402 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [partii 
and trustworthy officers he had met with in the course 
of his professional life. 
In 1822 Mr Strachan of Leith engaged Captain 
Weddell to conduct a sealing adventure in the Antarctic 
seas in the brig Jane of Leith, 160 tons, with a crew of 
22 officers and men. The cutter Beaufoy of London, 
65 tons, 13 officers and men, was to be her consort, 
commanded by Matthew Brisbane. 
Sailing from the Downs on the 17th September, 1822, 
Weddell proceeded direct for the Antarctic ice, and on 
January 12th, 1823, he was in sight of the east end of the 
South Orkneys. He landed there on the 15th and 
secured 116 sea leopard skins. Still sailing south, Weddell 
found himself on the 7th February among many ice- 
bergs, one of them two miles long and 250 feet high. 
He crossed the Antarctic Circle, and on the 14th, in Long. 
68° 28' W., there were 66 icebergs in sight. The current 
was flowing N. 58°E., 27 miles in four days. But on 
February 16th, in 70 0 26' S. the sea was smooth and the 
bergs had nearly disappeared. In 72 0 33' S. there was 
not a particle of ice to be seen. Weddell's furthest south 
was attained on the 20th February 1823, in 74 0 15' S. 
and 34 0 16' W. There were three icebergs in sight, many 
whales, and innumerable birds, and it was very clear 
weather. The sea received the name of "King George IV 
his Sea." In returning, Weddell met with less ice in 65 0 S. 
in the end of February than he did in the end of January. 
On the 12th March he sighted South Georgia (54 0 2') 
and anchored in Adventure Bay. 
It should be remembered that Weddell was only 
incidentally a discoverer, and that his business was 
sealing. His age was 35 when he reached his furthest 
south. He continued to command merchant vessels, and 
in May, 1831, in the Eliza, he gave assistance to Biscoe 
in Tasmania. He died unmarried on September 9th, 
1834, in Norfolk Street, Strand, in very straitened cir- 
cumstances. In 1839 Weddell's portrait was presented 
to the Royal Geographical Society by Mr John Brown, 
the author of a work on the search for Sir John Franklin. 
Captain Weddell was a fine specimen of a courageous and 
thoroughly efficient British seaman. 
