Sealing at Low Island^ 



Then Return to Tankee Harbor 



Soon after Burdick recorded his sighting of the Continent, he approached the 

 west coast of Low Island where he put ashore his boat crews. The logbook of 

 the Huntress contains the story. He anchored the Cecilia "under Low Island 

 among a parcel of rocks" and remained there until the following day when a 

 westerly gale kicked up the anchorage and he shifted the shallop "round on 

 the N E side and anchored at 8 p.m." By this time he had obtained 822 skins. 



On February 17, after two days at Low Island, the wind came around with 

 the northeast "blowing a hard gale right into the harbor we lay in." Hoisting 

 in the boat Burdick got under way and beat out of the harbor. "After clearing 

 the Land double reefed the sail and stood to Northward. So Ends with hard 

 gale and thick Snow." 



Several hours later, the Cecilia "made President (Snow) Island bearing 

 N E, and stood close in with it and tacked off to Southward." The wind mod- 

 erated and Captain Burdick recorded it "canting" to the south. At 4:00 that 

 afternoon (February 18) he tacked and steered east-northeast, making Decep- 

 tion Island at 8 o'clock that evening. His entry closes with "making the Best 

 of our way for Yanky harbor." It was not until 1 o'clock the next afternoon 

 that he reached the harbor, having been forced to tow the shallop in when 

 the wind dropped off to nothing. Such were the vagaries of Antarctic weather 1 



At Yankee Harbor, Captain Burdick found that the brig Aurora, Captain 

 Macy of New York, and the brig Nancy, Captain Upham of Salem, had joined 

 the American fleet. ^°* 



Both the Huron's and Huntress' logs record an interesting cruise for the 

 busy Cecilia which began on February 22, 1821. The Huntress log noted: 



"... At 10 A.M. the shallop started on a cruce to the Northward and East- 

 ward with a boat's crew from the Brig Aurora and Capt. McCay for a 

 Pilot to some Islands to the Northward and Eastward on which he had 

 seen some Seal. . . ." 



This is supplemented by the Huron's log which states that twelve men from 

 the Huron, six men from the Aurora and two men from the Huntress comprised 

 the crew under Captain McKay.^""^ This cruise lasted two days, and Captain 

 Burdick reports: 



[66] 



