The Polar Part of the Southern Hemisphere, Exhibiting a Comparative View of Land & Sea with that of the Northern, unknown maker

Exhibition Label:
"Climate Change at the Poles," Jan-2009, Kate Meyer, Jennifer Talbott, and Angela Watts
In a quest to find new hunting grounds for seals, merchant-explorer James Weddell traveled south beyond the Falkland and Shetland Islands, where the seal population was already declining just years after their discovery. Weddell surpassed Cook’s southerly record by three degrees, spotting many icebergs but no sign of land. Although Antarctica had been sighted by other Russian, British, and American explorers in 1820, it is now estimated that Weddell was a two-day sail from the shore of Antarctica when he turned back. Weddell’s map provides a comparison between the North Pole and the still comparatively “unknown” South.