164 siege of the south pole 
Biscoe’s voyage won for him a well-deserved reward 
from the Royal Geographical Society in the form of the 
second gold medal it ever awarded. Although the 
voyage brought no pecuniary profit to the owners, 
they were highly gratified at the magnificent feat 
of sailing for i6o° of longitude south of 6o° S., and 
for almost fifty degrees within the Antarctic circle itself, 
as well as at the discoveries of land. They gave Biscoe 
vessels for another voyage without delay and made elab- 
orate arrangements for combining geographical discov- 
ery with commercial seal-hunting. The Admiralty also 
interested themselves in the matter and appointed Mr. 
Henry Rea, R. N., to accompany the expedition as a 
surveying officer. Biscoe commanded the brig Hopeful 
in which Rea was a passenger and sailed from London 
on May 13th, 1833. No narrative of the cruise has been 
preserved, so far as we can ascertain, and the facts must 
be pieced together from fragmentary notices. The Hope- 
ful reached the Falklands on October 23d, and found that 
a terrible tragedy had occurred there. A party of South 
American convicts transported to the islands had fallen 
upon and massacred the leading men of the little group 
of British settlers, including Matthew Brisbane, the 
superintendent, who had been Weddell’s companion on 
the famous voyage of the Jane and Beaufoy. From the 
tone of an official letter in which Rea announces the fact 
of the massacre it would seem as if he were then in com- 
mand of one of the ships, if not of the expedition, for he 
speaks of his arrangements and his plans without men- 
tioning anyone else. Biscoe met Captain Dumont D’Ur- 
ville at Hobart Town in 1839, an ^ appears to have talked 
freely about the failure of this expedition, and D’Urville 
says on the direct authority of this interview : “ Personal 
