Modern Whaling and Bear-Hunting

Synopsis

The readers of this book will be interested to learn that the expedition from Dundee which set out for the Antarctic regions in 1892 to the Weddell Sea, south and east of Graham’s Land, and in which the author of the present volume took part, was the first of its kind since the famous expedition commanded by Sir James Ross in 1842. Dr W. S. Bruce, the distinguished polar traveller and oceanographer, was the scientific naturalist, and Mr Burn Murdoch, the author of this volume, was the artist and historian of the expedition, which is described by his pen in “From Edinburgh to the Antarctic.” It consisted of three whaling vessels specially built of great strength to withstand ice pressure, barque rigged and fitted with auxiliary steam power.

They were accompanied by a Norwegian barque of similar type. The chief object of the expedition was the capture of the Right or Bowhead whale by old methods, from small boats. For three months these vessels were continuously amongst the thick pack ice and enormous bergs on the east side of Graham’s Land.

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