The lands of silence

by Sir Clements R. Markham

In the Ross Quadrant there is a coast line of 1100 miles in extent to be discovered. Captain Scott’s work on King Edward VII Land on one side, Alexander and Charcot Lands on the other, are the boundary posts to this undiscovered Edwardian coast. All we know is that Captain Cook saw land in 71° S., that Bellingshausen sighted Peter Island a little further to the east, and that the Belgian expedition wintered over the continental shelf in about 71° S. The land is probably not a hundred miles further south. The ice-pack floats north from the coast during the navigable season, and in that case a ship might navigate along the Edwardian coast. It is possible that there may be one or more deep indentations, like the Ross Sea, when there would be a coast or coasts facing east whose exploration would throw further important light on the history of Antarctica.

Finally, in the Enderby Quadrant there is the “Challenger Gap” to be explored, so as to complete an examination of the region from Gaussberg to Kempe Land.

Fixed stations for meteorological, magnetic, and tidal observations ought to be established to carry out this excellent and useful work within the Antarctic Circle during a course of years, similar to that which Captain Scott achieved in M’Murdo Sound during four years. In no other part of the Arctic or Antarctic regions have observations been taken in one place for so long a time. But they are needed on other spots all round Antarctica.

There are many true lovers of geographical exploration for its own sake in the present generation, who look upon achievement as its own reward. We may, therefore, hope that the great work initiated by the Societies with such splendid results will be renewed by successors to Scott and Wilson, and that they will again and again raise the standard of duty and useful, if perilous, achievement. For such men there is a note of encouragement and sympathy deep down in the hearts of all true Britons.

CHRONOLOGY OF POLAR VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS

I. Arctic

Year	Explorer	Ship	Nationality	Locality[213]
1553	Willoughby and Chancellor	Bona Esperanza and others	British	Sea N. of Europe
1556	Stephen Burrough	Searchthrift	„	Kara Strait
1576–78 (3 voyages)	Frobisher	Gabriel and others	„	Baffin Land
1580	Pett and Jackman	George and William	„	Novaya Zemlya
1584	Brunel		Dutch	„
1585–87 (3 voyages)	Davis	Sunshine, Moonshine, etc.	British	Davis Straits
1594–95 (2 voyages)	Nai, Tetgales, Barents	(1) Swan, Mercury; (2) Griffin, Hope, Greyhound	Dutch	Novaya Zemlya
1596–97	Heemskerck, Rijp, Barents		„	Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya
1606	Knight	Hopewell	British	Greenland
1607–08	Hudson	„	„	Greenland, Spitsbergen, Jan Mayen
1609	„	Half-moon	Dutch	Novaya Zemlya, Hudson River
1610	„	Discovery	British	Hudson Bay
1610–14 (various voyages)	Poole, Edge, Joseph, Marmaduke, Baffin	Various	„	Spitsbergen
1612	Button	Resolution and Discovery	„	Hudson Bay
1615–16 (2 voyages)	Bylot and Baffin	Discovery	„	Baffin Bay, etc
1617	Edge		„	Spitsbergen
1619–20	Munk		Danish	Hudson Bay
1631–32	Foxe and James	Charles and Maria	British	„
1644–48	Stadukhin, Alexeief, Deshnef, Ankudinof		Russian	N. Siberian coast
1664	Vlamingh		Dutch	Novaya Zemlya
1676–77	Wood	Speedwell and Prosperous	British	„
1707	Gillis		Dutch	N.E. Spitsbergen
1710	Permakof		Russian	N. Siberian coast
1734–42	Paulof, Mlyagin, Owzin, Minin, Sterlegof, Laptef, Chelyuskin		„	„
1742	Middleton	Furnace and Discovery	British	Hudson Bay
1746–47	Moore and Smith	Dobbs and California	„	„
1770	Liakhof		Russian	New Siberia Islands
1773	Phipps	Racehorse and Carcass	British	Greenland Sea
1776–7	Pickersgill, Young	Lion	„	Baffin Bay
1805–10	Hedenström, Sannikof, etc.		Russian	New Siberia Islands
1815–18	Kotzebue	Rurik	„	Bering Sea
1818	Ross (John)	Isabella and Alexander	British	N.W. Passage
1818	Buchan and Franklin	Dorothea and Trent	„	Greenland Sea
1819–20	Parry	Hecla and Griper	„	Melville Island
1819–22	Franklin and others	(land)	„	Arctic Canada
1820–23	Wrangel and Anjou		Russian	Siberian Polar Sea
1821–23	Parry	Fury and Hecla	British	American Archipelago
1821–24	Lütke Novaya Zemlya		Russian	Novaya Zemlya
1822	Scoresby	Baffin	British	E. Greenland
1824–25	Parry	Hecla and Fury	„	American Archipelago
1825–28	Beechey	Blossom	„	Point Barrow, etc.
1827	Parry	Hecla	„	Sea N. of Spitsbergen
1829–33	Ross (John and James C.)	Victory	„	N.W. Passage and Magnetic Pole
1833–34	Back	(land)	„	Great Fish River
1837–38	Dease and Simpson		„	Baffin Bay, etc.
1845–51	Franklin	Erebus and Terror	„	N.W. Passage
1848–51	Kellett	Herald and Plover	„	Franklin Search
1848–49	Ross (James C.) with M’Clure and M’Clintock	Enterprise and Investigator	„	„
1850–51	De Haven (Grinnell Exp.),	Advance and Rescue	American	„
1850–51	Austin, Osborn, Ommanney etc.	Assistance, Intrepid, Pioneer, Resolute	British	„
1850–54	M’Clure and Collinson	Investigator and Enterprise	„	„
1852–53	Inglefield	Phoenix	„	Beechey Island
1852–54	Belcher, Osborn, M’Clintock, Richards, Pullen	Resolute, Pioneer, Intrepid, Assistance, North Star	„	Franklin Search
1853–54	Rae		„	„
1853–55	Kane (2nd Grinnell Exp.)	Advance	American	Smith Sound
1857–59	M’Clintock	Fox	British	Franklin Search
1858–62	Torell, Nordenskiöld, etc.	Various	Swedish	Spitsbergen and Greenland
1860–61	Hayes	United States	American	Grinnell Land and N. Greenland
1864–69	Hall	Monticello	„	American Archipelago
1868	Nordenskiöld (A. E.)	Sofia	Swedish	Bear Island and Spitsbergen
1868	Koldewey	Germania	German	E. Greenland
1869	Palliser	Laurel	Anglo- Norwegian	Kara Sea
1869–70	Koldewey and Hegemann	Germania and Hansa	German E.	Greenland
1871–73	Hall	Polaris	American	Smith Sound and Robeson Channel
1872–74	Weyprecht and Payer	Tegetthoff	Austrian	Franz Josef Land
1874–95	Wiggins	Various	British	Sea route to Siberia
1875–77	Nares and others	Alert and Discovery	„	Grant Land and N. Greenland
1875–76	Allen Young	Pandora	„	Lancaster and Smith Sounds
1878–80	Nordenskiöld (A. E.)	Vega	Swedish	N.E. Passage
1879–82	De Long	Jeannette	American	New Siberia Islands, etc.
1880–82	Leigh Smith	Eira	British	Franz Josef Land
1881–84	Greely	Proteus	American	Lady Franklin Bay, etc.
1885–86	Bunge and Toll		Russian	New Siberia Islands
1888	Nansen	(land)	Norwegian	S. Greenland
1891–92	Peary	Kite	American	N. Greenland
1893	Toll		Russian	New Siberia Islands, etc.
1893–95	Peary	Falcon	American	N. Greenland
1893–96	Nansen	Fram	Norwegian	Across Polar Basin
1894–97	Jackson	Windward	British	Franz Josef Land
1896–97	Conway	Express	„	Spitsbergen
1897	Peary	Hope	American	Cape York Meteorite
1898–99	Amdrup		Danish	E. Greenland
1898–1902	Peary	Windward	American	Sea N. of Greenland
1898–1902	Sverdrup	Fram	Norwegian	American Archipelago
1899	Makarof	Yermak	Russian	Kara Sea, etc.
1899	Nathorst	Antarctic	Swedish	Jan Mayen and E. Greenland
1899–1900	Duke of Abruzzi	Stella Polare	Italian	Franz Josef Land and Sea to North
1900	Amdrup	Antarctic	Danish	E. Greenland
1900–1901	Baldwin (1st Ziegler Exp.)	America	American	Franz Josef Land
1900–1902	Toll	Sarya	Russian	New Siberia Islands
1903–1905	Amundsen	Gjöa	Norwegian	N. Magnetic Pole and N.W. Passage
1903–1905	Fiala (2nd Ziegler Exp.)	America	American	Franz Josef Land
1905–1906	Peary	Roosevelt	„	Ocean N. of Greenland
1906–1907	Bernier	Arctic	Canadian	American Archipelago
1906–1908	Mikkelsen	Duchess of Bedford	Anglo- American- Danish	Beaufort Sea
1906–1908	Mylius Erichsen	Danmark	Danish	N.E. Greenland
1908–1909	Peary	Roosevelt	American	N. Pole
1908–12	Stefansson and Anderson	(land)	Icelandic Canadian	Arctic Canada
1909–12	Mikkelsen	Alabama	Danish	N.E. Greenland
1912	Rasmussen	(land)	„	N. Greenland
1912	De Quervain	„	Swiss	S. Greenland
1913	Koch	„	Danish	Central Greenland
1913	Vilkitski	Taimuir and Vaigach	Russian	Siberian Arctic Ocean
1913–17	Macmillan	Erik	American	Greenland, Ellesmere Island and Sea to north
1913–17	Stefansson, Anderson, and Bartlett	Karluk, Mary Sachs, Polar Bear, etc.	Canadian	American Archipelago and Beaufort Sea
1914–15	Vilkitski	Taimuir and Vaigach	Russian	N.E. Passage (E. to W.)
1917	Rasmussen	(land)	Danish	N. Greenland
1918	Storkersen	(ice)	Canadian	Beaufort Sea

II. Antarctic (including near approaches to Antarctic Circle)

Year	Explorer	Ship	Nationality	Locality[214]
1772–75	Cook	Resolution and Adventure	British	Southern Ocean
1819–21	Bellingshausen	Vostok and Mirnyi	Russian	„
1819–20	Smith	Williams	British	South Shetlands
1820	Bransfield	Andromache	„	„
1820–22 (2 voyages)	Pendleton, Palmer, etc.	Frederick, Hero, etc.	American	South Shetlands, Palmer Land, Powell Islands
1821–22	Powell	Dove	British	South Orkneys
1822–23	Weddell	Jane and Beaufoy	„	Weddell Sea, etc.
1822–23	Morrell	Wasp	American	Southern Ocean
1837–40	D’Urville	Astrolabe and Zelée	French	Southern Ocean and lands to South
1838–39	Balleny	Eliza Scott	British	Balleny Islands, etc.
1839–40	Wilkes	Vincennes and others	American	Wilkes Land, etc.
1839–43	Ross (James C.)	Erebus and Terror	British	Ross Sea and Victoria Land
1873–74	Dallmann	Grönland	German	Graham Land, etc.
1874	Nares	Challenger	British	Southern Ocean
1892–93	Fairweather, Bruce, etc.	Balaena, Active and others	„	Graham Land, etc.
1893–94	Larsen and others	Jason, etc.	Norwegian -German	„
1894–95	Kristensen and Bull	Antarctic	Norwegian	Victoria Land
1897–99	Gerlache and others	Belgica	Belgian	Graham and Alexander Lands
1898–1900	Borchgrevink	Southern Cross	British	Victoria Land
1901–03	Drygalski	Gauss	German	William II Land
1901–03	Nordenskjöld	Antarctic	Swedish	Graham Land, etc.
1901–04	Scott	Discovery	British	Victoria Land
1902–04	Bruce	Scotia	„	Weddell Sea and Coats Land
1902–04	Charcot	Français	French	Graham Land, etc.
1907–09	Shackleton	Nimrod	British	Towards South Pole
1908–10	Charcot	Pourquoi-pas?	French	Graham Land, etc.
1910–12	Amundsen	Fram	Norwegian	South Pole
1910–13	Scott	Terra Nova	British	South Pole
1911–12	Filchner	Deutschland	German	Weddell Sea and Luitpold Land
1911–13	Mawson and Davis	Aurora	Australian	Lands south of Indian Ocean
1914–16	Shackleton	Endurance and Aurora	British	Weddell Sea

BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF POLAR VOYAGES AND TRAVELS