EXPLORING ANTARCTIC SEAS 



placing the islands of the South Pacific on the map, 

 though that is outside of the province of this brief 

 study. 



Period 1775-1838 



As is so often the case in exploration, there was a 

 period of quiescence after an epoch of great discovery. 

 For some forty years exploration was confined chiefly 

 to those seas to the south of America where the whal- 

 ing industry obtained the illuminating oils of the 

 period. Americans and British took part in the in- 

 dustry, but there were many more American ships. 

 However, a Britisher, Smith, discovered the South 

 Shetland Isles in 18 19, and they were surveyed by a 

 British sailor, Bransfield, next year. In 1821 the 

 American, Palmer, discovered the archipelago which 

 hugs the west coast of Graham Land (see Figure 7), 

 and next year a Britisher, Powell, found the South 

 Orkneys, which lie halfway between the South Shet- 

 lands and South Georgia. There has been a good deal 

 of controversy as to who first discovered the actual 

 mountains of Graham Land (or West Antarctica), but 

 this perhaps is of less importance now that Wilkins has 

 .shown that this large land mass is in turn isolated from 

 the main continent by Stefansson Strait (Fig. 7). 



The splendid voyages of Bellingshausen have never 

 received the credit which they deserve. He was a 

 Russian sailor who was commissioned by Emperor 

 Alexander I in 181 9 to circumnavigate the South Pole. 

 His discoveries much resembled those of Cook. He 

 sailed from South Georgia to the east on December 



19 



