Southern Cross Expedition
Encyclopedia
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration defines an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen...
, and the forerunner of the more celebrated journeys of Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
and Ernest Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
. The brainchild of the Norwegian-born, half-British explorer and schoolmaster Carsten Borchgrevink, it was the first expedition to over-winter on the Antarctic mainland, the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
since James Clark Ross
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
in 1839–43, and the first to effect a landing on the Barrier's surface. It also pioneered the use of dogs and sledges in Antarctic travel.
The expedition was privately financed by the British magazine publisher Sir George Newnes
George Newnes
Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...
. Taken south in the ship Southern Cross in August 1898, Borchgrevink's party spent the winter of 1899 at Cape Adare
Cape Adare
Cape Adare is the northeastern most peninsula in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The cape separates the Ross Sea to the east from the Southern Ocean to the west, and is backed by the high Admiralty Mountains...
, the north-west extremity of the Ross Sea
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
. Here they carried out an extensive programme of scientific observations, although opportunities for inland exploration were severely restricted by the mountainous and glaciated terrain surrounding the base. In January 1900 the party left Cape Adare in Southern Cross to explore the Ross Sea, following the route taken by Ross sixty years earlier. They reached the Great Ice Barrier, where a team of three made the first sled
Sled
A sled, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface. Most sleds are used on surfaces with low friction, such as snow or ice. In some cases,...
ge journey on the Barrier surface, during which a new Farthest South
Farthest South
Farthest South was the term used to denote the most southerly latitudes reached by explorers before the conquest of the South Pole in 1911. Significant steps on the road to the pole were the discovery of lands south of Cape Horn in 1619, Captain James Cook's crossing of the Antarctic Circle in...
record latitude was established at 78°50′S.
On its return to England the expedition was coolly received by London's geographical establishment which was resentful of the pre-emption of a role they envisaged for their own National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition
Discovery Expedition
The British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, generally known as the Discovery Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier...
. There were also questions about Borchgrevink's leadership qualities, and criticism of the limited amounts of scientific information which the expedition provided. Despite the groundbreaking achievements in Antarctic survival and travel, Borchgrevink was never accorded the heroic status of Scott or Shackleton, and his expedition was soon forgotten in the dramas which surrounded these and other Heroic Age explorers. However, Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
, conqueror of the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
in 1911, acknowledged that Borchegrevink's expedition had removed the greatest obstacles to Antarctic travel, and had opened the way for all the expeditions that followed.
Background
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. In 1894 he joined a commercial expedition, led by Henryk Bull
Henryk Bull
Henryk Bull was a Norwegian businessman and shipping magnate. Henry Bull was one of the pioneers in the exploration of Antarctica.-Biography:...
in the whaler Antarctic, which penetrated Antarctic waters and reached Cape Adare, the western portal to the Ross Sea
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
. A party including Bull and Borchgrevink briefly landed there and claimed to be the first men to set foot on the Antarctic continent—disregarding the 1821 claim of American sealer John Davis
John Davis (sealer)
Captain John Davis was a seal hunter from Connecticut, USA who captained men who may have been the first to have set foot on Antarctica on 7 February 1821 shortly after the first sightings of the new continent by Fabian von Bellingshausen, Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, Edward Bransfield and Nathaniel...
to have landed on the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....
. They also visited Possession Island
Possession Islands
The Possession Islands are a group of small islands and rocks extending over an area of about , lying in the western part of the Ross Sea, southeast of Cape McCormick, Victoria Land...
in the Ross Sea, leaving a message in a tin box as proof of their journey. Borchgrevink was convinced that the Cape Adare location, with its huge penguin rookery providing a ready supply of fresh food and blubber
Blubber
Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue found under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds and sirenians.-Description:Lipid-rich, collagen fiber–laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for parts of the appendages, strongly attached to the musculature...
, could serve as a base at which a future expedition could overwinter
Overwinter
To overwinter is to pass through or wait out the winter season, or to pass through that period of the year when “winter” conditions make normal activity or even survival difficult or near impossible...
and subsequently explore the Antarctic interior.
Determined that he would lead such an expedition himself, Borchgrevink spent much of the next three years attempting to gain financial backing in Australia and England. Despite some encouragement from the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), whose International Congress he addressed in 1895, he was initially unsuccessful. The RGS was in fact harbouring plans of its own for a large-scale National Antarctic Expedition and was in search of funds; Borchgrevink was regarded by RGS president Sir Clements Markham as a foreign interloper and a rival for funding. However, Borchgrevink eventually managed to persuade publisher Sir George Newnes
George Newnes
Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...
(whose business rival Alfred Harmsworth was backing Markham's venture) to meet the full cost of his expedition, some £40,000 (approximately £ as of ). This gift infuriated Markham and the RGS, since Newnes's donation, had it come their way, would have been enough "to get the National Expedition on its legs".
Newnes made one stipulation: Borchgrevink's expedition must sail under the British flag, and be styled the British Antarctic Expedition. Borchgrevink readily agreed to this, even though only two of the entire expedition party were British. This increased the hostility and contempt of Markham, who chastised RGS librarian Hugh Robert Mill
Hugh Robert Mill
Hugh Robert Mill was a Scottish geographer and meteorologist who was influential in the reform of geography teaching, and in the development of meteorology as a science. Educated in Scotland, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1883...
for attending the Southern Cross Expedition launch.
There, Mill had toasted the success of the expedition in stirring terms, calling it "a reproach to human enterprise" that there were parts of the earth that man had never attempted to reach. He hoped that this reproach would be lifted through "the munificence of Sir George Newnes and the courage of Mr Borchgrevink".
Organisation
Expedition objectives
Borchgrevink's expedition objectives comprised commercial, scientific and geographical goals. He considered forming a company to exploit the extensive guanoGuano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
deposits that he had observed during his 1894–95 voyage, but this came to nothing. In numerous addresses to scientific societies, he stressed the extent of work that could be carried out by a resident expedition, including the possibility of establishing the location of the South Magnetic Pole
South Magnetic Pole
The Earth's South Magnetic Pole is the wandering point on the Earth's surface where the geomagnetic field lines are directed vertically upwards...
. The team of scientists that Borchgrevink appointed, though inexperienced, covered a wide range of disciplines—magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
, meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, taxidermy
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
and cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. Borchgrevink also hoped that the expedition's scientific achievements could be matched by spectacular geographical discoveries and journeys, even perhaps an attempt on the geographical South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
itself. With no knowledge of the continent's geography, he was unaware that the site of the base at Cape Adare would rule out any serious exploration of the Antarctic interior.
Ship
For his expedition's ship, Borchgrevink purchased a steam whaler, Pollux, that had been built in the yard of the Norwegian shipbuilder Colin ArcherColin Archer
Colin Archer was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. His parents emigrated from Scotland to Norway in 1825....
. Archer had designed and built Nansen's
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
ship Fram
Fram
Fram is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912...
, which in 1896 had returned unscathed from its long drift in the northern polar ocean during Nansen's "Farthest North" expedition, 1893–96. Pollux, which Borchgrevink immediately renamed Southern Cross, was barque-rigged
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
, 520 tons gross
Gross tonnage
Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...
, and 146 feet (44.5 m) overall length. Engines were designed to Borchgrevink's specification, and fitted before the ship left Norway. Although Markham cast doubts on her seaworthiness (perhaps to thwart Borchgrevink's departure), the ship fulfilled all that was required of her in Antarctic waters. Like several of the historic polar ships her post-expedition life was short; she was sold to the Newfoundland Sealing Company, and in April 1914 was lost with all hands in a storm off the Newfoundland coast.
Personnel
The shore party of ten who were to winter at Cape Adare consisted of Borchgrevink, five scientists, a medical officer, a cook who also served as a general assistant, and two dog drivers. Of this party, five were Norwegians, two were English, one was Australian and two, the dog experts, were SamisSami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
from Northern Norway, sometimes described in expedition accounts as Lapp
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
s or "Finns". Among the scientists was the Tasmanian Louis Bernacchi
Louis Bernacchi
Louis Charles Bernacchi , a physicist and astronomer, is best known for his role in several expeditions to the Antarctic.-Early life:...
, who had studied magnetism and meteorology at the Melbourne Observatory
Melbourne Observatory
Melbourne Observatory was founded in 1862 to serve as a scientific research institution for the rapidly growing city of Melbourne, the capital of the colony of Victoria. The observatory was tasked by the Victorian government with maintaining an accurate time reference for the colony through...
. He had been appointed to the Belgian Antarctic Expedition
Belgian Antarctic Expedition
The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897 to 1899, named after its expedition vessel Belgica, was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region.- Preparation and Surveying :...
, 1897–99, but had been unable to take up his post; the expedition's ship, Belgica, had failed to call at Melbourne on its way south, leaving Bernacchi stranded. Bernacchi then travelled to London and secured a place on Borchgrevink's scientific staff. His chronicle of the Southern Cross Expedition, which was published in 1901, was critical of aspects of Borchgrevink's leadership, but defended the expedition's scientific achievements. In 1901 Bernacchi went back to Antarctica as a physicist on Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition. Another of Borchgrevink's men who was to serve the Discovery Expedition (in command of Discoverys relief ship Morning) was Englishman William Colbeck
William Colbeck (seaman)
William Colbeck was a British seaman who distinguished himself on two Antarctic expeditions.-Biography:Educated at Hull Grammar School, Colbeck served a merchant navy apprenticeship between 1886 and 1890, earning his second mate's certificate in 1890, first mate's certificate in 1892, master's in...
, an experienced seaman who held a lieutenant's commission in the Royal Naval Reserve. In preparation for the Southern Cross Expedition Colbeck had taken a course in magnetism at Kew Observatory
Kew Observatory
Kew Observatory was an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatoryfounded by King George III , located within the Old Deer Park of the former Richmond Palace in Richmond, Surrey, now within Greater London. The former royal manor of Kew lies to the immediate north...
.
Borchgrevink's assistant zoologist was Hugh Blackwell Evans, a vicar's son from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, who had spent three years on a cattle ranch in Canada and had also been on a sealing
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
voyage to the Kerguelen Islands
Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen Islands , also known as the Desolation Islands, are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean constituting the emerged part of the otherwise submerged Kerguelen Plateau. The islands, along with Adélie Land, the Crozet Islands and the Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands are part of...
. The chief zoologist was Nikolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen was a Norwegian zoologist and Antarctic explorer. Nicolai Hansen was a member of the Southern Cross Expedition lead by Carsten Borchgrevink to Antarctica and he became the first person to be buried in Antarctica.Nicolai Hansen was born in Kristiansund in Møre og Romsdal county,...
, a graduate from the University of Christiana
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. Also in the shore party was Herlof Klovstad, the expedition's medical officer, whose previous appointment had been to a lunatic asylum in Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
. The others were Anton Fougner, scientific assistant and general handyman; Kolbein Ellifsen, cook and general assistant; and the two Sami dog-handlers, Per Savio and Ole Must. Savio and Must, at 21 and 20 years of age respectively, were the youngest of the party. Borchgrevink later described Savio as "well-known for his faithful character, hardihood and intelligence".
The ship's company, under Captain Bernard Jensen, consisted of 19 Norwegian seamen and one Swedish steward. Jensen was an experienced ice navigator in Arctic and Antarctic waters, and had been with Borchgrevink on the Antarctic voyage with Bull in 1894–95.
Cape Adare
Southern Cross left London on 23 August 1898, after inspection by HRH the Duke of York (the future King George V), who presented a Union Flag. Along with the expedition's personnel, equipment and provisions she was carrying Siberian sledge dogs, the first to be used in an Antarctic expedition. After final provisioning in HobartHobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
she sailed for the Antarctic on 19 December. The Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
was crossed on 23 January 1899, after which the ship was caught in the pack ice, emerging three weeks later. Cape Adare was sighted on 16 February, and the following day Southern Cross was anchored off-shore.
Cape Adare had been discovered by Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
during his 1839–43 expedition. It lies at the end of a long promontory
Promontory
Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
; below the Cape is a large triangular shingle foreshore
Intertidal zone
The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...
, where Bull and Borchgrevink had made their brief landing in 1895. This foreshore is the site of one of the largest Adelie penguin
Adelie Penguin
The Adélie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast. They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, as are the Emperor Penguin, the South Polar Skua, the Wilson's Storm Petrel, the Snow Petrel, and the Antarctic Petrel...
rookeries on the entire continent and, as Borchgrevink had remarked in 1895, "On this particular spot, there is ample room for houses, tents and provisions". The abundance of penguins would provide both a winter larder and a fuel source.
Inside the living hut were two small ante-rooms, one used as a photographic darkroom
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
, the other for taxidermy
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
. Within the main accommodation area daylight was admitted via a double-glazed and shuttered window and through a small square pane high on the northern wall. Bunks were fitted around the outer walls, and a table and stove dominated the centre of the hut. During the few brief weeks before winter set in, members of the party made trial sledging journeys on the sea ice in nearby Robertson Bay, surveying the coast and collecting specimens of birds and fish. They also slaughtered seals and penguins for food and fuel. Outside activities were largely curtailed by the onset of severe winter weather, in mid-May.
Antarctic winter
Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE , better known as Ranulph Fiennes, is a British adventurer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer. Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years including a period on counter-insurgency service while...
writes that in conditions of "democratic anarchy", dirt, disorder and inactivity were the order of the day.
Borchgrevink was not a trained scientist, and his incompetence with equipment and inability to make simple observations were reportedly of great concern to some of the party. However, a programme of scientific observations was maintained, exercise was taken outside the hut when the weather permitted, and as a further diversion Savio improvised a sauna in the snowdrifts alongside the hut. A concert was arranged, including lantern slides, songs and readings. During this time there were two near-fatal incidents; in the first, a candle left burning beside a bunk set fire to the hut and caused extensive damage. In the second, three of the party were nearly asphyxiated by coal fumes as they slept.
The zoologist, Nikolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen
Nicolai Hansen was a Norwegian zoologist and Antarctic explorer. Nicolai Hansen was a member of the Southern Cross Expedition lead by Carsten Borchgrevink to Antarctica and he became the first person to be buried in Antarctica.Nicolai Hansen was born in Kristiansund in Møre og Romsdal county,...
, had fallen ill during the winter. On 14 October he died, apparently of an intestinal disorder, and became the first person to be buried on the Antarctic continent. The grave was dynamited from the frozen ground at the summit of the Cape. Bernacchi wrote: "There amidst profound silence and peace, there is nothing to disturb that eternal sleep except the flight of seabirds". Hansen left a wife, and a baby daughter born after he left for the Antarctic.
As winter gave way to spring, the party prepared for more ambitious inland journeys using the dogs and sledges. However, their base camp was cut off from the continent's interior by high mountain ranges, and journeys along the coastline were frustrated by unsafe sea ice. These factors severely restricted the extent of their exploration, which was largely confined to the vicinity of Robertson Bay. Here, a small island was discovered, which was called Duke of York Island
Duke of York Island, Antarctica
Duke of York Island is a mountainous ice-free island, 2.5 miles long, lying in the southern part of Robertson Bay, along the northern coast of Victoria Land. It was first charted in 1899 by the Southern Cross Expedition, under Carstens Borchgrevink, who named it for the Duke of York, later George V....
, after the expedition's patron. A few years later this find was derided by members of Scott's Discovery Expedition, who claimed that the island "did not exist", but its position has since been confirmed at 71°38′S, 170°04′E.
Ross Sea exploration
Southern Cross returned to Cape Adare from Australia on 28 January 1900. Borchgrevink began the process of dismantling the camp and transferring its supplies to the ship, but apparently abandoned this idea after a few days, boarded the ship, and on 2 February sailed south into the Ross Sea. Evidence of a hasty and disorderly departure from Cape Adare was noted two years later, when the site was visited by members of the Discovery Expedition, after which Edward WilsonEdward Adrian Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.-Early life:...
wrote; "...heaps of refuse all around, and a mountain of provision boxes, dead birds, seals, dogs, sledging gear [...] and heaven knows what else".
Victoria Land
Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...
coast and discovering further islands, one of which Borchgrevink named after Sir Clements Markham, whose hostility towards the expedition was evidently unchanged by this honour. Southern Cross then sailed on to Ross Island
Ross Island
Ross Island is an island formed by four volcanoes in the Ross Sea near the continent of Antarctica, off the coast of Victoria Land in McMurdo Sound.-Geography:...
, observed the volcano Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost historically active volcano on Earth, the second highest volcano in Antarctica , and the 6th highest ultra mountain on an island. With a summit elevation of , it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount...
, and attempted a landing at Cape Crozier
Cape Crozier
Cape Crozier is the most easterly point of Ross Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 during James Clark Ross's expedition with HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and was named after Francis Crozier, captain of HMS Terror...
, at the foot of Mount Terror
Mount Terror (Antarctica)
Mount Terror is a large shield volcano that forms the eastern part of Ross Island, Antarctica. It has numerous cinder cones and domes on the flanks of the shield and is mostly under snow and ice. It is the second largest of the four volcanoes which make up Ross Island and is somewhat overshadowed...
. Here, Borchgrevink and Captain Jensen were almost drowned by a tidal wave caused by a calving
Ice calving
Ice calving, also known as glacier calving or iceberg calving, is a form of ice ablation or ice disruption. It is the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier, iceberg, ice front, ice shelf, or crevasse...
or breakaway of ice from the adjacent Great Ice Barrier
Ross Ice Shelf
The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...
. Following the path of James Clark Ross
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...
sixty years previously, they proceeded eastwards along the Barrier edge, to find the inlet where, in 1843, Ross had reached his farthest south
Farthest South
Farthest South was the term used to denote the most southerly latitudes reached by explorers before the conquest of the South Pole in 1911. Significant steps on the road to the pole were the discovery of lands south of Cape Horn in 1619, Captain James Cook's crossing of the Antarctic Circle in...
. Observations indicated that the Barrier edge had moved some 30 miles (48.3 km) south since Ross's time, which meant that the ship were already south of Ross's record. However, Borchgrevink wished to make a landing on the Barrier itself. In the vicinity of Ross's inlet he found a spot where the ice sloped sufficiently to suggest that a landing was possible. On 16 February he, Colbeck and Savio landed with dogs and a sledge, ascended to the Barrier surface, and then journeyed a few miles south to a point which they calculated as 78°50′S, a new Farthest South record. They were the first persons to travel on the Barrier surface, earning Amundsen's approbation: "We must acknowledge that, by ascending the Barrier, Borchgrevink opened the way to the south, and threw aside the greatest obstacle to the expeditions that followed".
Close to the same spot ten years later, Amundsen would establish his base camp "Framheim", prior to his successful South Pole journey.
On its return northward, Southern Cross halted at Franklin Island
Franklin Island (Antarctica)
Franklin Island is an island long, lying in the Ross Sea about 80 miles east of Cape Hickey, Victoria Land. It was discovered on January 27, 1841 by James Ross, and named for Sir John Franklin, the noted Arctic explorer, who as Governor of Van Diemen's Land had royally entertained the expedition...
, off the Victoria Land coast, and made a series of magnetic calculations. These indicated that the location of the South Magnetic Pole was, as expected, within Victoria Land, but further north and further west than had previously been assumed. The party then sailed for home, crossing the Antarctic Circle on 28 February. On 1 April, news of their safe return was sent by telegram from Bluff, New Zealand
Bluff, New Zealand
Bluff is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the southern-most town in New Zealand and, despite Slope Point being further to the south, is colloquially used to refer to the southern extremity of the country...
.
Aftermath
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....
"—in terms of the prospects for fishing, sealing, and mineral extraction. He had proved that it was possible for a resident expedition to survive an Antarctic winter, and had made a series of geographical discoveries. These included the new islands in Robertson's Bay and the Ross Sea, and the first landings on Franklin Island, Coulman Island, Ross Island and the Great Ice Barrier. The survey of the Victoria Land coast had revealed the "important geographical discovery [...] of the Southern Cross Fjord, as well as the excellent camping place at the foot of Mount Melbourne
Mount Melbourne
Mount Melbourne is a massive stratovolcano that makes up the projection of the coast between Wood Bay and Terra Nova Bay, in Victoria Land of Antarctica....
". The most significant exploration achievement, he claimed, was the scaling of the Great Ice Barrier and the journey to "the furthest south ever reached by man".
Borchgrevink's account of the expedition, First on the Antarctic Continent, was published the following year; the English edition, much of which may have been embroidered by Newnes's journalists, was criticised for its "journalistic" style and for its bragging tone. The author, "not known for either his modesty or his tact", embarked on a lecture tour of England and Scotland, but the reception was generally poor.
Hugh Robert Mill stated that while the scientific results of the expedition were not so great as expected, many of Hanson's notes having mysteriously disappeared, the expedition was "interesting as a dashing piece of scientific work". The meteorological and magnetic conditions of Victoria Land had been recorded for a full year; the location of the South Magnetic Pole had been calculated (though not visited); samples of the continent's natural fauna and flora, and of its geology, had been collected. Borchgrevink also claimed the discovery of new insect and shallow-water fauna species, proving "bi-polarity" (existence of species in proximity to the North and South poles).
The geographical establishments in Britain and abroad were slow to give formal recognition to the expedition. The Royal Geographical Society gave Borchgrevink a fellowship, and other medals and honours eventually followed from Norway, Denmark and the United States, but the expedition's achievements were not widely recognised. Markham persisted in his attacks on Borchgrevink, describing him as cunning and unprincipled; Amundsen's warm tribute was a lone approving voice. Scott's biographer David Crane surmises that if Borchgrevink had been a British naval officer, his expedition would have been treated differently in Britain, but "a Norwegian seaman/schoolmaster was never going to be taken seriously". A belated recognition came in 1930, long after Markham's death, when the Royal Geographical Society presented Borchgrevink with its Patron's Medal. It admitted that "justice had not been done at the time to the pioneer work of the Southern Cross expedition", and that the magnitude of the difficulties it had overcome had previously been underestimated.