298 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



"As our route lay near the charted position of Dougherty Island, we deter- 

 mined to look for it. On the afternoon of December 24, the cry of 'land 

 ahead' was given and we saw what appeared to be a bold, dark rock-island. 

 Immediately our course was shaped to pass near it. Everyone was convinced 

 that either a new island had been discovered or that the position given for 

 Dougherty Island was very much in error. It seemed to be a rocky cliff with 

 a snow cap. Nearer approach, however, proved that the supposed island 

 was an iceberg, 225 feet high by one-fourth mile long. The light was reflected 

 from the perpendicular ice-wall in such a way as to give to the berg the 

 appearance of a huge dark rock. The morning of December 25 found us 

 within 3 miles of the position given for Dougherty Island. The weather was 

 cloudy, but the seeing was good. Nothing could bo seen from the masthead. 

 I went aloft myself every half hour while we were passing the position given 

 for the island. Had anything over 100 feet high been within 35 miles of the 

 vessel in any direction we would have seen it. At 3'^ 40'" a. m., December 25, 

 Dougherty Island should have been 3 miles SE. of us. There was nothing 

 visible witliin a radius of 35 miles at the time. The island has either been 

 charted in the wrong place or it has disappeared, or possibly it was an ice- 

 island. Our experience on December 24 would confirm the possibilities of opti- 

 cal illusions. The Carnegie's track (see fig. 2) extended from lat. 59° 28' S., 

 long. 123° 17' W., to lat. 59° 08' S., long. 110° 10' W.; daylight and good 

 seeing were had all the time. If anyone else attempts to locate the island, he 

 should try either 40 miles south or 40 miles north of the charted position. 

 We assumed the island to be at 59° 21' S., and between 119° 10' W. to 120° 

 20' W. [Dougherty Island was supposed to have been seen by Capt. 

 Dougherty in the Jarties Stewart in 1841, who located it approximately in 

 latitude 59° 20' S. and longitude 120° 20' W. In 1859 Capt. E. Keates in the 

 Louise sighted an island, assumed to be Dougherty, assigning the position to- 

 it: 59° 21' S. and 119° 07' W.^j 



"December 30 and 31 were the first fine days experienced since our depar- 

 ture from Lyttelton. In spite of storms, rain, snow, fog, and prevailing cloudy 

 weather, we succeeded in getting declination observations daily, and averaging 

 twice daily during the entire trip. This was accomplished by taking advan- 

 tage of every opportunity and spending considerable time standing by. 

 Frequently we would make six or more trips to the bridge before being success- 

 ful. At other times observations would be made during the only 5 or 10 

 minutes that the Sun wfis visible on the entire day. 



"The winds were mainly from the westerly semicircle, north and north- 

 easterly winds with high and falling barometer, shifting to northwest and 

 west when the barometer began to rise; rain and mist occurred nearly every 

 day. Fogs were quite frequent, but not of long duration. 



"King Edward Cove, South Georgia, was reached on January 12, at 

 9'' 30'" a. m., use being made the last 24 hours of our auxiliary power. 



"The Carnegie left South Georgia at 7 p. m., January 14, 1916, towed out of 

 harbor against a heavy head-wind by the steam whaler Fortuna. During the 

 following days we realized that we were in climatic conditions quite different 

 from those we had experienced previously. Icebergs appeared in increasing 

 numbers, and fog was almost continuous. We will long remember January 

 18 as the only day during the entire trip of 4 months when we failed to obtain 

 observations of the magnetic declination. The Sun was visible for only 3 

 seconds during the entire day, giving no opportunity for observations. 



"Larger icebergs were seen as we neared Lindsay Island, one looming up 

 through the fog like a vast extent of dar k land with the bright ice-blink 



1 See note on p. 297. 



