As there appeared to be more probability of success being won on this voyage, the ships proceeded to explore the seas in the neighbourhood of these new lands; but a repetition of the trials and difficulties met in the previous year brought the hopes to nought. Whichever way they sailed they encountered ice, either in massive bergs, or lines of cliffs, miles in length. On February 6, 1775, the cold hostility of the region daunted even the brave heart of Captain Cook. He decided to turn back, writing in his log: "The risk one runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas is so great, that I can be bold enough to say that no man will ever venture further than I have done, and that the lands which lie to the south will never be explored."
Modern achievement in the Antarctic regions forms a curious commentary on this outspoken opinion of so intrepid an explorer as the man who laid the great island-continent of Australia open for the colonisation of the British. But for the time being the opinion ranked sufficiently with the authorities to put an end to all attempts to solve the mystery of the Antarctic. Years passed without anything being done to penetrate into the unknown, until, in 1819, Captain William Smith, commanding the brig William, on a voyage from Monte Video to Valparaiso, was driven as far to the south as 62° 30', in which latitude and longitude 60° W. he discovered a group of islands and named them the South Shetlands. The discovery was reported to the commander of H.M.S. Andromache, who at once sailed to the locality and further explored the islands. These were found to be a scattered group lying between 61° and 63° S., consisting of twelve fairly large isles, and a number of small rocky islets. Several of the isles were mountainous, and one peak was observed which was estimated to be 2500 feet high. Beyond this brief expedition nothing was done by the Navy, but during the next few years a considerable amount of knowledge was gained by whaling captains who penetrated further to the south.
Amongst others, Powell, in 1821, discovered land to the south of the South Shetlands, naming it Trinity Land; while Palmer, an American skipper, sailed along a coast to which he gave the name Palmer's Land. A Russian navigator, Bellinghausen, exploring to the south and west of the South Shetlands, located Alexander's Land, still more to the south than Palmer's Land.
These repeated additions to the general knowledge gradually discredited Captain Cook's assertion. The newly opened areas were found to be replete with whales, seals, and other commercially valuable animals, and ships of the mercantile marine continued to push nearer and nearer the Pole. In 1822 a firm of traders sent out two vessels to the Antarctic under the command of Captain Weddell, after whom the great Antarctic seal is named. The vessels were small ships in comparison with the modern build. One, the larger, was the Jane, a brig of 160 tons, and the other a cutter, the Beaufoy, 65 tons. As Captain Weddell had already done much geographical service in the South, his employers instructed him to do all he could to discover fresh lands, and to penetrate as far into the ice to the South as was possible. He succeeded so well in carrying out the latter part of his instructions that, on February 28, 1823, he carried the flag to 74° 1' S.
For some years nothing more of note was done, but in 1831, Captain Biscoe, on board the brig Tula, located land—named Enderby's Land, after his employers—in 65° 57' S. latitude and 47° 20' E. longitude. Wind and storms intervening, he was unable to do more than identify one promontory, which he named Cape Ann. The year following Biscoe added to his record the discovery of Adelaide Island, Graham's Land, and a range of mountains he named after himself, Biscoe's Range. He landed on the newly discovered territory on February 21, 1832, and took possession of it in the name of Great Britain. Seven years later, on board the Eliza Scott, Biscoe found an island in 66° 44' S. latitude and 165° 45' E. longitude, the shores of which were so precipitous that no landing could be effected. Describing it, he wrote: "But for the bare rocks from where the icebergs had broken, we should scarcely have known it for land, but as we stood in for it we plainly perceived smoke arising from the mountain tops. It is evidently volcanic, as specimens of stones, or rather cinders, will prove."
Two years earlier the French Government had taken up the work the British Government had neglected from the time of Captain Cook's condemnation, and had despatched two ships, the Astrolabe and the Zelée, to try and get into higher latitudes than those reached by Weddell. The Government of the United States also sent out vessels to continue the work already so successfully done by American whaling skippers. The voyages did not add materially to the discovery of land, although some valuable scientific facts were observed and recorded.
The British Government then bestirred itself, and two ships, the Erebus and Terror, were placed under the command of Sir James C. Ross, with Captain Crozier as second in command, to proceed to the Antarctic regions and explore them.