On February 8, 1903, the Gauss was able to begin to move again.  From the time she reached the open sea until her arrival at Cape Town on June 9, scientific observations were continued.

High land had been seen to the eastward on the bearing of Wilkes’s Termination Land, and an amount of scientific work had been accomplished of which the German nation may well be proud.  Few Antarctic expeditions have had such a thoroughly scientific equipment as that of the Gauss, both as regards appliances and personnel.

The Swedish Antarctic expedition under Dr. Otto Nordenskjold left Gothenburg on October 16, 1901, in the Antarctic, commanded by Captain C. A. Larsen, already mentioned.  The scientific staff was composed of nine specialists.

After calling at the Falkland Islands and Staten Island, a course was made for the South Shetlands, which came in sight on January 10, 1902.

After exploring the coast of Louis Philippe Land, the ship visited Weddell Sea in the hope of getting southward along King Oscar II.  Land, but the ice conditions were difficult, and it was impossible to reach the coast.

Nordenskjold and five men were then landed on Snow Hill Island, with materials for an observatory and winter quarters and the necessary provisions.  The ship continued her course northward to the open sea.

The first winter on Snow Hill Island was unusually stormy and cold, but during the spring several interesting sledge journeys were made.  When summer arrived the Antarctic did not appear, and the land party were obliged to prepare for a second winter.  In the following spring, October, 1903, Nordenskjold made a sledge journey to explore the neighbourhood of Mount Haddington, and a closer examination showed that the mountain lay on an island.  In attempting to work round this island, he one day stumbled upon three figures, doubtfully human, which might at first sight have been taken for some of our African brethren straying thus far to the south.

It took Nordenskjold a long time to recognize in these beings Dr. Gunnar Andersson, Lieutenant Duse, and their companion during the winter, a Norwegian sailor named Grunden.

The way it came about was this.  The Antarctic had made repeated attempts to reach the winter station, but the state of the ice was bad, and they had to give up the idea of getting through.  Andersson, Duse and Grunden were then landed in the vicinity, to bring news to the winter quarters as soon as the ice permitted them to arrive there.  They had been obliged to build themselves a stone hut, in which they had passed the winter.

This experience is one of the most interesting one can read of in the history of the Polar regions.  Badly equipped as they were, they had to have recourse, like Robinson Crusoe, to their inventive faculties.  The most extraordinary contrivances were devised in the course of the winter, and when spring came the three men stepped out of their hole, well and hearty, ready to tackle their work.