PUBLISHERS' NOTE 



THE readers of this book will be interested to learn 

 that the expedition from Dundee which set out for 

 the Antarctic regions in 1892 to the Weddell Sea, 

 south and east of Graham's Land, and in which the author 

 of the present volume took part, was the first of its kind since 

 the famous expedition commanded by Sir James Ross in 

 1842. Dr W. S. Bruce, the distinguished polar traveller and 

 oceanographer, was the scientific naturalist, and Mr Burn 

 Murdoch, the author of this volume, was the artist and 

 historian of the expedition, which is described by his pen in 

 " From Edinburgh to the Antarctic." It consisted of three 

 whaling vessels specially built of great strength to withstand 

 ice pressure, barque rigged and fitted with auxiliary steam 

 power. They were accompanied by a Norwegian barque of 

 similar type. The chief object of the expedition was the 

 capture of the Right or Bowhead whale by old methods, 

 from small boats. For three months these vessels were con- 

 tinuously amongst the thick pack ice and enormous bergs on 

 the east side of Graham's Land. 



The publication of the above-mentioned book, and lectures 

 by Dr Bruce and Mr Burn Murdoch, revived both at home 

 and abroad interest in the Antarctic regions, and in 1897 the 

 Belgica expedition followed in their wake, and this again was 

 followed by expeditions of various European nations. 



During the expedition of 1892-1893 vast numbers of the 

 largest- sized finner whales were observed in the neighbour- 

 hood of Erebus and Terror Gulf, and between South Georgia 

 and the South Shetland Islands. The report brought home 

 of these whales being in such numbers led to the develop- 

 ment of the present great whaling industry in the Southern 

 Seas. Companies were formed and modern steam whalers 



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