Carte Geologique de L’Oceanie

Rare c.19th geological map of the Pacific from the final voyage accounts of Dumont D’Urville.

Beginning with James Cook in 1774, a number of British voyages of exploration ventured to the lowest latitudes ever achieved. In 1823 the British sailor and seal hunter, James Weddell, published the results of his voyage in Antarctic waters reaching 74°15S by 34°16’W, three degrees further than Cook, which caused a sensation. France had taken no part in any of these bold enterprises and to establish her presence in the Antarctic, King Louis-Philippe instructed Dumont d’Urville to explore the South Pole. The expedition left on two corvettes, the Astrolabe, which d’Urville had already sailed around the world on, and the Zelee. Both were old and were found to be unsuitable for a polar expedition. Clement Vincendon-Dumoulin was engaged as the hydrographer.

The ships reached Port Famine at the end of 1838 and after a few days rest, headed further south on January 8th. They sighted their first ice floe the following day and a few days later at 59° 30S ‘an immense block in the form of a triangular prism’ could be seen, glistening when the fog lifted. Dumont d’Urville’s instructions were to follow Weddell’s route and see how far beyond the Englishman’s final latitude they could penetrate. His crew had been promised a bonus of 100 francs each if they reached 75°S and a further 20 francs for every degree further south. The ships reached 65° where they were confronted by an impenetrable ice floe. ‘To the limits of the horizon on both east and west, spread an immense plain of blocks of ice…’. D’Urville at this point was forced to turn back and on March 7 the two ships left the South Shetlands. The ships sailed to the Pacific, Singapore, Batavia, reaching Hobart at the end of 1839.

After a short period of rest in Hobart the ships headed south again on January 1, 1840, this time reaching about 64°S and found themselves suddenly surrounded by icebergs. On January 19, land was sighted, it was completely covered with snow so high it was impossible to see the summit. D’Urville named the coast, Terre Adelie after his wife. The expedition had established the approximate position of the magnetic pole and d’Urville felt that their task had been accomplished and left Antarctica and headed for New Zealand.