High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Southern Cross has been the name of a succession of ships serving the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church and the Church of the Province of Melanesia. It succeeded the Undine, a 21-ton schooner built at Auckland and in service from 1849 to 1857. Funds from Charlotte Mary Yonge's novel The Heir of Redclyffe (1854) were devoted to funding the construction of the Melanesian mission vessel. Southern Cross was also the name given to the Norwegian sealing vessel, Pollux, when it was acquired by Carsten Borchgrevink to transport the British Antarctic Expedition 1898 1900 to Antarctica. She was 521 tons gross, 146 feet (45 m) in length, barque-rigged with auxiliary engines. Southern Cross transported Borchgrevink's party to Cape Adare, Antarctica, and in January 1900 carried out an exploration of the Ross Sea.