Category talk:Explorers of Antarctica

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Revisiting the Days of the Year project, I see that January 28 lists Bellingshausen as having neared the coast, but that January 30 lists Bransfield as having discovered land. It should be noted that Magellan in 1521 declared himself ready to sail to 75 degrees South, and that Cook in the 1700s had to turn back at 71 degrees South because of ice. Thus the British Admiralty lost interest in the Antarctic regions. Therefore until an individual could prove there was land, nearing the coast is equivocal. Granted, in retrospect, Bellingshausen was first. But at the time, Bransfield unequivocally found land, a discovery which was determined by some procedure in the Admiralty to be of little value. Hence, not until more evidence showed that Antarctica was significant, the 3 men found something obscure, of little worth, and not worth honoring them for, at that time. Thus we list them all on Wikipedia. If you disagree, please join in. Bransfield was selected because the annotation for January 30th was unequivocal. You are welcome to join the Days of the Year Project. The Selected Anniversaries for February up to February 22nd currently need some more selections, by the way. Ancheta Wis 18:33, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)