AHC Drake Discovers Antarctica

[Incanian]

As in this video, Drake was very close to discovering the "Great Southern Continent" But all he saw was the endless ocean.

But what if, his ships got blown off course, and discovered Antartica in the 1500s?

Would he be able to return home, not circumnavigating the earth as an Englishman, but discovering a new continent?

Could England put up a colony on Antarctica?

 

[cmakk1012]

First he’s on Degrassi, then he’s a rap star, and then he discovers an entire continent? What a legend

Kidding. Wouldn’t it be way too cold for what Sir Francis had prepared for? I don’t know much about 16th century naval equipment or sailors’ garb, but I’d assume he hadn’t been planning on making an extended polar expedition.

 

[Flashman]

It'd be nigh-on impossible to establish an Antarctic colony with 16th century tech. Closest you could probably get would be to have some whalers build a few huts to drop anchor at.

 

[Incanian]

First he’s on Degrassi, then he’s a rap star, and then he discovers an entire continent? What a legend

Kidding. Wouldn’t it be way too cold for what Sir Francis had prepared for? I don’t know much about 16th century naval equipment or sailors’ garb, but I’d assume he hadn’t been planning on making an extended polar expedition.

It would be cold, but realizing he had landed on the Great Southern Continent, he would cancel his mission, and head back to England, and give Queen Elizabeth a greater surprise. I was thinking in this context, he would land on the continent, and then move to get back to England. A voyage from Antarctica to England isn't impossible if he just detours back.

He wouldn't just set up a colony, but he would give the information, and it might excite the English if they could get a colony there.

 

[Incanian]

It'd be nigh-on impossible to establish an Antarctic colony with 16th century tech. Closest you could probably get would be to have some whalers build a few huts to drop anchor at.

Well, I wasn't thinking there would be a settlement in the 1500s, but the knowledge of the continent could mean later, that the English could either claim the entire continent for being the first to discover it, or set up a colony there in the 1700s-1800s.

 

[Flashman]

Well, I wasn't thinking there would be a settlement in the 1500s, but the knowledge of the continent could mean later, that the English could either claim the entire continent for being the first to discover it, or set up a colony there in the 1700s-1800s.

It's barely possible in the modern day to sustain anything resembling a colony. It is simply put impossible prior to the 20th century, outside of a few whaler huts.

 

[Mightyboosh5]

Gods plan

 

[Mark E.]

It's barely possible in the modern day to sustain anything resembling a colony. It is simply put impossible prior to the 20th century, outside of a few whaler huts.

Agreed. But even if Drake reported the discovery, he would have no idea how large the land mass was. Research stations from the early and mid twentieth century now sit abandoned because there is no practical need to staff them. It would take a strange turn of events to justify a colony in the 18th or 19th centuries.

 

[Dave Howery]

Europe is going to be disappointed. At this time, everyone was thinking that there was some kind of huge Terra australis continent sitting on the bottom of the world; they were so convinced, they put it on maps, even though no one had actually found the place. When they find that this imaginary continent is actually a small frozen over wasteland...

 

[TRH]

Europe is going to be disappointed. At this time, everyone was thinking that there was some kind of huge Terra australis continent sitting on the bottom of the world; they were so convinced, they put it on maps, even though no one had actually found the place. When they find that this imaginary continent is actually a small frozen over wasteland...

Well, it's larger than Europe, so I wouldn't call it small, but otherwise, yeah.

 

[GauchoBadger]

Gods plan

She said "do you land on me", i tell her, "only partly"
I only love my ship and my rudder, i'm sorry

Anyway,
I doubt Francis Drake's new discovery will have immediate impacts. In the visible future from there, the only feasible economic activities would be fishing, whaling and sealing. Some rare animal species will be there, sure, but i don't think they'd be worth the long and arduous trip.

 

[Tanc49]

It's barely possible in the modern day to sustain anything resembling a colony. It is simply put impossible prior to the 20th century, outside of a few whaler huts.

Tell that to the Tsalal

 

[TRH]

Tell that to the Tsalal

Hm? Wikipedia sends me to a small town in British Columbia when I search that. Could you elaborate?

 

[Flashman]

Hm? Wikipedia sends me to a small town in British Columbia when I search that. Could you elaborate?

Enjoy.

 

[ar-pharazon]

Given the ship technology of the time-I would worry that Sir Drake might end up having the bow of his ship punctured by an iceberg.

Even if that didn't happen I don't think the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or any other power of the time having much interest in what would be a distant Terra Australis.

 

[modelcitizen]

I think Drake would keep The Golden Hind as far from foreboding polar wasteland as possible.

 

[ar-pharazon]

If I recall correctly there is evidence that explorers at least in the 18th century did get as close as to be some miles off the coast-the icebergs and cold temperatures were probably enough to keep them from exploring further.

 

[Trotsky]

I think the monstrous weather and seas that exist at that end of the world would preclude most early modern sailors from going further south if they didn't have to. Also, Drake's mission was to raid the Pacific coast; Elizabeth and the cosponsors of the expedition, expecting some kind of return on their investment, would probably be non too pleased about how Drake returned home without doing anything but finding some frozen wasteland.

 

[alexmilman]

As in this video, Drake was very close to discovering the "Great Southern Continent" But all he saw was the endless ocean.

But what if, his ships got blown off course, and discovered Antartica in the 1500s?

Would he be able to return home, not circumnavigating the earth as an Englishman, but discovering a new continent?

Could England put up a colony on Antarctica?

First of all, Drake was a pirate and not an explorer. In other words, his main and only goal was looting. He was forced to make circumnavigation just because he could not get back the same way he came: the Spanish had been assembling a naval expedition to capture him and only their bureaucracy prevented them from doing so. Nothing could be done without an explicit order prepared and signed by viceroy and in the list of the things to be loaded he forgot a trifle, a gunpowder (and nobody bothered to check because the boss knows better). Then, when the expedition returned to load it and sailed again, it had to follow the route explicitly indicated in the order but, with the time being lost, Drake already managed to loot all these places and sail away.

Now, what would Drake do with the discovered continent? Return home with a boatload of pingwins to give them to Liz as a present? I'm afraid that she'd find it a lousy return on her investment and consequences for Drake could be really bad.

Colony in Antarctica is an interesting idea. What exactly the colonists would be doing? Even in the XIX, when it was finally discovered, it was so patently useless that nobody tried to colonize it.

 

[water123]

"Cool."

-Sir Frances Drake.

And then it really wasn't dealt with again.