4-8 THE ANTARCTIC. 



Cape Horn on a voyage from the River Plate to Val- 

 paraiso in February, 1819, and when in latitude 62 36 

 S. and longitude 6o° W., discovered land. He put off 

 an investigation of it till his return voyage in August of 

 the same year. He verified the existence of a chain of 

 islands between latitude 61° and 63" S. and longitude 

 58° and 63° W., lying in the direction from north-east to 

 south-west. To these he gave the name of the New 

 South Shetland Isles. After his subsequent return to 

 Valparaiso he immediately communicated his discovery 

 to Captain Sheriff, of the English frigate Andromache 

 stationed there, and Captain Sheriff appointed a thor- 

 oughly competent officer, Bransfield, to accompany Smith 

 on his return. Bransfield accomplished his task of laying 

 down the land with the greatest care and accuracy. Smith 

 and Bransfield determined the extent of the island group 

 to reach 53 s W., where the two isolated islands, Elephant 

 and Clarence Island, lie. They then pushed further south 

 on the meridian, 52^-° W. to nearly 65 S., without, how- 

 ever, sighting the elevations of Louis-Philippe Land, 

 which lay not very far to the west of their course. 



Almost at the same time an American seal-hunting 

 ship had appeared in these waters, the brig Hersilia, 

 James Sheffield, captain, in search of the Gerritz Land 

 laid down in the charts. Scarcely had the discovery of 

 the island group and its wealth of valuable seals been 

 made known, when the coasts swarmed with English 

 and American seal-hunters, who rendered good service 

 in determining the outlines of the land. Foremost 

 among them was the able English navigator, James 

 Weddell, also the Englishmen, Walker and Powell, and 

 the Americans, Palmer, Pendleton and others, who had 

 appeared with a fleet of thirty vessels in 1821. Before 

 long the group of the South Orkneys, further east, was 

 discovered, as well as a portion of the greater island 

 chain, which extends further to the south of the South 



