Siege of the South Pole 
CHAPTER I 
THE ORIGIN OF THE IDEA 
“A wanderer is Man from his birth. 
He was born in a ship on the breast of the river of Time 
Brimming with wonder and joy . . .” 
— Matthew Arnold. 
V OYAGES towards the South Pole commenced so 
long ago, and they have exercised an influence on 
the trend of exploration so continuously, that a com- 
plete history of the search for the Antarctic would almost 
be a history of geographical discovery. 
The particular motive to Antarctic exploration has 
varied from age to age as the special problem it was ex- 
pected to solve has changed with the growth of knowl- 
edge and the development of thought. When first stated 
the problem was no more than a philosophical specula- 
tion, a mere academic thesis interesting a few learned 
men. It grew to be a burning question in the struggle 
of rival Powers for commercial and political supremacy. 
It was a force in empire-building, with the Common- 
wealth of Australia as a product of its partial solution. 
The period of stress and strife has passed with the strenu- 
ous lives of the circumnavigators ; but a time of renewed 
interest of a quieter sort has come when it is particularly 
appropriate to turn a backward glance toward the be- 
