Brave Men in Wooden Sailing Ships

Captain James Cook was the first person to circumnavigate Antarctica between 1772 and 1775 during his three voyages of exploration into the Pacific Ocean (Beaglehole 1955,1961,1962,1967 Bellec2000). On January 30, 1774, Captain Cook reached a point near the coast of West Antarctica at 71°10 S, 106°54 W. 

These voyages exposed the crews of his ships to frightful conditions caused by severe cold, violent storms, and dangerous pack ice along the coast. As a result of these hardships and based on what he had seen. Captain Cook reported that any land that may exist close to the geographic south pole was not worth the effort to explore (Stonehouse 2(X)2). In the years that followed Captain Cook s voyages, the ocean around Antarctica was frequented by a multitude of European and American whalers and seal hunters who were primarily interested in making a profit from the sale of whale oil and seal skins (Stonehouse 2002 Victor 1964). 

During his return voyage, Bellingshausen sighted the ship of the American seal hunter, Nathaniel Palmer (1799-1877) off the coast of Deception Island (62°57 S, 060°38 W). The two explorers met on this 

Faure and T.M. Mensing, The Transantarctic Mountains Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9390-5 l, Springer Sdence+Business Media B.V. 2010 

Even as Bellingshausen was returning from his expedition to Antarctica, a British seal hunter of Scottish ancestry by the name of James Weddell (1787-1834) entered upon the stage of Antarctic exploration. Weddell in Fig. 1.2 retired from the British Navy in 

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