ABSTRACT
Achievement motivation has always reached high elevations in Antarctic explorers, and occasionally their desire for fame may exceed their veracity. This is perhaps not unexpected granted the vicissitudes of exploration, the privations and sacrifices made by the explorers and navigators, and expectations of success generated by sponsors and the public. One cannot anticipate perfect man in a perfectly indifferent environment. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction. Pilate’s question demanding to know what is truth transcends Scriptural allusion, and has considerable relevance to Antarctic exploration as the following illustration will reveal. A remarkable Antarctic voyage in the Wasp was claimed by American sealer Benjamin Morrell in 1823. In 1832 he published a book entitled A narrative of four voyages to the south sea, north and south Pacific Ocean, Chinese Sea, Ethiopic and southern Atlantic Ocean, Indian and Antarctic Ocean. From the year 1822 to 1831. Comprising critical surveys of coasts and islands, with sailing directions. And an account of some new and valuable discoveries, including the Massacre Islands, where thirteen of the author’s crew were massacred and eaten by cannibals. To which is prefixed a brief sketch of the author’s early life. The entire title is reproduced not merely to be exact but because it may say something about the desired grandeur of its author. Shakespeare himself made a parody of such lengthy titles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when the protracted title of the play within the play performed by the artisans included not only the most lamentable comedy of Pyramus and Thisby, but also their most cruel death. Perhaps it is somewhat ironic that Benjamin Morrell cited A Midsummer Night’s Dream in his book when referring to the designation of the Aurora Islands. He commented that the Aurora’s Commander gave these ‘airy nothings, A local habitation and a name’ (Morrell 1832:57). It might be contended that Morrell gave a local habitation and a name to the airy nothing, New South Greenland.
