WILKES' AND D'URVILLE'S DISCOVERIES 

 IN WILKES LAND 



By Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury, U. S. Navy 



IN January, 1840, two national expe- 

 ditions were in the Antarctic, one the 

 United States Exploring Expedition, 

 consisting of four ships, the lljiceiuies, 

 Peacock, Porpoise, and Flying Fish, 

 under the command of Lieut. Charles 

 Wilkes, U. S. Navy, and the other a 

 French expedition, consisting of L'As- 

 trolahe and La Zelee, under command of 

 Capitaine de Vaisseau M. J. Dumont 

 d'Urville. 



It has generally been accepted by for- 

 -eign authorities that d'Urville sighted the 

 land of the Antarctic Continent, which he 

 named Adelie Land, on the same day 

 (January 19) that Wilkes discovered 

 land 400 miles to the eastward, which 

 lie named Cape Hudson, and also that 

 d'Urville's Cote Clarie, in longitude 131° 

 •east, was sighted by him the day before 

 it was seen by Lieutenant Ringgold, on 

 "board U. S. S. Porpoise. 



Investigation shows that both of these 

 assumptions are in error, and in fact 

 d'Urville first sighted Adelie Land the 

 •day after Wilkes sighted Cape Hudson, 

 and he sighted Cote Clarie the same day 

 that it was sighted by Ringgold, but at a 

 later hour. The story of the investiga- 

 tion which led to these conclusions will 

 t)e given in the order in which it was 

 made. 



In d'Urville's narrative it is stated 

 under date of January 2Q that at 4 p. m. 

 he sighted one of the" ships of the Amer- 

 ican expedition (the Porpoise) and he 

 "hoped that she intended to speak us." 

 Through a misunderstanding of the 

 maneuvering of the French flag-ship, 

 Ringgold thought d'Urville wished to 

 avoid a meeting, and, although but "a 

 ■cable's length distant" from the ship, he 

 ' -put his helm up and stood ofif to the 

 southward. 



Ringgold states that at 4 p. m. January 

 JO he sighted two ships which afterwards 



proved to be the French vessels. He 

 approached them "within musket shot," 

 when to his surprise he saw them making 

 sail, whereupon he hauled down his 

 colors and stood ofif before the wind. 



The discrepancy in dates was not no- 

 ticed in reading the narratives, but, wish- 

 ing to see just where the meeting of the 

 ships took place, their tracks were plotted 

 on the same chart, when it appeared that 

 the noon positions (d'Urville's January 

 29 and Ringgold's January 30) were near 

 each other, and that the tracks crossed in 

 the afternoon. 



The discrepancy in dates seems to be 

 remarkable, since both expeditions had 

 crossed the i8oth meridian from east to 

 west some months before and had sailed 

 for the Antarctic — one from Hobart 

 Town, Tasmania, and the other from 

 Sydney, Australia, where the dates must 

 have been identical. 



We find in Wilkes' narrative, volume 

 2, page 159, this statement: "On crossing 

 the meridian 180° we dropped the 14th 

 of November, in order to make our time 

 correspond to that of the Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere, to which our operations were for 

 some months to be confined." 



That d'Urville made no change of date 

 in crossing the i8oth meridian, but main- 

 tained the same chronology, appears 

 from d'Urville's narrative, "Routes des 

 Corvettes," volume I, page 134. where, 

 under date of October 13, 1838, the 

 longitude is given as 179° 31' west, and 

 on page 136. under date of October 14, 

 1838, it is^ given as 178° 53' east. He 

 therefore made no change of date in 

 crossing the i8oth meridian, as otherwise 

 the second date would have been October 

 15 instead of October 14. 

 '^ Further investigation of d'L^rville's 

 daily positions shows that every day is 

 accounted for until June 22, 1840. which 

 appears in volume i, page 340. On page 



