AMERICAN DISCOVERERS, ANTARCTIC CONTINENT 
509' 
His brilliant successes in Arctic and 
in Antarctic explorations place Ross in 
a class by himself in polar annals. But 
unwisely he derogated from his glory 
by unjustly attributing to Wilkes a dis- 
honorable intrusion on this field of work 
in 1840. As Wilkes was acting under 
official orders of 1836, this was clearly 
an unfounded aspersion which ultimately 
resulted in the condemnation of Ross' 
action by competent critics in England, 
France, and America. 
Wilkes, in his "Synopsis of Cruise," 
1842, clearly says that on the chart sent 
to Ross was "laid down land not only 
where we had determined it to exist, but 
those places in which every appearance 
denoted its existence," as was natural in 
a chart for information. Ross declined 
this explanation, and then unfortunately 
charted himself the Parry Mountains, 
which are non-existent (Scott: "Voyage 
of the Discovery." I: 171). 
Thus it was Ross, not Wilkes, who 
appropriated other men's discoveries, for 
three of Ross' new islands are only three 
peaks of Balleny's Sturge Island ( Scott : 
"Voyage of the Discovery," 11:389). 
The discrediting of Wilkes by stand- 
ard English authorities has been bold, 
open, and persistent for 70 years, though 
occasionally in late years some able, im- 
partial expert, like the Scotch scientist. 
Sir John Alurray, has expressed belief 
in him. 
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edi- 
tion, 1875, s^ys of Wilkes' discovery of 
the southern continent : "As a portion of 
it had already been seen by Balleny and 
the rest of it has since been proved not 
to exist, the claim has not been ad- 
mitted." Balleny's mate, John McNab, 
however, when in 65° 10' S., 117° 4' 
E., on March 3, 1839, records in his 
journal, "To the southwest the ice was 
quite fast, with every appearance of land 
at the back of it, but the weather coming 
on thick." And on this indefinite state- 
ment British geographers locate Sabrina 
Land and declare it to be knoivn land. 
In 1897, in his anniversary address to 
the Royal Geographical Society, its presi- 
dent, Sir Clements Markham, claimed 
that Sir James Clark Ross, R. N., "made 
one of the greatest of geographical dis- 
coveries of modern times, amid regions 
of perpetual ice, including a southern 
continent." 
In 1899 Markham read before the 
International Geographical Congress at 
Berlin a paper, "The Antarctic Expedi- 
tions," in which he omitted the names of 
Wilkes and Palmer. Moreover, he pro- 
posed to divide the Antarctic region into 
four quadrants, and to name each quad- 
rant after an eminent Britisher. He 
eliminated Wilkes' discoveries and pro- 
posed to call the region which Wilkes 
had explored "Victoria Quadrant," thus 
ignoring the prior and brilliant work of 
the great Antarctic French explorer,. 
Dumont D'Urville, as well as that of the 
American. 
The Antarctic Manual, 1901, compiled 
for the British National Antarctic Expe- 
dition of that year, omits from its official 
chart all of Wilkes" discoveries except 
Knox Land. 
The 30-inch British terrestrial globe, 
by W. and A. K. Johnson, corrected to 
1903, omits all of Wilkes' work. 
Capt. R. E. Scott, R. N., in his "Voy- 
age of the Discovery," 1905, states of his- 
own cruise : "Thus once and for all we 
have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land," 
and so omits it from his chart, retaining 
Sabrina Land, however, of Balleny.* 
With unconscious inconsistency Scott 
admits that "Wilkes' soundings still re- 
main as a guide to the limit of the conti- 
nental plateau," thus indirectly assuming 
that Ross discovered the austral conti- 
nent. 
Dr. Mill, "Siege of the South Pole,'" 
1905, indefinitely admits that Wilkes dis- 
covered something, but does not directly 
name any land. Ignoring entirely the 
official chart of Wilkes. Mill gives a 
misleading impression by reproducing" 
without explanation the preliminary 
chart sent to Ross (Balch: Antarctica, 
1902). Sir Ernest Shackleton accepts. 
Scott's erroneous statement about sailing 
"over part of the so-called Wilkes Land," 
"The Heart of the Antarctic," page 229, 
and omits it from his chart (except Knox 
* Mr. Edwin Swift Balch. in his "Why 
America Should Re-explore Wilkes Land," p. 
39, etc., shows that Scott never reached Wilkes. 
Land. 
