296 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



fig. I, and Chart I) that the first landing ever eff^ected on the group was made, an 

 occasion which is described by Powell in the following passage : 



At this place we landed, and took possession in the name of King George the Fourth, leaving a 

 bottle, containing a note, stating the particulars of the discovery; and, as I imagined it to be the first 

 land discovered since the coronation of our most gracious sovereign, I have named it Coronation 

 Isle. I observed, on landing, that the sloop James Monroe had got her boat out, and was going on 

 shore at the point of the bight [i.e. at the western point of Larsen Island]; but I afterwards ascer- 

 tained that they went only to some drift ice, to get a sea-leopard. 



Evidently his latter remarks about the ' James Monroe ' were added with a view to em- 

 phasizing the British claim to the discovery. 



I found here [he continues] an immense number of penguins. Port Egmont or sea-hens, and 

 pigeons, many of which we knocked down with our clubs, they being so very tame. The land is but 

 little clear of snow and ice, for the penguins had not sufficient clear space of land for their nests, 

 there being a great number of them setting on their eggs in the snow. It appeared to me that they 

 had laid their eggs on the surface of the snow, and that, by their sitting on them, the heat from the bird 

 melted the snow around, and caused the bird with its eggs to sink down; some that I took out of 

 these holes, were down as much as two feet below the surface of the snow, and their eggs quite cold; 

 at the same time the birds around them, that had laid their eggs on hard ground, were almost ready 

 to bring forth their young. 



I saw no signs of vegetation whatever. I got into my boat, and proceeded [southwards] through 

 the passage until we arrived at a bluff point; from this situation, I had a clear view of the coast, 

 [the southern coast of Coronation Island] which took directly off to the eastward : this point I named 

 Return Point, because I returned directly on board from this. We got on board by 6 p.m.; we were 

 then about half a mile from the westernmost point of the bight. I took sights, and found its longitude, 

 by chronometer, to be 46° 7' west, and from the result of trigonometric operations, I found the lati- 

 tude to be 60° 36' south: this I named Cape Nicholas, as the day answered to that by the Almanack. 

 From this point to the extent of 10 or 12 miles in every direction (where the land did not intervene) 

 were to be observed immense icebergs, drifting about with the wind and tide; some of the largest 

 remained stationary, and were evidently aground, for the tide mark was very plainly to be seen on 

 them: while I was close to one of these icebergs, I sounded with 195 fathoms, and got no bottom: 

 I supposed it to be about 250 or 300 feet above the surface of the sea, and there were two arches com- 

 pletely through the berg, of sufficient height to admit the vessel through: I did not attempt it, from 

 fear that the ice should shelve out under water. 



For the next few days the two ships sailed slowly eastward along the north coast of 

 Coronation Island, Powell fixing and naming prominent points on the way. The weather, 

 which was at first bad, either very foggy or blowing, improved considerably on the 

 morning of the 9th. The narrative continues: 



. . .we had strong gales of wind from S.W., [throughout the afternoon and evening of December 8] 

 with thick sleet; the weather being so bad I stood off and on shore; the latter .part [on the morning 

 of December 9], the weather became more moderate, and we stood close in-shore, while our consort 

 chose to keep outside the icebergs. I found my latitude at noon, by meridian altitude, to be 60° 30' 

 south, longitude, by chronometer, 45° 28' west; Conception Point bore W.S.W. about ten miles. 

 I found the iceberg to be aground close in-shore, with about a quarter of a mile clear passage, 

 through which I run the Dove, . . .at 3^ p.m. [on December 9] we joined our consort, at the entrance 

 of a strait [later called Lewthwaite Strait by Powell], trending in a S.S.E. direction. On opening this 

 strait more clearly, we could discern the appearance of a harbour; we therefore stood into the strait, 

 and hoisted out a boat, in which I went myself, to search if the place would afford us shelter, for the 



