DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS: THULE I. 187 



Thule Island 



Lat. 59° 26f' S; long. 27° 19J' W 



(Plates XXVII and XXX, figs. 2-4; Plate XXXI; Fig. 21) 



This island, the westernmost of the Southern Thule Group, is roughly crescentic in 

 outline, with a large bay in the east, bordering Douglas Strait, and with Cape Flannery^ 

 projecting to the west. Its extreme length, measured in an easterly and westerly direc- 

 tion, is 3 J miles; its breadth is zh miles and its circumference about 10 miles. The bay 

 ends in the north at Beach Point (Plate XXX, fig. 3), from which a reef with several 

 rocks awash at the surface extends seawards for over a mile, greatly restricting the 

 entrance to the strait. At the southern end of the bay, situated about half a mile from 

 the island and with breakers and foul ground between, is Twitcher Rock' (Plate XXXI, 

 figs. 3, 4; Fig. 21 e,f). This rock, first seen by Bellingshausen, is a conspicuous feature, 

 rising to a height of 180 ft. At the south-east corner the land, which is here a low 

 plateau, trends to the south; it ends in Hewison Point^ (Plate XXXI, fig. i ; Fig. 21 g) 

 and between this and Herd Point^ further to the west is Ferguson Bay,'' which aff^ords 

 the best anchorage in the South Sandwich Group. The island rises to its highest point 

 in Mt Larsen,^ which overlooks Douglas Strait and is 2230 ft. above sea-level. 



Like Cook Island, Thule is buried beneath an ice-cap (Plate XXX, fig. 2). In the 

 middle of the south-western side a jagged ridge of black rock protrudes through the 

 glacier; in the south-east the lava plateau ending in Hewison Point is largely devoid of 

 snow (Plate XXXI, fig. i), and in the north-east the isolated ridge of rock at Beach 

 Point is also bare (Plate XXXI, fig. 3). With these exceptions the ice-cap is practically 

 continuous over the island, the glacier sometimes extending to the water's edge, but 

 more often breaking off abruptly at the edge of the steep cliffs which form the greater 

 part of the coast-line. Conspicuous silt bands are to be seen in the face of the glacier at 

 the head of Ferguson Bay (Plate XXXI, fig. 2), and on its surface some patches of " red 

 snow" were observed. 



The plateau at Hewison Point (Plate XXXI, fig. i) is formed of black columnar 

 basalt ; on its western side it is cut into a number of small creeks in which a landing 

 could doubtless be made in fine weather. Herd Point is a protruding spur of basalt, as 

 are also most of the rock exposures visible on the south-western side of the island. Near 

 Cape Flannery there are beds apparently composed of yellowish tuff and ash, while at 



1 Sir Fortescue Flannery, Bart., member of the Discovery Committee. 



- John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1771-82, during the period 

 of Cook's voyages, and the group of islands is named after him. It is said that " for corruption and incapacity 

 Sandwich's administration is unique in the history of the British Navy". He was notorious for his evil 

 living, and having taken a leading part in the prosecution of one of his former associates in vice, was popularly 

 known by the nickname of "Jemmy Twitcher". 



^ Lt.-Col. Hewison, of Messrs Ferguson Bros. 



* R. D. Herd, of Messrs Ferguson Bros. 



^ Messrs Ferguson Bros., Port Glasgow, builders of the R.R.S. 'Discovery II'. 



* C. A. Larsen, the pioneer of modern Antarctic whaling. 



