Large nautical chart updated to show explorations in eastern Antarctica until 1904, covering current Wilkes Land, Adelie Land, George V Land with part of Oates Land (between Longitudes 105°E and 155°E). Across the map are the ships routes, or ‘tracks’, of six polar expeditions from the late-18th to the early-20th Century;

The first route is that of the HMS Resolution in 1773, during Captain James Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775). The purpose of this voyage was to determine if the hypothetical southern landmass, often called “Terra Australis Incognita”, was real. On the 17th January 1773, the Resolution entered the Antarctic Circle, becoming the first recorded European expedition to do so. On 2nd and 3rd March 1773, a route shows the Resolution heading further south before diverting north into the Pacific.

The next route on the map marks the exploration voyage of the English whaling firm “Samuel Enderby & Sons” from 1838-39. The vessels involved were the Eliza Scott, mastered by English seaman John Balleny, and the Sabrina, mastered by Thomas Freeman. The point at which the expedition sighted Antarctic land is shown in early March 1839. This stretch is called the Sabrina Coast today.

The next tracks shows the route of French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville, aboard the ship Astrolabe 1837-40. On the map “Adélie Land” - named after d’Urville’s wife - is marked as being sighted in January 1840, together with Clarie, “supposed land” (now the Clarie Coast). During the voyage, the Astrolabe’s hydrographer, Clement Adrien Vincendon-Dumoulin, drew a remarkably accurate map of the coastline. During d’Urville’s expedition, amazingly they encountered another voyage of exploration: the United States Exploring Expedition under Lieut. Charles Wilkes.

The U. S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-42 (also known as the U. S. Ex. Ex. , or the “Wilkes Expedition”). This was an exploratory voyage set out to survey the Pacific Ocean and its surrounding coastlines. It entered Antarctic waters in Dec. 1839, and this map shows the tracks of four of the seven vessels involved USS Vincennes carrying Expedition Commander Wilkes, the USS Peacock captained by William Hudson, the USS Porpoise commanded by Cadwaladar Ringgold, and the USS Flying Fish under Samuel Knox. This expedition was particularly significant for its scientific findings and the specimens that were brought back. Ultimately these helped form the foundations of the Smithsonian Institute. Reports of the expedition from the U. S. Squadron are noted on the map, including comments on the ‘hummocky’ ice limits and reported land sightings, in 1840.

Another scientific voyage of discovery shown on this map is that of the 1839-43 expedition led by Sir James Clark Ross. The tracks of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus are featured entering the chart on the 15th March and exiting on 25th March 1841. Earlier that year, the “Great Ice Barrier” had been discovered and charted by the expedition, whose main aim was to find the South Magnetic Pole. The Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea are both named after the captain, Ross.

And finally, the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904, also known as the Discovery Expedition. This is the first British scientific exploration of Antarctica since Ross who ventured south sixty years earlier. It was led by then Commander Robert Falcon Scott, together with a young Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Tom Crean and Frank Wild to name but a few, who would later become some of the leading figures of the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration. Discovery makes a brief appearance on this map in early March 1904, skirting around the ice limits of Antarctica to Cape Hudson, north out to sea, and ultimately homeward bound to New Zealand.

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