POLAR REGIONS

Antarctic Exploration

Near Misses

A century and a half after Drake, two French explorers sailing separately, Jean-Baptiste Bouvet and Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen, each thought they saw Antarctica. Most people were only interested in trade and took little notice of their discoveries. Map makers still drew Terra Australis Incognita covering most of the Southern Ocean. A Scientific Sailor James Cook was born in Yorkshire in 1728. He went to sea when he was 18 years old and worked on ships transporting coal. Cook was very clever and an excellent seaman. He was also a good scientist. Cook later joined the British Navy, which sent him on several expeditions. On one he charted New Zealand and Australia’s east coast. Cook left England on July 13, 1772, with two ships, Resolution and Adventure , bound for Antarctica. He took 27 tons of biscuits and thousands of pieces of salted pork. Even so his crew ate meat on only four days a week. Cook was told to sail “as near to the South Pole as possible.” He was also told to claim any land he discovered in the name of the King of England. During the next three years Cook sailed more than 60,000 miles and went around the continent of Antarctica. Furthest South Cook sailed as far south as he could, often along the edge of the pack ice surrounding Antarctica. Ice would form on the ropes and sails making the ships likely to capsize and impossible to handle. The seas were full of icebergs and pack ice. One serious collision could sink a ship. On January 17, 1773, Cook’s ships were the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. Cook went to New Zealand for the Antarctic winter. When the weather became better, he sailed south again. He sailed along the ice edge but did not see any land. He did show that if there was a continent it was much smaller than the land drawn on maps. He also showed that the places seen by Bouvet and Kerguelen were only islands and not the edge of Antarctica.

C aptain Cook sailed around Antarctica but never saw the mainland. He made many other discoveries including South Georgia. In 1779 he was killed in Hawaii returning from a voyage to the Arctic.

I n January 1773 Cook’s ships (below) were the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. They weathered furious and dangerous Antarctic storms and sailed seas full of ice during their voyage.

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