Antarctic was a barque with three masts and equipped with a steam engine, built in 1871 at Holmen in Drammen in Norway under the name Cap Nor.

In the early 1890s Norwegian ship-owner Svend Foyn wanted to expand his business to the Antarctic Ocean thereby needing capable ships.

In 1893 Antarctic captained by Leonard Kristensen set off on a whaling expedition to Antarctica led by Henrik Johan Bull and financed by Foyn.

On January 24, 1895, a boat was put ashore at Cape Adare at the northern extremity of Victoria Land with six men including Bull, Borchgrevink, Kristensen and Tunzelmann.

[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In 1898 Antarctic captained by Emil Nilsson carried Nathorst's polar expedition to Bear Island, Svalbard and Kong Karls Land.

[4] In 1901 the ship, then on loan from Nordenskjöld, carried the second season of the Swedish-Russian Arc-of-Meridian Expedition under the command of Gerard De Geer to Svalbard.

Captain Larsen now intended to beach Antarctic on Paulet Island, but the ship was too damaged and sank about 40 km (25 mi) off the coast on February 12, 1903.

[13][14][16][17] In November all crewmembers (including Carl Skottsberg, Johan Gunnar Andersson, José María Sobral and Frank Wilbert Stokes) were rescued by the Argentine corvette Uruguay captained by Julián Irízar.