Chris
Cameron's JournalChris Cameron
In December of 1820, Chris was rescued by Captain von Bellingshausen from the Larsen Ice Shelf, where, as top officer of a sealing ship, the Captain had run aground, stranding the entire crew. So angry was the crew, that they abandoned Cameron in the middle of the night, taking all the food and supplies, leaving the Captain to survive alone as they marched towards the South Pole and the promise of food and shelter. Captain Bellingshausen was leading a Russian sponsored expedition, and Cameron was only too happy to sign on (he really had no choice). As was customary on such journeys, the mission and destination of this trip was kept a secret from the entire crew, so no one except Bellingshausen knew where they were headed or what they were to do when they arrived, though the manifest of equipment packed in the hold of the ship kept them guessing. The only clue they had as to their destination came from a hastily drawn map found among some papers Bellingshausen had left in the pocket of a shirt he sent to the laundry. On the map, the smudged and blurry words "… just west of the Greenwich Meridian" and an arrow crossing the Antarctic Circle, could be made out.
Chris
Cameron's Journal