 In that year he studied at Kew Observatory making a special feature of magnetism and it was in the capacity of Magnetic Observer that he was invited by the Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink to join the Southern Cross Expedition to the Antarctic.This would be the first expedition to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland; Colbeck took charge of the expedition's magnetic observation work.After returning to Britain in 1900, Colbeck was soon going southward again, this time in command of the relief ship , sent to resupply Robert Falcon Scott's , then trapped in the ice at McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic.