HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 123 



of such striking results, that, if the Belgian expedition 

 under De Gerlache be excepted, no second undertaking 

 of the kind should have been set on foot. Since the 

 absolute necessity for Antarctic exploration has been in- 

 sisted upon on all sides, more especially in England and 

 and in Germany, as essential to an extended knowledge 

 of scientific physiography, it is certainly most remarkable 

 that not even a similar short advance should have been 

 undertaken, to say nothing of a fully-equipped South 

 Polar Expedition. It is true that the great International 

 Polar Exploration during its year of activity secured two 

 stations for observations in the southern hemisphere, 

 but one was in Tierra del Fuego, in latitude 55° S., and 

 the other, the German one, was situated on the north-east 

 coast of South Georgia in Royal Bay, in latitude 54° 30' 

 S. The results attained by both were highly important, 

 and advanced the investigation of terrestro-magnetism 

 no less than that of meteorology ; nevertheless both were 

 too far distant from actual South Polar regions, and in 

 other directions they could not possibly compensate for 

 the absence of exploration and research in high latitudes. 

 Ten years passed away before the idea of a voyage 

 to Antarctic waters again arose, but not this time in the 

 interests of science. The results of the whale fishery in 

 the Arctic seas had for a long time steadily fallen off; 

 indeed, some of the more important kinds of whales had 

 nearly died out owing to the ruthless havoc made by 

 steamers from the northern whaling stations equipped with 

 harpoon guns. In consequence of this, two Scotch 

 whaling captains, David and John Gray, published a 

 memorial in which they dwelt on the large number and 

 gigantic size of the Greenland, or very similar, whales 

 observed by Ross in the waters to the east of Louis- 

 Philippe Land. This suggestion fell on good ground, 

 and in the beginning of September, 1892, four ships 

 belonging to the Dundee Whale Fishing Company left 



