70 THE ANTARCTIC. 



Wilkes, as commodore, which left Chesapeake Bay in 

 1838. As already stated, both expeditions had been 

 designed for purposes other than merely polar explor- 

 ation, both commanders having equipment suitable to 

 other purposes. Dumont D'Urville was doubtless an 

 excellent navigator and hydrographer ; this he had 

 abundantly proved during two voyages round the 

 world, both with remarkable results, but he was not best 

 fitted for navigating polar seas, and openly gave ex- 

 pression to his dislike of the enterprise. Neither were 

 his vessels properly fitted out for this purpose, in spite of 

 the ingenious invention of one of his officers, who had 

 strengthened the bows of the vessels against the ice with 

 plates made of a sort of brass, though to be sure the 

 armour came off at the first encounter. Dumont 

 D'Urville's crews moreover were in no way equal to the 

 hardships of polar voyages, as was proved by the sad 

 mortality among them. The same may be said of the 

 American expedition in regard of the ships and the 

 absence of polar experience, although it showed a far 

 braver front than the French in like circumstances. 

 Both expeditions therefore were immeasurably behind 

 that of Ross in these particulars, while he was not only 

 one of the most eminent of polar navigators himself, but 

 was able to select his own officers and crews solely for 

 their fitness, and finally, his vessels were specially pre- 

 pared and protected for the purpose of polar navigation. 

 Nevertheless, both Dumont D'Urville and Wilkes, 

 especially the latter, largely contributed to an extended 

 and scientific knowledge of the Antarctic regions. 



D'Urville first spent some time at the end of 1837 m 

 surveying portions of the region of the Straits of Magellan, 

 leaving these waters on the 9th of January, 1838, to steer 

 south. He frequently emphasises that it was the primary 

 object of his expedition to follow Weddell's course as far 

 as was possible, and to exceed it if practicable ; the 



