Professor Andersson and his two comrades had left the _Antarctica_ on December 29, 1902; the ship was nipped on January 10, 1903; and the castaways arrived at Paulet Island at the end of February. They had lived in the shelter they constructed, subsisting mostly on penguin, until November, when the Argentine cruiser arrived. Only one man had died. The expedition reached Buenos Aires on November 30, 1903, having, during the time they had been in the Antarctic, collected a mass of interesting and valuable scientific information. CHAPTER XVIII BRITAIN HOLDS HER OWN A Capable Crew--A Modern Franklin--Early Discoveries--Frozen in--An Historic Journey--The Record of "Farthest South"--How the Record was Won--Speedy Travelling--Receding Ice Limits--A Dying Glacier--The Secret of the Barrier--A Fatal Gale--Lost in the Snow--An Antarctic Chute--Prolonged Slumber--Antarctic Coal--Home with Honour. The British Expedition, despatched under the international agreement, was destined, not only to surpass the achievements of the other two, but also to establish a series of records superior to anything that has yet been accomplished in Polar exploration, either in the northern or southern hemispheres. The members of the expedition, consisting of Naval officers and men, officers of the Mercantile Marine (Royal Naval Reserve), and civilian scientists, sailed from Cowes on August 6, 1901, on board the _Discovery_, a vessel specially built for the purpose. The ship proceeded to New Zealand, and left there on November 28, 1901, for Victoria Land. They arrived there December 24. [Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH POLAR REGIONS. The black line marks the voyage of the _Discovery_; the dotted line the course of the record-making Southern sledge journey. On the right of the map are seen the winter quarters of the German Expedition under Prof. von Drygalski.]