Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1864-1934) got his start in Antarctic Exploration shipping out with Norwegian born Henryk John Bull (1844-1930) aboard the ship Antarctica in 1894. His landing then at Cape Adare convinced him that men could survive an Antarctic winter ashore, so he organized his own expedition, with the goal of being the first to accomplish it.

Borchgrevink's British Antarctic Expedition departed London on August 22, 1898 on board the Southern Cross and arrived at Cape Adare on February 17, 1899.  Ten men and 90 sled dogs were left behind for what was to become the first humans to winter-over in Antarctic history.

Unfortunately, the expedition also marked another first - the first human death on Antarctica - Norwegian zoologist Nicolai Hansen died that October.   Despite this as well as other accidents, physical and psychological obstacles, the crew was able to produce some of the best maps available to date, which were invaluable to later explorers.