the-voyage-of-captain-bellingshausen-to-the-antarc-fabian-gottlieb-von-bellingshausen

Reprint by Kraus Limited of the 1945 Haklut Society Second Series no XCI originally issued in 1945. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good. Translated from the Russian. Two volumes in one, xxx, 474pp, 36 plates, 2 frontispieces, 15 maps incl. 2 folding. Hakluyt Society 2nd Series Vol.91) Bellingshausens expedition in 1819 intented to explore the Southern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of the South Pole in the Vostok (&quotEast&quot) and Mirny (&quotPeaceful&quot). He crossed the Antarctic Circle (the first to do so since Cook) on 26 January 1820 and discovered the Antarctic mainland. Bellingshausen visited Sydney for a month for repairs on April 11, 1820 and returning in September, Bellingshausen was notified by the Russian consul that an English sealing captain named William Smith had discovered a group of islands on the 67th parallel, which he called the South Shetlands, and had proclaimed them to be part of the Antarctic continent. Bellingshausen immediately decided to take a look for himself with the major motive of finding a way to continue further south. On his return to Europe his accounts were compared to other Antarctic explorers, including the Royal Navy’s Edward Bransfield, 30 January 1820 and the American Nathaniel Palmer, 17 November 1820, and it was concluded that Bellingshausen was the discoverer of the sought-after Terra Australis.