As a base of operations I had chosen the most southerly point we could reach with the vessel —­ the Bay of Whales in the great Antarctic Barrier.  We hoped to arrive here about January 15.  After having landed the selected shore party —­ about ten men —­ with materials for a house, equipment, and provisions for two years, the Fram was to go out again and up to Buenos Aires, in order to carry out from there an oceanographical voyage across the Atlantic to the coast of Africa and back.  In October she was to return to the Bay of Whales and take off the shore party.  So much, but no more, could be settled beforehand.  The further progress of the expedition could only be determined later, when the work in the South was finished.

My knowledge of the Ross Barrier was due to descriptions alone; but I had so carefully studied all the literature that treats of these regions, that, on first encountering this mighty mass of ice, I felt as if I had known it for many years.

After thorough consideration, I fixed upon the Bay of Whales as a winter station, for several reasons.  In the first place, because we could there go farther south in the ship than at any other point —­ a whole degree farther south than Scott could hope to get in McMurdo Sound, where he was to have his station.  And this would be of very great importance in the subsequent sledge journey toward the Pole.  Another great advantage was that we came right on to our field of work, and could see from our hut door the conditions and surface we should have to deal with.  Besides this, I was justified in supposing that the surface southward from this part of the Barrier would be considerably better, and offer fewer difficulties than the piled-up ice along the land.  In addition, animal life in the Bay of Whales was, according to the descriptions, extraordinarily rich, and offered all the fresh meat we required in the form of seals, penguins, etc.

Besides these purely technical and material advantages which the Barrier seemed to possess as a winter station, it offered a specially favourable site for an investigation of the meteorological conditions, since here one would be unobstructed by land on all sides.  It would be possible to study the character of the Barrier by daily observations on the very spot better than anywhere else.  Such interesting phenomena as the movement, feeding, and calving of this immense mass of ice could, of course, be studied very fully at this spot.

Last, but not least, there was the enormous advantage that it was comparatively easy to reach in the vessel.  No expedition had yet been prevented from coming in here.