CHAPTER III 



THE SOUTH AND ITS SCIENTIFIC SCOPE 



The long preparations at last completed, at the end of 

 September 1839 they set sail on an adventurous voyage for 

 how long they knew not. Its exact scope and length depended 

 on the captain and his undivulged instructions. In the end, 

 as has been said, they reached home within four years ; but 

 there had been talk of a fifth year or more. In three successive 

 summers they entered the ice. The first voyage was the most 

 rewarding, the second the most perilous. Eoss indeed failed 

 to reach his formal objective. He found a continent instead 

 of open sea : the Magnetic Pole was 150 miles inland. The 

 icy sheet which barred nearer approach to the shore stretched 

 a full twenty miles further to the north than it does now : 

 and for saihng ships at the mercy of winds and tides it was 

 impossible to land here or winter with reasonable prospect of 

 safety. 



Geographically, however, they achieved imlooked for 

 triumphs. The experiences of their predecessors offered 

 little or no prospect of new discoveries, but as Captain Scott 

 wrote of that ' wonderful voyage ' : 



When the extent of our knowledge before and after it is 

 considered, all must concede that it deserves to rank among 

 the most brilHant and famous that have been made. After 

 all the preceding experiences and adventures in the Southern 

 Seas, few things could have looked m^ore hopeless than an 

 attack upon that great ice-bound region which lay within 

 the Antarctic Circle ; yet out of this desolate prospect 

 Eoss wrested an open sea, a vast mountain region, a smoking 



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