history of Antarctic research, I will pause here 

 for a moment to point out the prospects which each of these 

 quadrants offered for exploration. 



The Victoria quadrant included that region which had 

 been investigated by Wilkes and D'Urville. Whilst it offered 

 an interesting problem in the discovery of the true extension 

 of Adelie Land, the prospect of getting to a high latitude in it 

 did not seem hopeful. 



Very little was known of the Enderby quadrant, but much 

 attention had been called to it by the scientific voyage of the 

 ' Challenger,' and this, with certain evidences connected with 

 drifting ice, had caused some people to believe that a high 

 latitude might be reached in this region. This opinion was 

 especially held in Germany, and it was therefore in this direc- 

 tion that the ' Gauss ' was steered. 



The Weddell quadrant I have already noticed as a region 

 of exceptional interest. More than once ships had attempted 

 to penetrate to the open sea reported by Weddell, but they 

 had invariably found it impossible to do so. But these vessels 

 had not possessed the power of steam ; with a steamer there 

 seemed little doubt that Weddell's farthest point could be 

 reached, and an explorer might determine what lay in the clear 

 sea which had been seen beyond. 



