THE VOYAGE OF THE HURON AND THE HUNTRESS 



between Smith (Mt. Pisgah) and Deception Island and on a true north and 

 south line between Snow (President) Island and Low Island. 



That his compass bearings and observed latitude of 63°17' south cannot be 

 reconciled does not constitute an unusual situation. Compass variation being 

 25° east of north helps to justify some of the positions, but not all of them. But 

 this is not strange, considering the type of compass, the pitching deck of the 

 little shallop, and the difficulty in getting an observation. 



It must also be remembered that in these high latitudes distances are often 

 underestimated when atmospheric conditions are right. This explains why 

 Mt. Barnard (the peak of Frezeland on Livingston Island) was much farther 

 off than Captain Burdick recorded, and that his compass bearings were awry 

 in sighting Deception Island. 



A scientifically trained man who sailed in this area a few years later (1838) 

 wrote : 



"When the winds have ceased to blow, and the ocean is at rest, nothing 

 can exceed the beautiful clearness of the atmosphere in these elevated 

 regions. The . . . snowy acclivity of the hills are distinctly visible for 

 fifty or sixty miles."^^ 



A twentieth century geographer also notes that the mainland of Antarctica 

 is plainly visible from this region at a distance of forty miles. 



In this case the Cecilia was less than about thirty miles from the Antarctic 

 Peninsula, and the mountains rising beyond Trinity Land, running far to the 

 south to east-southeast, were plainly visible. 



Three-quarters of a century later, as Frederick Cook's description has al- 

 ready proven, the Belgica under de Gerlache followed the course of the Cecilia 

 into the strait between Trinity Land and the island archipelago.^^ Of this 

 voyage it is recorded, regarding the coast line of the Peninsula : 



". . . the east coast of the strait traversed by us is perfectly continuous, 

 and that its contours display the characteristic features of a region of 

 fiords. Toward the south this land . . . (Danco Coast) is connected 

 with Graham Land, the northern extremity of which is likewise explored 

 by us. Toward the north, on the contrary, the continental coast line 

 was not traced by the expedition . . . But as the inland ice rises to a very 

 considerable height east of Hughes Inlet, I have been led to believe that 

 land must reach in that direction as far as Louis Philippe Land. It 

 therefore seems likely that the coastline is continuous to that point . . . 

 and that the 'New Greenland' of the first explorers of that region is not 

 a phantasm . . . the mountains reach to the shore everywhere. . . ." 



This statement helps to verify the possible discoveries of Captain Robert 

 Johnson (in January, 1821) ; the recorded discovery of the Continent by Cap- 

 tain John Davis (February 7-8, 1821), and the sighting of it by Captain Chris- 

 topher Burdick (February 14, 1821). It also substantiates the cruisings of the 

 British sealer Sprightly during which Captain Edward Hughes in 1824 visited 

 this area and called it Hughes Inlet, and his mate, James Hoseason, gave his 



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