THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC
BEING THE STORY OF THE BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1907-1909 BY SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON, C.V.O.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR AND BLACK AND WHITE
 
POPULAR EDITION
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1910
 
First published in Two Volumes, November 4, 1909
Popular Edition (One Volume) November 4, 1910
Second Impression, November 1919
Copyright, 1909,
London, William Heinemann, and Washington, U.S.A.,
by J. B. Lippincott Company
 

 
PREFACE

THE scientific results of the expedition cannot be stated in detail in a single volume. Some of the more important features of the geographical work were as follow.

We passed the winter of 1908 in McMurdo Sound, twenty miles north of the Discovery winter quarters. In the autumn a party ascended Mount Erebus and surveyed its various craters. In the spring and summer of 1908-9 three sledging-parties left winter quarters; one went south and attained the most southerly latitude ever reached by man, and another reached the South Magnetic pole for the first time; while a third surveyed the mountain ranges west of McMurdo Sound.

The Southern Sledge-party planted the Union Jack in latitude 88° 23' South, within one hundred geographical miles of the South Pole. This party of four ascertained that a great chain of mountains extends from the 82nd parallel, south of McMurdo Sound, to the 86th parallel, trending in a south-easterly direction; that other great mountain ranges continue to the south and southwest, and that between them flows one of the largest glaciers in the world, leading to an inland plateau, the height of which, at latitude 88° South, is over 11,000 ft. above sea-level. This plateau presumably continues beyond the geographical South Pole, and extends from Cape Adore to the Pole.

The journey made by the Northern Party resulted in the attainment of the South Magnetic Pole, the position of which was fixed, by observations made on the spot and in the neighbourhood, at latitude 72° 25' South, longitude 155° 16' East. The first part of this journey was made along the coast-line of Victoria Land, and many new peaks, glaciers, and ice-tongues were discovered, in addition to a couple of small islands. The whole of the coast traversed was carefully triangulated, and the existing map was corrected in several respects.

The survey of the western mountains by the Western Party added to the information of the topographical details of that part of Victoria Land, and threw some new light on its geology.

The discovery of forty-five miles of new coast-line extending from Cape North, first in a south-westerly and then in a westerly direction, was another important piece of geographical work.

I should like to tender my warmest thanks to those generous people who supported the expedition in its early days. Miss Dawson Lambton and Miss E. Dawson Lambton made possible the first steps towards the organisation of the expedition, and assisted afterwards in every way that lay in their power. Mr. William Beardmore (Glasgow), Mr. G. A. McLean Buckley (New Zealand), Mr. Campbell McKellar (London), Mr. Sydney Lysaght (Somerset), Mr. A. M. Fry (Bristol), Colonel Alexander Davis (London), Mr. H. H. Bartlett (London), and other friends contributed liberally towards the cost of the expedition.

I also wish to thank those friends who guaranteed a large part of the necessary expenditure, and the Imperial Government for the grant of £20,000, which enabled me to redeem those guarantees.

Oversea Britain showed a sympathetic interest. I am indebted to the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia for a contribution of £5000. The New Zealand Government gave me £1000; and also agreed to pay half the cost of towing the Nimrod as far as the Antarctic Circle. Indeed the kindness and generosity of Australasians will remain one of the happiest memories of the "British Antarctic Expedition, 1907." My indebtedness to various firms in the matter of supplies has been acknowledged in chapter viii.

I have drawn on the diaries of various members of the expedition to supply information regarding events that occurred while I was absent on journeys. Professor T. W. Edgeworth David narrates the incidents of the Northern Journey. The photographs with which this volume is illustrated have been selected from some thousands taken by Brocklehurst, David, Davis, Day, Dunlop, Harbord, Joyce, Mackintosh, Marshall, Mawson, Murray and Wild, secured often under circumstances of exceptional difficulty.

In regard to the management of the affairs of the expedition during my absence in the Antarctic, I would like to acknowledge the work done for me by my brother-in-law, Mr. Herbert Dorman, of London; by Mr. J. J. Kinsey, of Christchurch, New Zealand; and by Mr. Alfred Reid, the manager of the expedition, whose work throughout has been as arduous as it has been efficient.

Finally, let me say that to the members of the expedition, whose work and enthusiasm have been the means of securing the measure of success recorded in these pages, I owe a debt of gratitude that I can hardly find words to express. I realise very fully that without their faithful service and loyal co-operation under conditions of extreme difficulty success in any branch of our work would have been impossible.

    
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

THE publication of this edition of "The Heart of the Antarctic" calls for a word or two from me.

Owing to the necessity of recording all that occurred during our stay in the Antarctic and the inclusion of much scientific matter, the first edition attained proportions that made it, not only expensive to publish, but placed the book out of reach of the ordinary reader.

In this edition the narrative embraces all matters of general public interest. Judging by the way in which the public has shown its interest in the doings of the Expedition, I feel that the time has come for the issue of an account of our Work in Antarctica, less bulky in form and at a lower price.

I hope that the following pages will convey to readers a good idea of the work of our Expedition in the Far South: and, as a last word, I wish to thank Britons all the world over for the keen interest taken in the efforts of our members to extend the general knowledge of that portion of the Imperial Dominion round about the Pole.