1772 - the Antarctic

1772 saw Captain Jimmy slipping his way in and out through the high Southern latitudes.



Returning to London he told the poms that the far Southern lands had no future, though he also reported sightings of seals in the South which, only a few years later, were returning top notch bucks to GB and the USA. And in the early 20th century over 20 whaling companies were in big business in the Antarctic regions.



Douglas Mawson wrote in his introduction to "The Home of the Blizzard" -

"what will be the role of the South in the progress of civilization and in the development of the arts and sciences is not now obvious. As sure as there is here a vast mass of land with potentialities, strictly limited at present, so surely will it be cemented some day within the universal plinth of things."



A friend -