NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 345 



In 1773 Kerguelen was despatched from France in command of a squadron to 

 complete his discoveries in the neighbourhood of the island that bears his name, which 

 he sighted again on the 14th December, making the land on the parallel of 49° 10' S. just 

 north of Cape St. Louis, from thence he stood north, discovered the Cloudy Islands and 

 Bligh's Cap, and rounded the north end of the main island ; but although he remained in 

 the vicinity until the 18th January 1774, never anchored. A boat from one of his consorts 

 succeeded in reaching the shore, and M. de Rosnevet landed in Christmas Harbour, and 

 again took possession of the island in the name of the King of France, leaving a bottle 

 with a paper in it, which was afterwards found by Cook in his third voyage. Kerguelen 

 gave names to the Cloudy Islands and the capes at the northern end of the island, which 

 they still retain with two exceptions. The islet which he called " Reunion," being now 

 known as Bligh's Cap, and " Bay de l'Oiseau " as Christmas Harbour. 



On the 24th December 177G, Captain Cook, then on his third celebrated voyage, 

 made the island, and on the 25th anchored in Christmas Harbour, thus accomplishing in . 

 one day what Kerguelen had failed to do in a month. On the 29th December, after 

 watering and cutting grass for his sheep and cattle, Cook left Christmas Harbour and 

 proceeded to the southeastward along the leeward side of the island. His track can be 

 traced from the bearings given in his narrative ; some of these bearings are, however, 

 referred to the true and some to the magnetic meridian. Passing outside Howe Island, 

 and between it and the Dayman Islands, dangerously close to the Spry Rock, which he 

 did not see, and steering outside Sibbald Island, he found himself amongst a large field 

 of kelp, and. thick weather coming on, thought it unwise to proceed further, so anchored 

 fur the night in a harbour which he named Port Palliser. Leaving Port Palliser on the 

 30th, Cook proceeded in his exploration of the leeward side of the island, and steered 

 towards a conspicuous hill which he named Mount Campbell, and which he well describes 

 as appearing like an island when seen from a distance. After passing the Kent Islands, 

 he rounded Capes Digby and Sandwich, and stood southward as far as Cape George, 

 giving the names of Royal Sound, Prince of Wales Foreland, Charlotte Point, &c, to 

 the conspicuous inlets and capes on the southeast side of the island, and being satisfied 

 from the swell coming round Cape George that the land could not trend much further, 

 if at all, to the southward, he bore up for Tasmania. 



From 1776 to the present date Kerguelen Island has been more or less frequented by 

 whaling and sealing vessels, whose captains have explored the whole of its coasts, and 

 anchored in most of its numerous harbours, the positions of which they have delineated on 

 rough charts for their own use, giving names to the different anchorages and points, often 

 quaint but frequently appropriate. The vessels generally employed in the seal and whale 

 fishery at this island were strongly built ships, of from 300 to 400 tons burthen ; they 

 usually took out with them, in their holds, in pieces, a cutter or two of about 40 tons burthen, 

 which they put together on reaching a secure harbour. Sealing and whaling were then 



(XARR. CHALL. EXP. — VOL. I. — 1884.) 44 



