Prologue

      To understand the words you’re about the read, you must first understand the man writing them. My grandfather was a stern man, who always dreamed of a life of adventure. He had grown up a child of opportunity and, as such, never had much of a chance to take a risk. I think it was this that led to the following events.
      I don’t remember much of my grandfather. He died when I was very young. I have, however, read many of the newspaper accounts of his contemporaries. Most people around him saw him as a bizarre, eccentric millionaire that was always in the public eye.
      One story, in particular, caught my fancy. When he was 18 years old, his parents died, leaving him their entire fortune. Within a month, my grandfather had bought a plane and crashed it, leaving a giant scar across the side of his face. Since it was so close to the deaths of his parents, many speculated that it was a suicide attempt. My grandfather, however, denied this, saying that he should have learned to fly first.
      History is full of such stories and encounters with Edmund Hogglesforth. However, being written from outside the family by socialites and gossipers, I feel the information is too skewed to measure who my grandfather was.
      So, when I began this expedition into history, I took a moment to talk to my father about him. My father, a man of few words, had this to say:

      “Edmund M. Hogglesforth was a man who lived a long life, without a second of regret.”

      My father then went on to tell me that he remembers when his father returned from the great voyage to Antarctica. He says that my grandfather was happy to be home and never again expressed desire to leave.
      As far as the journey itself goes, my father was as clueless as I was as to the actual events. It wasn’t until we found the following papers among my grandfather’s personal belongings in an attic on the day that we moved my father to a Nursing Home. After telling my father what the papers contained, he was reluctant to read them, saying that, perhaps, the details of the voyage should be left alone and the memory of my grandfather to remain untainted by mistakes and failures.
      I, however, find them fascinating as I’m sure you will. I wish only that in reading the following logs you remember what my father said about my grandfather earlier. He was a man who lived without regret.
      For a little bit of history, know that my grandfather was well-read. Growing up, he read many stories of great explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Ponce De Leon, who discovered new land and met new peoples. This was one of many factors that led to his great journey.
      My Grandfather spent the first part of his life with a strong desire to explore new lands. However, growing up in the time he grew up in, there was not much left to explore. It was this realization that led him to Antarctica. My father says that when he was young, his father would often talk about what wonders there were to find in this new land and new tribes of people that he might meet, if only he could explore there.
      Not being one to dwell on wishes and desires, my grandfather decided to act. He spent the a good portion of his family’s money to buy a ship and hire a crew. He then appointed himself captain and set sail due south. The rest of the story is told through the following logs, so I will leave you to read those, if you feel so inclined.
      I will, however, leave you with these words, which were inscribed on my grandfather’s tombstone:

      “Never let it be said that he let the words of others dictate what he did.

Respectfully,
James Hogglesforth, 1995