CH. LVj 
Drygalski 's Voyage 
441 
165 ft., breadth 37 ft., depth 22 ft., speed when laden 
5 knots. She could carry 600 tons of coal, and was well 
adapted for Antarctic work. 
Professor Neumeyer was of opinion that, to secure 
adequate results, the command should be given to a 
naval officer. But eventually Dr Erik von Drygalski 
was selected, a physicist who had studied glacial action 
in Greenland and was the author of a work on the subject 1 . 
An accomplished scientific staff accompanied him, and 
Captain Hans Ruser was Captain of the ship and navigator. 
The Gauss left Kerguelen Island on the 31st January, 
1902, entering the ice in February, and working for the 
Termination Land of Wilkes, which was not found. 
Land was sighted, but the Gauss wintered in the pack 
outside the Antarctic Circle in 66° 13' S. All the scientific 
staff were diligently at work, and valuable series of 
meteorological and magnetic observations were taken by 
Dr Friedrich Bidlingmaier of Potsdam. The other mem- 
bers of the scientific staff were Dr Ernst Van Hoffen, 
Dr Hans Gazert, and Dr Emil Philippi. In the summer 
a travelling party reached the land, distant about 50 
miles. A conical mountain consisting of volcanic rock 
was discovered and named Gaussberg, and collections 
were made. A line of ice cliffs was seen, extending from 
89 0 to 94 0 E., which was named Konig Wilhelm II Land. 
The place where the Gauss wintered was over a com- 
paratively shallow bank, within the continental shelf. The 
ship was freed on February 8th, 1903, and reached Cape 
Town on June 9th. 
It is to be regretted that Dr Drygalski did not go 
south on a meridian nearer to Kempe Land, when it is 
probable that he would have been more successful from 
a geographical point of view. Antarctic work was given up 
by the Germans, and the Gauss was sold to the Canadian 
Government 2 . 
Charcot 
Dr Charcot, son of the celebrated physician, an 
energetic and gifted Frenchman, endowed with a peculiar 
charm of manner, undertook to continue the work on 
1 Die gevidde Formation der Eisgeit (Berlin, 1887), and Gronlands 
Gletscher und Inlandeis. 
2 Z urn Kontinent des eisigen sudens, von Erik von Drygalski (Berlin, 1904) . 
