22 ExP/n/^al Islands. \ ^mu 



•J ' ^ L'St July 



Expunged Islands. 



With a view to exploring the Royal Company's Islands, said to 

 be situate about 400 miles southward of Tasmania, and discovered 

 iibout 1840, to ascertain their avifauna and the geographical 

 distribution of certain birds, the Council of the Aust. O.U. heis 

 been in communication with the Admiralty authorities, to fix, if 

 possible, the exact position of the supposed islands, or if they be 

 non-existent to establish the fact, because the islands appear on 

 some of the Admiralty's own charts as well as on many up-to-date 

 maps. Consequent upon the correspondence the hon. secretary 

 of the Union, Mr. D. Le Souef, has received a letter from Mr. 

 W. J. L. Wharton, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, accompanied 

 with a copy of the following " Notice to Mariners " : — 



Royal Company's Islands— Non-Existence of. 



On old charts of tine South Pacific Ocean, in the area south of Australia, 

 a group of islands, named Royal Company's Islands, are marked as 

 existing in lat. 50° 20' S., long. 140° o' E. They have consequently been 

 inserted for many years in the Admiralty publications. 



These islands are not mentioned in any Sailing Directions, the original 

 report of their existence cannot be traced^ nor ha\'c they apparently been 

 seen by any passing vessel. 



Since 1890 the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty has been 

 collecting data showing where ice and icebergs may be met with in the 

 Southern oceans, and this has necessitated plotting the tracks of many 

 vessels passing south of Australia, several of which have passed over or 

 close to the position assigned to the Royal Company's Islands without 

 seeing them, or any sign of land near them ; — thus in 1892 the Pakeha 

 passed i mile north of their assigned position; in 1893 the Crusader 

 passed 5 miles north of them ; in 1 894 the Rangatira passed 1 5 miles 

 north of them ; in 1895 the Maori passed 2\ miles south, and the 

 Rangatira 15 miles south of them; in 1889 the Rangatira passed 1 

 mile south of them, and the Matatiia 2 miles north; in 1900 the 

 Matatiia passed over the position in which they are supposed to be 

 situated ; in 1901 the Karamea passed 40 miles south of them, and in 

 1902 the Pakeha passed 12 miles south of them. 



As no certain information is available as to why these islands were 

 originally placed on the charts, and as it is evident from the tracks 

 plotted that no land exists in the locality in which they are marked on 

 the charts, they have now been expunged from the Admiralty pub- 

 lications. 



This notice affects the following Admirality charts : — Atlantic and 

 Indian Oceans, &c., No. 2,483 ; Pacific Ocean, Nos. 2,683 ^"d 788. 

 By command of their Lordships, 



\\. J. L. Wharton, Hydrographer. 

 Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, London, 2nd April, 1904. 



About Members. 



Mr. a. Mattingley (hon. treasurer Aust. O.U.), Custom House. 

 Melbourne, has a duplicate copy of " The Birds of Australia," by 

 G. J. Broinowski, comprising 300 full-paged coloured illustrations, 



