The next scientific expedition to the Antarctic regions was that despatched by the Emperor Alexander I. of Russia, under the command of Captain Thaddeus von Bellingshausen.  It was composed of two ships, and sailed from Cronstadt on July 15, 1819.  To this expedition belongs the honour of having discovered the first land to the south of the Antarctic Circle —­ Peter I. Island and Alexander I. Land.

The next star in the Antarctic firmament is the British seaman, James Weddell.  He made two voyages in a sealer of 160 tons, the Jane of Leith, in 1819 and 1822, being accompanied on the second occasion by the cutter Beaufoy.  In February, 1823, Weddell had the satisfaction of beating Cook’s record by reaching a latitude of 74deg. 15’ S. in the sea now known as Weddell Sea, which in that year was clear of ice.

The English firm of shipowners, Enderby Brothers, plays a not unimportant part in Antarctic exploration.  The Enderbys had carried on sealing in southern waters since 1785.  They were greatly interested, not only in the commercial, but also in the scientific results of these voyages, and chose their captains accordingly.  In 1830 the firm sent out John Biscoe on a sealing voyage in the Antarctic Ocean with the brig Tula and the cutter Lively.  The result of this voyage was the sighting of Enderby Land in lat. 66deg. 25’ S., long. 49deg. 18’ E. In the following year Adelaide, Biscoe, and Pitt Islands, on the west coast of Graham Land were charted, and Graham Land itself was seen for the first time.

Kemp, another of Enderby’s skippers, reported land in lat. 66deg.  S., and about long. 60deg.  E.

In 1839 yet another skipper of the same firm, John Balleny, in the schooner Eliza Scott, discovered the Balleny Islands.

We then come to the celebrated French sailor, Admiral Jules Sebastien Dumont d’Urville.  He left Toulon in September, 1837, with a scientifically equipped expedition, in the ships Astrolabe and Zelee.  The intention was to follow in Weddell’s track, and endeavour to carry the French flag still nearer to the Pole.  Early in 1838 Louis Philippe Land and Joinville Island were discovered and named.  Two years later we again find d’Urville’s vessels in Antarctic waters, with the object of investigating the magnetic conditions in the vicinity of the South Magnetic Pole.  Land was discovered in lat. 66deg. 30’ S. and long. 138deg. 21’ E. With the exception of a few bare islets, the whole of this land was completely covered with snow.  It was given the name of Adelie Land, and a part of the ice-barrier lying to the west of it was called C^ote Clarie, on the supposition that it must envelop a line of coast.