704 REPORT— 1903. 



As a ship fitted to meet the most stormy seas and to buffet "with the ice, the 

 ' Discovery ' has heen a great success. Lst me add another tribute to her vahie. 

 From Spithead until she reached New Zealand but small corrections were required 

 for reducing the observations made on board. The experience of Ross's Antarctic 

 expedition had, however, taught the lesson that two wood-built ships, the 'Erebus ' 

 and * Terror,' with but some 3° to 4° of deviation of the compass at Simon's Bay, 

 South Africa, found as much as 5G° of deviation at their position farthest south, 

 an amount almost prohibitory of good results being obtained on board. 



How fared the ' Discovery '? I have been told by Lieutenant Shackleton — for 

 the cause of whose return to England we must all feel great sympathy — that 

 a maximum of only 11° of deviation was observed at her most southerly position. 

 From this we may look forward hopefully to magnetic results of a value hitlierto 

 unattained in those regions. 



At winter quarters, besides the monthly absolute observations of the magnetic 

 elements, the Eschenhagen variometers or self-registering instruments for con- 

 tinuously recording the changes in the declination, horizontal force, and vertical 

 force were established, and in good working order at the time appointed for com- 

 mencing the year's observations. 



I may here remind you that some time previously to the departure of the 

 British and German Antarctic expeditions, a scheme of co-operation had been 

 established between them, according to which observations of exactly the same 

 nature, with the same form of variometers, were to be carried out at their respective 

 winter quarters during a v/hole year, commencing March 1, 1902. Besides the 

 continuous observations with the variometers, regular term-days and term-hours 

 were agreed upon for obtaining special observations with them at the same moment 

 of Greenwich mean time. Both e.xpeditions have successfully completed this part 

 of their intended work. 



To co-operate in like manner with these far southern stations, the Argentine 

 Government sent a special party of observers to Staten Island, near Cape Horn, 

 and the Germans another to Kerguelen Land, whilst New Zealand entered heartily 

 into the work. In addition, similar observations were arranged to be made in 

 certain British and colonial observatories, which include Kew, Falmouth, Bombay, 

 Mauritius, and Melbourne ; also in German and other foreign observatories. 



We have all read thrilling accounts of the journeys of the several travelling 

 parties which set out from the ' Discovery,' and of the imminent dangers to life they 

 encountered and how they happily escaped them except one brave fellow named 

 Vince, who disappeared over one of those mighty ice-clift's, upon which all 

 Antarctic voyagers descant, into the sea. In spite of all this there is a record of 

 magnetic observations taken on these journeys of which only an outline has yet been 

 given. Anticipations of the value of these observations are somewhat clouded 

 when we read in one report that hills ' more inland were composed of granite rock, 

 split and broken, as well as weatherworn, into extraordinary .shapes. l"he lower or 

 more outer hills consisted of quartz, &c., with basaltic dykes cutting through them.' 

 Consequently, we have to fear the effects of local magnetic disturbances of the needle 

 in the land observations, whilst buoyed up with the hope of obtaining normal 

 results on board the ship. 



Judging from .some land observations which have been received, it appears that 

 considerable changes have taken place in the values of the magnetic elements in 

 the regions we are considering, but when making comparisons we have to remem- 

 ber the sixty years which have elapsed since Ross's time, and that he had nothing 

 like the advantage of steam for his ships, or of instruments of precision like our 

 present ship ' Discovery.' His ships also were, as we have already remarked, much 

 worse magnetically, causing far more serious disturbance of the instruments. 

 Hence the changes we note may not be entirely due to changes in the earth's 

 magnetism. 



The observations made by the officers of the ' Southern Cross ' at Cape Adare 

 in 1899-1900 also contribute to this question of magnetic change. 



