Four ships equipped for a whaling voyage were outfitted by Kinnes, a whaling company owner from Dundee, to search the Weddell Sea for the right whales reported by Ross as described in the Grays' pamphlet NEW GROUNDS IN THE SOUTHERN SEAS. The expedition's commercial labors would, Kinnes hoped, pay for the expedition with the prospect of profits from new whaling grounds the main enticement. This was an important whaling expedition to the Weddell Sea, the first of its kind since 1843. This expedition helped to revive an interest in the Antarctic.