Gillen DArcy Wood - Land of Wondrous Cold: The Race to Discover Antarctica and Unlock the Secrets of Its Ice

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Land of Wondrous Cold tells the story of the pioneer Antarctic voyages of 18381842, when British, French, and American commanders raced each other to the South Pole. As the first major scientific research expeditions in Antarctica, these early Victorian-era explorers laid the foundation for our modern understanding of the white continent, its glacial history, and the future of its all-important ice cap.

1772 Yves-Joseph Kerguelen sights Desolation Island in the sub-Antarctic waters of the Indian Ocean.

1773 James Cook makes the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle; he turns back upon reaching the ice pack at 6715 south.

1774 Cook achieves a record southing of 7110, off the coast of West Antarctica.

1820 Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, leading a Russian-financed expedition, sails within twenty miles of the Fimbul ice shelf, the first recorded sighting of the Antarctic continent.

1823 James Weddell, sailing poleward from the Atlantic South Shetland Islands, makes a new record southing of 7415.

1832 Samuel Enderby, the whaling magnate, finances an expedition led by John Biscoe, who makes sighting of the northern Antarctic Peninsula, now called Graham Land.

1836 The United States Congress approves funding for a large-scale exploring expedition, to include a mission of discovery to the South Pole.

1837

JanuaryPacific explorer Dumont DUrville proposes a third southern voyage to King Louis-Philippe of France. An Antarctic campaign is included in his orders.

SeptemberThe French ships Astrolabe and Zle sail from Toulon.

1838

JanuaryDUrvilles first Antarctic campaign, in the Weddell Sea, is thwarted by pack ice.

AugustThe United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Charles Wilkes, leaves Norfolk, Virginia.

1839

FebruaryThe British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, approves a British Antarctic Expedition, to be commanded by James Clark Ross; sealer John Balleny, sailing south of Tasmania, glimpses the East Antarctic coast at 65 south.

MarchThe US Exploring Expedition mounts its first Antarctic campaign. The schooner Flying Fish nears Cooks record southing in West Antarctica.

SeptemberThe British polar ships Erebus and Terror set sail from Margate.

DecemberThe Wilkes expedition departs Sydney for the Antarctic; DUrvilles ships sail southward from Hobart.

1840

JanuaryThe American and French expeditions, which briefly encounter each other, explore the East Antarctic coast. The French make landfall and raise the tricolor flag. Wilkes charts 1,500 miles of coast.

MarchBritish Antarctic expedition explores Kerguelen Island.

NovemberThe Astrolabe and Zle arrive back in France; Ross sails toward the pole from Hobart.

DecemberPresident Van Buren announces the American discovery of Antarctica in his State of the Union address.

1841

JanuaryThe British expedition explores the Ross Sea, posts record southing in the waters off Mount Erebus, at 789 south.

DecemberFirst volume of DUrvilles Antarctic voyage narrative is published in Paris; Ross returns to Antarctica, but is unable to better his first attempt. Antarctic exploration enters a long period of hiatus.

1898 Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink, first of the Heroic Age explorers, is the first to return to 78 south since James Ross. He overwinters at Cape Adare.

19011904 Robert Scotts first expedition, aboard Discovery, retraces Rosss route and makes land exploration to 8217 south.

19011903 Swedish expedition, led by Otto Nordenskjld, spends two winters on the Antarctic Peninsula, with outstanding scientific results.

1907 Ernest Shackletons first expedition, aboard Nimrod, makes an attempt on the South Pole, but turns back ninety-seven miles short. The expeditions northern party, including Australian Douglas Mawson, is first to ascend Mount Erebus and reach the South Magnetic Pole.

1910 Race to the South Pole between Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Englishman Robert Scott. Amundsen arrives first, on December 14, 1911. A month later, Scott reaches the pole, but he and four companions perish on the return journey.

1911 Douglas Mawsons Australian expedition, the first to follow in the wake of Dumont DUrville and Charles Wilkes, explores the East Antarctic coast.

1914 Shackletons attempt to traverse the Antarctic Continent goes awry when the Endurance becomes trapped and sinks in the Weddell Sea ice pack. Shackletons men survive, but his Ross Sea party, laying stores for a journey that never eventuated, lose three men before their rescue in January 1917. The Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration concludes.