DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS 3Si 



somewhat indefinite period, the "open" season, during which the South Orkneys as a rule are 

 accessible to shipping. For the most part they are records obtained from vessels which have visited 

 or sighted the group, or have passed to the north or south of it without actually sighting the land. 

 They are largely therefore the records of those who have viewed the islands as a whole, and not from 

 the somewhat restricted outlook of Scotia Bay. Although far from complete they show among 

 other things when vessels have reached or have failed to reach, or have set sail from the South 

 Orkneys. Except where otherwise stated the records have been gathered from the following sources : 

 (i) those already cited in the historical section of this paper; (2) the Annals of the Argentine 

 Meteorological Office, vol. xvii, part i, pp. 3-7; (3) The Voyage of the 'Scotia'; (4) various official 

 reports in the Colonial Office from whaling officers at the South Orkneys; (5) Reports of Proceedings 

 to the Discovery Committee from Masters of the research vessels 'Discovery' and 'Discovery II'. 



Season 182 1-2 



'Dove', George Powell, December 5-13, 1821. For all practical purposes the group was entirely free 

 of pack-ice. On December 13 the northern edge of heavy pack lay about 100 miles due south of the 

 islands in 62° 20' S, 45° 29' W. Powell reports "a great quantity of ice" about thirty miles north- 

 west of the Inaccessibles, and "a vast quantity of ice that was drifting about in every direction" oflF 

 the south-west corner of Coronation Island. In neither instance, however, does he state whether it 

 was pack-ice or icebergs that he meant, but in both he probably referred to streams of pack detached 

 from the main body in the south (see p. 295 and Fig. i). 



' Beaufoy' , Michael Macleod, December 10-13, 1821. The sea for about 200 miles south-west of the 

 islands evidently free of close pack, and probably quite or at any rate fairly open as far south at least 

 as 62° 30' S, in 52° 30' W. Compare Powell's practically simultaneous observation as to the position 

 of the ice-edge to the eastward. Although our only authority for this statement is Weddell's track 

 chart it is nevertheless obvious that a vessel of the size of the 'Beaufoy' (about sixty-five tons) could 

 not have sailed where she did had the sea been obstructed by close pack (see p. 307, Fig. 3). 



'Jane', James Weddell, February 9-10, 1822. The northern side of the group at least was probably 

 clear of pack (see p. 309 and Fig. 3). 



Season 1822-3 



'Jane ' and ' Beaufoy ' , James Weddell and Matthew Brisbane, January 1 2-23 ,1823. The group was 

 entirely free of pack-ice. After leaving the South Orkneys, Weddell, standing southwards through 

 open water, eventually reached 74° 15' S, in 34° 16' 45" W, where on February 20 there was a clear 

 sea to the south. 



' Wasp' , Benjamin Morrell, March 14, 1823. On this date Morrell states that he reached 70° 14' S, 

 in 40° 3' W, the sea to the southward being clear of all obstruction.^ This record, if reliable (which is 

 extremely doubtful), would indicate a prolongation to a rather late date of the phenomenally open 

 condition of the Weddell Sea observed by Weddell in January and February. 



Season 1837-8 



'Astrolabe' and ' Zelee' , Dumont D'Urville, January 26-29 and February 20-22, 1838. On both 



occasions the group appears to have been clear of pack-ice. There was pack about twenty miles away 



to the south of Laurie Island on January 26, but the main body of the ice lay considerably farther to 



the south (see p. 313).^ 



Season 1842-3 



'Erebus' and 'Terror', James Clark Ross, January i']-February 14, 1843. The northern edge of 

 heavy pack lay in 64''-65° S between Graham Land and the 40th meridian west longitude, approxi- 

 mately 240 miles due south of the South Orkneys.* 



1 Morrell, B., 1832, A Narrative of Four Voyages, pp. 66-7 (New York). 



2 D'Un,'ille's Atlas, I, Chart 2, 1846 (Paris). 



^ Ross, J. C, 1847, A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, during 

 the Years 1839-43, PP- 35°~7 (London). 



