Argentine explorer José Mariá Sobral (1880-1961) joined the navy as a teenager and qualified as a midshipman in 1898. He was recruited to the Swedish Antarctic Expedition at Buenos Aires, along with the American artist, Frank Stokes. “In return for accepting Sobral as a member of the wintering party, the Argentinean government provided free fuel and food” (Howgego). The object of the expedition was to place Nordenskjöld and a wintering party on the mainland while the rest of the crew remained on the ship conducting scientific work.
Having reached Antarctic waters on the ship Antarctic, the expedition managed to resolve some of the geography of the Shetland Islands, confirming that Louis-Phillippe Land connected with Danco Land and that the Orlean and Gerlache Straits were also connected. They were unable to reach the mainland and so wintered on Snow Hill Island. Sobral accompanied Nordenskjöld as did Gustaf Ackerland and Ole Jonassen, while the remaining crew sailed on to the Falklands. Weather conditions were unfavourable throughout and they ended up spending a second winter on Snow Hill Island. In October 1903, Nordenskjöld and Jonassen explored James Ross Island and established that it was in fact an island.
The crew of the Antarctic had their own adventures, getting stuck in the pack in November, 1902 and nearly colliding with an iceberg. Although they managed to break free, Larsen attempted to take the ship around the northern tip of Joinville Island and into the Erebus and Terror Strait. At this point, the ship once again became trapped and was eventually crushed. They sought refuge on a succession of ice floes before reaching Paulet Island where most would spend the next nine months. The entire crew would not reconvene in its entirety until October 1903.
Rosove writes: “Fitting it is that the Argentinean representative on Nordenskjöld’s 1901-04 expedition should have written a narrative for his countrymen who lent so much support to the expedition.” This work contains images that don’t appear elsewhere.
Scarce on the market with just three copies found in auction records.
Howgego IV, N32; Rosove, 314.A1; not in Spence.
