First on the Antarctic continent

Borchgrevink's British Antarctic Expedition (1898-1900) is largely forgotten and overlooked by the exploits of the expeditions of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Douglas Mawson. However, it can lay claim to being the first expedition to over-winter on the Antarctic continent, a very deliberate and planned decision unlike the 'First Antarctic Night' endured by the men of the Belgica expedition under Adrien de Gerlache, when the ship was accidentally frozen in.

Borchgrevink was Norwegian, with an English mother. He migrated to Australia in 1888 and several years later signed on as a general hand on the the ship Antarctic commanded by Leonard Kristensen. It was men of this expedition who made the first landing on the Antarctic continent; Borchegrevink would later claim that he was the very first. It also inspired him to lead an expedition of his own to the southern continent.

Failing to raise sufficient interest and money in Australia he travelled to England and finally succeeded in enlisting the support of the newspaper magnate Sir George Newnes, who provided 40,000 pounds. In his converted whaler, Southern Cross, Borchgrevink and his expedition sailed from Hobart in December 1898. With him were Nicolai Hanson, a zoologist, and Louis Bernacchi, an Australian physicist.

The expedition was forced west by ice conditions and eventually decided to land and build the base at Cape Adare (71

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