Southern Ocean – the inclement sea surroundings of the icy continent

Abstract

The latest in a series of Great Geographical Discoveries was the finding of a southern ice continent in 1820. It was long expected, but very late for different reasons. Among the main ones are the physical and geographical characteristics of the Southern Polar Region of the Earth, which was discovered much earlier than the Northern one. Geographers and sailors, confident in the polar symmetry of the planet's surface, found it difficult to imagine the location of the still unknown continent so close to the South Pole. In addition, the vast belt of water and ice in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica was (and still is) a serious obstacle to safe navigation. Other reasons were the results of James Cook's Second circumnavigation of the world in 1772­1775 to search for the Southern Mainland. In 1773, Captain D. Cook on the ship "Resolution" for the first time crossed the Southern Arctic Circle and reached 71° s. s. He considered the voyage in the Southern Ocean quite successful: the Southern hemisphere was sufficiently explored and the search for the Southern continent was put to an end. The authority of the English navigator was so high that nobody tried to refute his opinion for almost half a century. It required not only the courage of scientific foresight, but also the power of a state with a developed shipbuilding industry, skilled sailors and experience of long successful voyages in the World's oceans. At the beginning of the XIX century, Russia having the status of the Ocean Power possessed all this. According to the plan of the Russian Navy Department, the Russian Antarctic Expedition of 1819–1821 was aimed at implementation of scientific exploration in the least studied and most inaccessible high latitudes of the Southern Ocean. One of the participants in the preparation of the expedition, Captain Irank I.F.Krusenstern, wrote that this expedition "is for exploring the countries around the South Pole with greater accuracy than how much is known about them to this day...". In search of Antarctica, the naval sloops “Vostok” and “Mirny” had to cross the "roaring forties" and "furious fiſties" of the southern latitudes and overcome the belt of driſting icebergs and polar ices.