Report on the Collections of Natural History Made in the Antarctic Regions during the Voyage of the ‘Southern Cross’

Creator

Date

1902

Identifier

Expedition Reports Q115 S685 1898

Type

Publisher

London: British Museum

Abstract

English publisher Sir George Newnes gave Norwegian explorer, Carsten Borchgrevink, £40,000 (almost four million in today’s money) to fund the 1898 voyage of the three-masted barque, Southern Cross. It was an expedition of ‘firsts’ in Antarctica: the first to use dogs; the first to erect buildings; the first expedition party to ‘overwinter’ on the continental mainland; and unfortunately (after the death of zoologist Nicolai Hanson from beriberi) the first to bury a body there. Despite no support from the British scientific establishment and only returning with ‘meagre scientific results’, the expedition proved that overwintering on the continent was a possibility. Specimens, like the Weddell Seal, pictured here, were sent back to England in brine.

Files

Cab 5 Southern Cross seals.jpg

Citation

___, “Report on the Collections of Natural History Made in the Antarctic Regions during the Voyage of the ‘Southern Cross’,” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/9587.