482 



The National Geographic Magazine 



"June 28. — Crossed Blossom's track. 



11 June 29. — Passed over marry posi- 

 tions assigned — no signs of land. 



" I have been thus minute upon this 

 subject, as I can not divest myself of 

 the impression that land exists in this 

 neighborhood. So many assertions can 

 hardty rest on imagination." 



The sailing tracks of the Sulphur and 

 Starling within the above-indicated area 

 appear on the accompanying maps as 

 shown on an old chart of the North 

 Pacific Ocean (copyrighted in 1849, with 

 additions to 1864, by K. and G.W. Blunt, 

 New York), and a number of islands, 

 several separate and some in two small 

 groups, are copied from the same source. 



In 1839, two years after Sir Edward 

 Belcher's search in the Sulphur, one of 

 the vessels of the United States explor- 

 ing expedition, the Relief, on her voyage 

 from Callao, Peru, to the Hawaiian Isl- 

 ands, was ordered by Admiral Wilkes 

 to visit this region of questionable isl- 

 ands under instructions addressed to 

 Lieut. Commander A. K. Long, as fol- 

 lows : 



" U. S. Ship Vincennes, 

 " Callao, July 12th, i8jg. 

 "Sir: You will proceed from this port 

 to Oahu, Sandwich Islands, taking in 

 your route the American group of islands 

 in latitude 16 io' N., longitude 134 

 50' W. These islands have been unsuc- 

 cessfully looked for by Captain Beechey 

 in this position. You will therefore 

 make the latitude in 130 west, to the 

 eastward of their supposed situation, 

 and run along it until you reach 140 W. ; 

 thence direct to Oahu. ' ' 



The accompanying map shows the 

 sailing track of the Relief, covering more 

 than fifteen degrees of longitude, along 

 the latitude of 15 to 16 north. I have 

 not found in Admiral Wilkes' narrative 

 any detailed report of this cruise of the 

 Relief, but it is safe to assume that no 

 land was discovered in the region re- 

 ferred to. 



The Hydrographic Office of the Nav} r 

 Department has published ' ' Reported 

 Dangers in the North Pacific," and in 

 the " Supplement 417, 1880," No. 563, 

 a mention is made of " a group of isl- 

 ands " in latitude 16 30', with the au- 

 thority, " Krusenstern, from American 

 Whalers," and an "island" in latitude 

 i5°3o', longitude 136 , Captain Bunker, 

 1823. 



For some of the foregoing interesting 

 references, with data from Blunt's chart, 

 I am indebted to Prof. George David- 

 son, of the University of California, 

 during many years chief of the Pacific 

 Coast Division of the United States Coast 

 Survey, who writes as follows concern- 

 ing the reported islands : 



" I judge that the group of ten islets, 

 close together, really refer to one or two 

 islets, and that its position was reported 

 by some whalers to many others, who, 

 each independently, reported it without 

 having seen it. No body of whalers 

 could have so closely determined the 

 positions indicated. The eastern com- 

 pact group of four may really refer to 

 the larger group. The two islands, 

 ' ' New ' ' and ' ' Roca Coral, ' ' may refer 

 to one island, with a longitude much 

 west of the former groups. 



"One thing seems to me probable, 

 that there is some danger to navigatio?i 

 in that region. And now that our com- 

 merce is rapidly increasing and these 

 reported dangers lie directly in the route 

 of sailing vessels to Australia from San 

 Diego and San Francisco, it becomes 

 incumbent upon our government to 

 make an exhaustive survey of that re- 

 gion. 



' ' Whatever has been done by our 

 vessels in that region has been only in- 

 cidental to other duties, and only satis- 

 factory on the line or lines on which 

 they sailed. Some naval officer and 

 some vessel fitted for such work should 

 be employed a full season, if necessary, 

 to make an exhaustive investigation of 

 the region of the reported dangers. ' ' 



