So far as the leader of the expedition was concerned, there was another circumstance in connection with the position in which the ships were that appealed to him very particularly. He had, a few years earlier, succeeded in locating the North Magnetic Pole. Bearings, taken in the neighbourhood of the two volcanoes, revealed the fact that the South Magnetic Pole was only about 170 miles distant. An effort was made to penetrate to the South so as to sail over, or otherwise locate, the exact position of the magnetic pole; but the weather conditions, which had been so favourable to them up to that point, now told severely against them. The thermometer fell rapidly, and the temperature went so low that the spray, flung up by the ships, froze, as it fell, into solid ice on the bows. Men were kept constantly breaking it away, but still it accumulated, considerably interfering with the speed of the ships. Then they found in front of them a great wall of ice rising out of the sea, without a break or opening, to a height of some hundreds of feet. They sailed along it for miles, but the only change was that it increased in height until it towered a thousand feet above the level of the ocean.
Although it was then midsummer, and the warmest part of the year, the highest temperature during the day was never above twenty degrees below freezing. At the corresponding period of the season in the Arctic, every iceberg gives evidence of the warmer weather by commencing to melt, so that from all of them streams of water are to be seen pouring down the sides. But the bergs in the Antarctic showed no such streams of water. All were solid, and the heat of the sun at midday was not able to cause even the surface to thaw. During a gale, encountered in this locality, the waves, as they broke over the sides, covered the rigging and sails with hard, clear ice until it was almost impossible to handle the ropes or furl the sails.
As February went by and they were still unable to work nearer the site of the magnetic pole, the leader sought for a haven where the ships could pass the winter, so as to be ready to recommence the work directly the weather moderated with the approach of spring. But no such place was to be found, the mighty barrier of ice stretching away to the horizon with never a break in its massive towering front. Nothing was to be done except turn the vessels to the North and make the best of their way into milder latitudes until the winter had passed.
On the voyage towards the North, one of those accidents occurred to the Terror which, fortunately for the welfare of sailors, are not possible nowadays. The bobstay of the bowsprit was smashed by coming in contact with a mass of floating ice. At the time the temperature was such that the bows of the vessel, as well as the bowsprit and its rigging, were all covered with ice, which the men had to be continually trying to keep clear. With the ship pitching to a heavy head sea, this was by no means easy, yet it was simple compared to the work of repairing the damaged bobstay. The men carrying out this work had to be slung over the bows, and every time the ship pitched, they were plunged into the freezing water, often being entirely immersed. The temperature of the sea at the time was twelve degrees below freezing, and two hours were occupied in effecting the repairs, man after man going over the bows to take the places of those who were literally frozen out. The commander, with pardonable pride, commented upon the pluck and hardy determination of his men in carrying out this arduous task.
As they sailed to their winter quarters in an easterly course, they passed the locality where the ships of the American expedition had reported a discovery of land forming part of the great Antarctic continent. A sharp lookout was kept for it, but no indications were seen, and, when the two ships sailed over the spot where the continent was supposed to exist, the conclusion was forced upon the leaders that the Americans had been misled, as they had themselves on more than one occasion, into regarding the combination of ice and cloud as land. So suggestive of land did this combination often appear, that it was only by the most careful and critical observation that similar mistakes were not to be recorded against the Erebus and Terror.
Early in April they arrived at Tasmania, leaving that colony in the following July for New Zealand, where they stayed until December, when they sailed once more to the Antarctic.
It was the intention of Ross to sail to the South along the 146th meridian of west longitude, but the existence of heavy pack ice proved an effectual obstacle to their progress. The ships became involved in the pack, and only managed to force their way clear by the beginning of February. This meant a great loss of valuable time, for they were only able to reach 76° 42' S. latitude before they had to return. They sighted the great barrier of ice lying to the south, with what appeared to be high mountains, snow covered, rising behind. As no definite observations could be made to demonstrate whether the heights were mountains or only the summit of the Antarctic ice-cap, the discovery was not claimed as being new land.
The vessels made their way to the Falkland Islands, where they passed the winter, and on December 17, 1842, they sailed, for the third time, to the South. The object of this voyage was to further explore Louis Philippe Land and reach as high as Weddell had done. Excellent progress was made, and, on the last day of the year, they sighted an island to which the name Etna Island was given, as it was a volcano greatly resembling, in miniature, the great volcano of Sicily. Further to the south high peaks appeared, and, with the new year, a number of islands, as well as what appeared to be portions of the mainland, were discovered. Amongst others, the expedition found and named Paulet Island, Cockburn Island, Snow Hill Island, and Mount Haddington, places which were to be made still more familiar over half a century later by the dramatic events which occurred to the Swedish expedition in 1901-3.
In addition to the discovery of land, it was also found that the waters off this coast abounded with whales, and, by the time that the two ships returned to the Cape of Good Hope, in March, they were able to claim, for the record of the third trip, the double discovery of land and of all the essentials for a profitable whaling industry. The ships had circumnavigated the Antarctic region, and for many years thereafter whalers were the main visitors. Until 1898 no official British expedition sailed for the Antarctic, though there was a brief stay, just within the Antarctic Circle, of H.M.S. Challenger in 1874.