92 THE ANTARCTIC. 



south, the internal and external equipment of the two 

 vessels destined for James Clark Ross's three years' 

 expedition had already been vigorously taken in hand 

 at Chatham. Preparations were completed by the end 

 of September, and on the 30th of September, 1839, 

 Ross, as leader of the expedition, left England from 

 Margate Roads, on board the Erebus, of which he was 

 commander. The commander of the Terror was 

 Francis Crozier, who subsequently accompanied Sir 

 John Franklin in the same vessel and lost his life in 

 1 845. Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, St. 

 Paul's Rocks (lying near the equator between Africa and 

 South America), Trinidad (longitude 29° W., latitude 21° 

 S.), and St. Helena were visited, and simultaneous mag- 

 netic observations were made, i.e., at the same time as 

 at all the observatories scattered over the earth. On 

 the 17th of March, 1840, the expedition reached the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and remained there till the 6th 

 of April for the purpose of establishing a permanent 

 magnetic observatory. On resuming their voyage, 

 Prince Edward (or Marion) Island and Crozet Island 

 were visited, without landing, and on the 6th of May 

 Kerguelen Island came in sight. It was not till the 

 15th of May that they made Christmas Harbour, dis- 

 covered and described by the first to visit it, Kerguelen, 

 and subsequently by Cook. Here the ships remained 

 till the 20th of July, busily occupied with extensive mag- 

 netic observations. 



At length, on the 16th of August, Hobart Town in 

 Tasmania was reached, where Ross, according to his 

 instructions, again erected and established a permanent 

 magnetic observatory. Here, too, he was met by the news 

 that he had been anticipated by Dumont d'Urville and by 

 Wilkes in the exploration of the regions in which it was 

 conjectured that the South Magnetic Pole was situated. 

 Wilkes, indeed, conveyed to Ross the tracing of the 



