Antarctica: A tale to tell

From City Scene, published on 6 July, 2008

A new Central City Library exhibition tells the story of early Antarctic exploration through material drawn from the libraries' Special Collections. The free exhibition is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and from 10am to 4pm weekdays.

Southernmost voyage

Sketch from A voyage towards the South Pole. English seaman James Weddell was among the earliest explorers of Antarctica. Born in 1787, Weddell joined the English merchant navy at the age of nine. In 1819, he led a sealing expedition to the newly discovered South Shetland Islands and also visited the South Orkney Islands. Weddell returned to these sub-Antarctic islands in 1821-22 and again in 1822-24. During the third voyage the weather was unusually mild and Weddell's ships, the Jane and Beaufoy, attained a latitude of 74°15 S, which would be the southernmost position reached by any vessel for the next 80 years. The illustration above is based on a sketch by Weddell, later published in his book, A voyage towards the South Pole ..., London, Longman, Hurst, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825.

Rare insights

The Central City Library's Antarctica exhibition casts a rare insight into Captain Scott's doomed Antarctic expedition in this photograph taken by Scott of men of the polar party pulling a sledge up the Beardmore Glacier. The British felt that this was the proper way to proceed, rather than relying on dogs, which had struggled to get up the glacier on Scott's previous expedition, or ponies. With the party's mechanical sledges breaking down, the British were left to rely more on human labour, forcing them to all work harder. This, coupled with miscalculating the food required for the expedition, meant they starved on the return trip. Scott's photograph was subsequently published in 1914 in Charles Turley's book The voyages of Captain Scott, London, G Bell and Sons, 1914.