Naturally there were great expectations on board.  If they had penetrated so far south, there might be no limit to their further progress.  But, as had happened so many times before, their hopes were disappointed.  From Ross Island, as far to the eastward as the eye could see, there extended a lofty, impenetrable wall of ice.  To sail through it was as impossible as sailing through the cliffs of Dover, Ross says in his description.  All they could do was to try to get round it.  And then began the first examination of that part of the great Antarctic Barrier which has since been named the Ross Barrier.

The wall of ice was followed to the eastward for a distance of 250 miles.  Its upper surface was seen to be perfectly flat.  The most easterly point reached was long. 167deg.  W., and the highest latitude 78deg. 4’ S. No opening having been found, the ships returned to the west, in order to try once more whether there was any possibility of reaching the Magnetic Pole.  But this attempt soon had to be abandoned on account of the lateness of the season, and in April, 1841, Ross returned to Hobart.

His second voyage was full of dangers and thrilling incidents, but added little to the tale of his discoveries.

On February 22, 1842, the ships came in sight of the Barrier, and, following it to the east, found that it turned north-eastward.  Here Ross recorded an “appearance of land” in the very region in which Captain Scott, sixty years later, discovered King Edward VII.  Land.

On December 17, 1842, Ross set out on his third and last Antarctic voyage.  His object this time was to reach a high latitude along the coast of Louis Philippe Land, if possible, or alternatively by following Weddell’s track.  Both attempts were frustrated by the ice conditions.

On sighting Joinville Land, the officers of the Terror thought they could see smoke from active volcanoes, but Ross and his men did not confirm this.  About fifty years later active volcanoes were actually discovered by the Norwegian, Captain C. A. Larsen, in the Jason.  A few minor geographical discoveries were made, but none of any great importance.

This concluded Ross’s attempts to reach the South Pole.  A magnificent work had been achieved, and the honour of having opened up the way by which, at last, the Pole was reached must be ascribed to Ross.

The Pagoda, commanded by Lieutenant Moore, was the next vessel to make for the South.  Her chief object was to make magnetic observations in high latitudes south of the Indian Ocean.

The first ice was met with in lat. 53deg. 30’ S., on January 25,1845.  On February 5 the Antarctic Circle was crossed in long. 30deg. 45’ E. The most southerly latitude attained on this voyage was 67deg. 50’, in long. 39deg.41’ E.

This was the last expedition to visit the Antarctic regions in a ship propelled by sails alone.

The next great event in the history of the southern seas is the Challenger expedition.  This was an entirely scientific expedition, splendidly equipped and conducted.