Stanford’s South Polar Chart
In 1901, Antarctica was still mostly a coastline guess and a set of ship tracks. Stanford’s South Polar Chart, published by E. Stanford Ltd. of London that year, records exactly how much the world knew before Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen filled in the rest. Aqua contour tones step outward from the pole, showing ocean depth in fathoms, and the routes of three earlier voyages are engraved across the Southern Ocean.
Expedition tracks shown:
- The Challenger, 1873 to 1876
- The German expedition Valdivia, 1898 to 1899
- The Belgian expedition Belgica, 1898 to 1899
Other engraved lines mark the approximate limit of the pack ice during the austral summer months, the line of freezing point in the air, and the northern limit of icebergs.
Map Shop prints this reproduction from a high resolution scan of the original in the Edward Stanford Cartographic Collection archive. Available with premium 36lb paper, satin gloss lamination, foam core mounting, black or walnut rails, or framing.

