122 RETURN OE THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



backed up by your pleadiui^ faces, may even permit him to 

 ^ive us, when he speaks, a few crumbs upon which to live till 

 his record is published. 



The map prepared for you by Mr. Morton will enable you 

 to follow quite easily this short account of past Antarctic 

 discovery. 



The credit of first getting near the South Polar regions 

 lies with the Dutch. In 155)8, that is, in Queen Elizabeth's 

 reign, Admiral Mahn discovered the South Shetlands in 

 lat. 64°. But it is England that claims to have first crossed 

 the Antarctic Circle (67° 30' S.) ; Captain Cook twice crossed 

 it in 1773 and 1874, and in 1874 he reached 71° 10', and 

 afterwards wjjs the first to completely circumnavigate the 

 Antarctic ice fields. 



What is specially interesting in recording Antarctic travel 

 is the fact that lat. 70" S. seems to be almost an English 

 enclosure beyond which only one ship not English in its 

 starting point has ever yet penetrated. I will come to the 

 exception presently. 



If you will look at the map you will note that a good many 

 have approached lat. 70°, but few have crossed it. The 

 Russian Bellinghausen just reached it in 1819-20, in two places, 

 but did not cross it. Now follow the course of English enier- 

 |)rise within the charmed circle. Cook twice crossed in 1773-4. 

 Biscoe in 1830 possibly crossed behind Enderby Land. But 

 it is Weddell who made the next great step after Cook. In 

 two sealing ships he beat Cook by three degrees, and reached 

 74° 15' S., -rind saw no ice southward except thrte ice- 

 bergs, but dare not proceed on account of time. The white 

 space, therefore, on the map is not all ice, but uncharted 

 surface. Weddell's furthest south, accomplished io a ship, 

 is right in the middle of that wliite space. And so 

 we come to E-oss and Crozier's famous achievements. 

 You will note also how Ross pierced towards the Pole from 

 opposite sides, reaching in two successive years 78° 10' from 

 the Tasmanian side, and 71° 30' from the opposite side. He 

 also landed on two islands near Victoria Land — Possession 

 Island andFranklin Island — (78° 10' has been therefore until 

 now the furthest south). The only ship not fitted out in 

 England which has crossed 70° S. is the " Antarctic," with 

 which Mr. Borchgrevink's name is also connected. So Norway 

 has had the credit of reaching in a whaler 74° S., and also 

 of recording the first landing on the Antarctic continent, and 

 of gathering the first specimen of plant life at so high a 

 latitude. 



There sit before us now some 30 men who have beaten 

 Ross by some 40 miles, have done it on land, and are with 

 marvellous consistency keeping back their fascinating secrets. 



