1 32 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
with which rank he was paid off in 1816 when the 
strength of the navy was reduced at the close of the 
war. 
When the news of the discovery of the South Shet- 
lands became known in 1819 Weddell accepted the com- 
mand of the brig Jane of Leith, a sealer of 160 tons, and 
started for a sealing cruise in the southern seas. On this 
first voyage he commenced the exploration and survey 
of the South Shetlands, and he was the first mariner from 
Great Britain to visit them. He seems to have also dis- 
covered the South Orkneys on the same voyage, not 
knowing of the previous discovery by Powell, and he 
made a most thorough search for the Aurora Islands mid- 
way between the Falklands and South Georgia. He found 
no land whatever in that region and suggested that what 
gave rise to the report and misled the officers of the Atre- 
vida must have been icebergs drifted around and adher- 
ent to the Shag Rocks, which when thus encased pre- 
sented the appearance of snow-covered islands with rocky 
prominences. 
A second cruise followed in which Weddell had, as well 
as the Jane under his own command, a cutter of 65 tons 
named the Beaufoy of London, under Matthew Brisbane, 
the two vessels sailing together and keeping within sight 
with few and short exceptions during the whole long 
and difficult voyage. The vessels were provisioned for 
two years and carried twenty-two men all told on the 
Jane and thirteen on the Beaufoy. Particular care was 
given to the nautical instruments, but although Weddell 
had scientific leanings he does not appear to have had 
any scientific equipment, nor did his vessel follow the 
usual custom of the Arctic whalers in carrying a sur- 
geon. 
