"at least 10°, and a complete revision of Morrell's timeline after leaving the South Sandwich Islands. Assuming that Morrell did not invent the experience, a possible explanation is that he witnessed a superior mirage. On March 19 Morrell ""bade farewell to the cheerless shores of New South Greenland"", and sailed away from the Antarctic never to return. The remaining stages of the voyage are uncontroversial, involving a year-long cruise in the Pacific Ocean. This took Wasp to the Galápagos Islands and also to the island of Más a Tierra where, a century earlier, the Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk had been"
"Alternatively, he may have made the common error of confusing distant icebergs with land, or been misled by the distorting effects of Antarctic mirage. In 1843 the distinguished British naval explorer James Clark Ross reported possible land in a position close to Morrell's; this land, too, would eventually be proven not to exist. In the early 19th century the geography of Antarctica was almost completely unknown, though occasional sightings of land had been recorded. In 1822 Benjamin Morrell, who had sailed to the South Sandwich Islands the previous year, was appointed commander of the schooner ""Wasp"" for a two-year voyage"
"as far as the South Pole. Another two days' sailing would likely have brought him within sight of Coats Land, which was not discovered until 1904, by William Speirs Bruce during the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04. On his return to England, Weddell's claim to have exceeded Cook's record by such a margin ""caused some raised eyebrows"", but was soon accepted. In November 1823, the American sealing captain Benjamin Morrell reached the South Sandwich Islands in the schooner ""Wasp"". According to his own later account he then sailed south, unconsciously following the track taken by James Weddell a month previously."
"He did not at the time consider that he had made a new discovery; he seems to have assumed that he was seeing the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the western coast of which had been explored and given the name ""New South Greenland"" in 1821, by Robert Johnson, a former captain of the ""Wasp"". Johnson's name for this land was never adopted; in 1831 it was named Graham Land. At the time of Morrell's voyage the geographical character and dimensions of the peninsula were unknown; Morrell's recorded position was in fact far to the east of the peninsula."
"set foot there on 7 February 1821, though this is not accepted by all historians. In November 1820, Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer looking for seal breeding grounds, using maps made by the Loper whaling family, sighted what is now known as the Antarctic Peninsula, located between 55 and 80 degrees west. In 1823, James Weddell, a British sealer, sailed into what is now known as the Weddell Sea. Until the twentieth century, most expeditions were for commercial purpose, to look for the prospects of seal and whale hunting. A piece of wood, from the South Shetland Islands, was the"
"landed on an uncharted stretch of land beyond the South Shetlands. ""I think this Southern Land to be a Continent"", he wrote in his ship's log. If his landing was not on an island, his party were the first to set foot on the Antarctic continent. James Weddell was an Anglo-Scottish seaman who saw service in both the Royal Navy and the merchant marine before undertaking his first voyages to Antarctic waters. In 1819, in command of the 160-ton brigantine ""Jane"" which had been adapted for whaling, he set sail for the newly discovered whaling grounds of the South Sandwich"
"future date Enderby Land is found to form part of the Antarctic continent, Morrell's most inveterate champions will, perforce, have to throw up the sponge."" According to Morrell, ""Wasp"" reached the South Sandwich Islands on February 28. His presence there is corroborated by his descriptions of the harbour on Thule Island, confirmed by the early 20th century expeditions. In the next phase of the voyage Morrell records that he took ""Wasp"" southwards and, the sea being remarkably clear of ice, reached a latitude of 70°14'S before turning north on March 14 as fuel for the ship's stoves was running out."
"century. At the time of Morrell's voyage, the geography of the then unnamed Weddell Sea and its surrounding coasts was almost entirely unknown, making the claimed sighting initially plausible. However, obvious errors in Morrell's voyage account, and his general reputation as a fabulist, created scepticism about the existence of this new land. In the German explorer Wilhelm Filchner searched for but found no traces of land, after his ship ""Deutschland"" became icebound in the Weddell Sea and drifted into the locality of Morrell's observation. A sounding of the sea bottom revealed more than of water, indicating no land in near"
"event. Thus it is suggested by geographer Paul Simpson-Housley that Morrell may have plagiarised Weddell's experiences, since Weddell's account had been published in 1827. Morrell's account describes how on the day after turning north from his southernmost point, a large tract of land was sighted in the region of 67°52'N, 44°11'W. Morrell refers to this land as ""New South Greenland"", and records that during the next few days ""Wasp"" explored more than of coast. Morrell provided vivid descriptions of the land's features, with observations of its abundant wildlife. No such land exists; other appearances of land at or near this"
"land abounds with oceanic birds of every description"", wrote Morrell. He also records seeing 3,000 sea elephants. At 10 o'clock ""Wasp"" ""bade farewell to the cheerless shores of New South Greenland"", and sailed for Tierra del Fuego, then through the Magellan Strait into the Pacific Ocean, reaching Valparaiso, Chile, on 1823. In 1838, the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville sailed over the position of Morrell's ""north cape"", but saw no indication of land. This, together with the obvious errors in Morrell's voyage account, and his general reputation as a braggart, led most later geographers to doubt his story. This scepticism"
"remained even after Sir James Clark Ross reported an appearance of land in 1843, not far from Morrell's alleged observation; Ross's sighting was occasionally proffered as support for Morrell's claim. After Ross there was no further exploration of the Weddell Sea until 1903, when William Speirs Bruce took ""Scotia"" to 74°1'S, but in a sector of the sea which did not bring him close to Morrell's or Ross's supposed sightings. Bruce was, however, did not dismiss Morrell's claims, writing that they should not be rejected until absolutely disproved. The first determined search for New South Greenland came during the Second"
"and then a second time in May–September 1823 ashore on the island at Quaker Harbour. Weddell's book ""A Voyage Towards the South Pole"" documented, inter alia, certain events and persons of local history, including his running across the privateer David Jewett and the former castaway Charles Barnard. He is well known for his voyages to the Antarctic, and the Weddell seal and the geographic features Weddell Point and Weddell Glacier on South Georgia, and Weddell Sea (discovered by him in February 1823), Weddell Plain, Weddell Arm, Weddell Islands (name given by Weddell himself) and Weddell Lake in Antarctica are all"
"Wasp Point Wasp Point () is a projecting point in the middle of the southwest coast of Thule Island, South Sandwich Islands. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1971 after the American sealing vessel in which Captain Benjamin Morrell of Stonington, CT, visited the island in 1823. It constitutes, by a small margin in comparison with Jeffries Point on Cook Island (3,8 seconds of latitude or 116,7 meters), the southernmost landmass of the South Sandwich Islands, and the southernmost landmass worldwide north of the 60th parallel south and therefore the southernmost landmass outside of the Antarctic Treaty"
"and charts. In January 1823 he probed the waters between the South Sandwich Islands and the South Orkney Islands, looking for new land. Finding none, he turned southward down the 40°W meridian, deep into the sea that now bears his name. The season was unusually calm, and Weddell reported that ""not a particle of ice of any description was to be seen"". On 20 February 1823, he reached a new Farthest South of 74°15'S, three degrees beyond Cook's former record. Unaware that he was close to land, Weddell decided to return northward from this point, convinced that the sea continued"
"Morrell then attempted to take the ship southwards but, reaching thick ice at around 60°S, turned northeast towards the Kerguelen Islands where he anchored on . After several days of exploration and evidently profitable sealing, ""Wasp"" left the Kerguelens on 1823, sailing south and east to record her furthest eastern position at 64°52'S, 118°27'E on . From this point, according to his own account, Morrell decided to take advantage of strong easterly winds, and made passage westward back to the Greenwich meridian, 0°. His subsequent account of this voyage has been disputed, particularly his assertion that a distance of more"
"of sealing, trading and exploration in the Antarctic seas and the southern Pacific Ocean. In addition to his sealing duties Morrell had, as he put it, ""discretionary powers to prosecute new discoveries."" He proposed to use this discretion to investigate the Antarctic seas ""and to ascertain the practicality ... of penetrating to the South Pole."" This would be the first of four extended voyages that would keep Morrell at sea for most of the following eight years, although he would not revisit the Antarctic after the initial voyage. ""Wasp"" sailed south from New York on 1822. She reached the Falkland"
"System. Wasp Point Wasp Point () is a projecting point in the middle of the southwest coast of Thule Island, South Sandwich Islands. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1971 after the American sealing vessel in which Captain Benjamin Morrell of Stonington, CT, visited the island in 1823. It constitutes, by a small margin in comparison with Jeffries Point on Cook Island (3,8 seconds of latitude or 116,7 meters), the southernmost landmass of the South Sandwich Islands, and the southernmost landmass worldwide north of the 60th parallel south and therefore the southernmost landmass outside of the Antarctic"
"spot the island was in 1808 by James Lindsay, captain of the Samuel Enderby & Sons' (SE&S) whaler ""Snow Swan"". They reached the island and recorded its position, though they were unable to land. Lindsay could confirm that the ""cape"" was indeed an island. The next expedition to arrive at the island was American Benjamin Morrell and his seal hunting ship ""Wasp"". Morrell, by his own account, found the island without difficulty (with ""improbable ease"", in the words of historian William Mills) before landing and hunting 196 seals. In his subsequent lengthy description, Morrell does not mention the island's most"
"Islands. His chief interest on this voyage was in finding the ""Aurora Islands"", which had been reported at 53°S, 48°W by the Spanish ship ""Aurora"" in 1762. He failed to discover this non-existent land, but his sealing activities showed a handsome profit. In 1822 Weddell, again in command of ""Jane"" and this time accompanied by the smaller ship ""Beaufort"", set sail for the south with instructions from his employers that, should the sealing prove barren, he was to ""investigate beyond the track of former navigators"". This suited Weddell's exploring instincts, and he equipped his vessel with chronometers, thermometers, compasses, barometers"
"discovered the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. Weddell returned north and sheltered at South Georgia, where he and his crews searched for the elusive seal. They wintered at the Falklands and sailed again for the South Shetlands in November 1823. At the beginning of 1824, the two ships separated. Weddell returned in March 1824 to the Falklands and headed back to England, where he arrived in July. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by James Weddell. His record for a southerly voyage, three degrees beyond that of James Cook, caused some raised eyebrows. Weddell was"
"to doubt whether he actually visited the island. After leaving Bouvet Island, ""Wasp"" continued eastward, reaching the Kerguelen Islands on December 31, 1822, where she remained for 11 days. The voyage then evidently continued to the south and east until February 1, 1823, when Morrell records his position as 65°52'S, 118°27'E. Here, Morrell says he took advantage of an eleven-knot breeze and turned the ship, to begin a passage westward. Apart from one undated position at 69°11'S, 48°15'E, Morrell's journal is silent until February 23, when he records crossing the Greenwich (0°) meridian. Historians have doubted whether such a long"
"its position was inaccurate; Captain James Cook, in 1772, had been unable to find it and had assumed its nonexistence. It had not been seen again until 1808, when the British sealing captains James Lindsay and Thomas Hopper reached it and recorded its correct position, though they were unable to land. Morrell, by his own account, found the island without difficulty—with ""improbable ease"", in the words of historian William Mills— before landing and hunting seals there. In his subsequent lengthy description, Morrell does not mention the island's most obvious physical feature, its permanent ice cover. This has caused some commentators"
"the English James Weddell discovered the sea that now bears his name, reaching up to 74°W 15'S and 34° 17'W. On June 10, 1829, the Government of Buenos Aires issued a decree creating the ""Political-Military Command of the Malvinas Islands and adjacent to Cape Horn in the Atlantic Ocean"", an act that is usually considered as Argentina including the Antarctic islands. From those years, the hunting of whales and sea Lions began to be increased in the zone. In 1831, Chile's liberator Bernardo O'Higgins wrote to the Royal Navy talking about his country: In 1843, a Chilean expedition founded the"
"Islands late in October, after which Morrell spent 16 days in fruitless searches for the nonexistent Aurora Islands, before heading for South Georgia, where the ship anchored on . In his account Morrell wrongly records the position of this anchorage, giving a location in open sea about south-west of the island's coastline. According to Morrell's account, ""Wasp"" then headed eastwards to hunt for seals, and reached the remote Bouvet Island on . The polar historian H.R. Mill notes that Morrell's description of this island's physical features fails to mention its most singular characteristic—the permanent ice sheet that covers its surface."
"had been explored two years earlier by Robert Johnson, who had given the land its name. This name was not adopted, however, and the area, which is the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, is now known as Graham Land. Morrell's reported position was actually far to the east of Graham Land. Searches for the land that Morrell claimed to have explored would continue into the early 20th century before New South Greenland's existence was conclusively disproven. Why Morrell reported exploring a non-existent land is unclear, but one possibility is that he mistook a Fata Morgana for actual land. Robert"
"James Weddell James Weddell (24 August 1787 in Ostend – 9 September 1834) was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15′S (a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antarctic Circle) and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea. He entered the merchant service very early in his life and was apparently bound to the master of a Newcastle collier (a coal transport vessel) for some years. About 1805 he shipped on board a merchantman trading to the West Indies,"
"perhaps to the Pole itself. These words are very similar to those used by the British explorer James Weddell to describe his own experiences in the same area, a month earlier, which has led historians to suspect that Morrell may have plagiarised Weddell's experiences. From the earliest navigations of the Southern Ocean in the 16th century, lands which subsequently proved to be nonexistent had from time to time been reported. Robert Headland of the Scott Polar Research Institute has suggested various reasons for these false sightings, ranging from ""too much rum"" to deliberate hoaxes designed to lure rival ships away"
"an American whaling captain, ""approached it as near as fifteen miles. I have named this northern land Wrangell [sic] Land ... as an appropriate tribute to the memory of a man who spent three consecutive years north of latitude 68°, and demonstrated the problem of this open polar sea forty-five years ago, although others of much later date have endeavored to claim the merit of this discovery."" An account appeared in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1868 (17th Meeting, at Chicago), published in 1869, under the title ""The New Arctic Continent, or Wrangell's Land,"
"same as the one which appears in Raymond Howgego's published ""Encyclopedia of Exploration (Part 2: 1800 to 1850)"". See also 'James Weddell and a debt of £245' by A.J. Mullay in History Scotland, Vol. 9 (1), 2009, pp35–38. James Weddell James Weddell (24 August 1787 in Ostend – 9 September 1834) was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15′S (a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antarctic Circle) and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea. He entered the"
"an eventful early career, running away to sea at the age of 17 and being twice captured and imprisoned by the British during the War of 1812. He subsequently sailed before the mast for several years before being appointed as chief mate, and later as captain, of the New York sealer ""Wasp"". In 1823 he took ""Wasp"" for an extended voyage into subantarctic waters, and on his return made unsubstantiated claims to have travelled beyond 70 °S and to have sighted new coastlines in the area now known as the Weddell Sea. His subsequent voyages mainly centered on the Pacific,"
"of the voyage, in Antarctic and subantarctic waters, is controversial. His claims of distances, latitudes and discoveries have been challenged as inaccurate or impossible, giving substance to his reputation among his contemporaries for untruth, and leading to much criticism by later writers. Morrell's journal indicates that ""Wasp"" reached South Georgia on November 20, and then sailed eastwards towards the isolated Bouvet Island, which lies approximately midway between Southern Africa and the Antarctic continent and is known as the world's remotest island. It had been discovered in 1739 by the French navigator Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, but his plotting of"
"from good sealing grounds. Some sightings may have been of large ice masses that were carrying rocks and other glacial debris—dirty ice can appear convincingly similar to land. It is also possible that some of these lands existed, but later became submerged after volcanic eruptions. Other sightings may have been of actual land, the position of which was wrongly fixed through observational errors arising from chronometer failure, adverse weather or simple incompetence. At 2 pm on 15 March, as ""Wasp"" cruised north-eastwards, Morrell records: ""Land was seen from the masthead, bearing west, distance 3 leagues"" (about nine miles, 14 km)."
"William Speirs Bruce in 1903. The Weddell Sea is an important area of deep water mass formation through cabbeling, the main driving force of the thermohaline circulation. Deep water masses are also formed through cabbeling in the North Atlantic and are caused by differences in temperature and salinity of the water. In the Weddell sea this is brought about mainly by brine exclusion and wind cooling. In 1823, British sailor James Weddell discovered the Weddell Sea. Otto Nordenskiöld, leader of the 1901-1904 Swedish Antarctic Expedition, spent a winter at Snow Hill with a team of four men when the relief"