The Russian Admiral 

 Meets the Yankee Captain 



While the American and British sealers were busily working out of their re- 

 spective camps on Livingston Island, preparatory to the arrival of their 

 respective tenders, two strange craft were coming up to the parallel of the 

 South Shetlands. These vessels were the frigate Vostok, commanded by Ad- 

 miral Fabian von Bellingshausen, and her consort, the ship Mirni, under Lieu- 

 tenant Lazareff, which comprised a Russian Polar Exploring Expedition dis- 

 patched in July, 1819, by Emperor Alexander L'^^ 



Bellingshausen had made a notable voyage. He had crossed the Antarctic 

 circle several times, cruised leisurely through tropical archipelagoes during the 

 southern winter, and then reached Sydney, Australia, in September, 1819. Here, 

 the Russians learned of the discovery of the South Shetlands by Smith. *° Sail- 

 ing from Sydney on November 11, 1820, the two exploring vessels crossed the 

 Antarctic circle south of New Zealand, in lat. 60°, on December 7 at 163° east 

 longitude. They then cruised south of 60° for the unprecedented distance of 

 145 degrees of longitude during a two months' period. ^^ 



Meeting the Antarctic ice pack they sailed along it to the east. Had they 

 turned southwest they might have anticipated the discoveries of Wilkes and 

 Ross by 20 years. Sighting the magnificent bergs, they detoured to the north 

 and reached the open sea. On Christmas Day, 1820, they recorded 244 ice- 

 bergs in sight. 



On January 11, 1821, Bellingshausen crossed the Antarctic circle for the fifth 

 time at 120° west longitude, reaching 67°50' south latitude. Here the pack 

 again presented too formidable a front to face and the two warships had to 

 turn north again for a time, then once again penetrated the Antarctic to 69° 

 south.®^ 



On January 27, 1821, Captain Robert Johnson, the American sealer, re- 

 turned to Yankee Harbor, after a cruise to the south of 22 days, and reported 

 having sailed as far as 66° south, on the parallel 70° of longitude, sighting 

 land but, upon approaching it, had found no seals. ^^ 



Five days after Johnson's return to Yankee Harbor, February 3 (January 22 

 on the Russian calendar), in latitude 69° south, Bellingshausen sighted the 

 black mountain tops of an island, rising abruptly from the sea at a distance of 

 some twenty miles. This land was the inaccessible outpost of Antarctica, 

 and was named Peter I Island. It was the southernmost land ever discovered 



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