l observations then made. At eight
o'clock in the morning we could see the north point of the group of
Wolchonsky Islands, recently discovered by Captain Bellingshausen. When
they lay seven miles off us, to the South, we found the longitude,
according to our chronometers, 142 deg. 2' 38". Bellingshausen considered
it to be 142 deg. 7' 42".

From failure of wind, we could not make the island of Romanzow till the
morning of the 8th of March. We then took advantage of the clearness of
the heavens to ascertain, by the distance between the sun and moon, its
exact longitude, which is 144 deg. 28'. According to the observations we
had made in the ship Rurik, it was 144 deg. 24', consequently there was a
difference of only four minutes.

We now steered due West, in order to learn whether the island which, on
my voyage in the Rurik, I had named after Admiral Spiridow, was really a
new discovery, or, as has been said, only the most southerly of the King
George's Islands. A fresh wind favoured our course, and at six o'clock
in the afternoon we could see this island, my discovery of which has
been denied, lying before us at a distance of six miles westward.

At the same time, we could distinguish from the mast-head the southern
part of another island, lying due North, with open water between the
two. We were in 14 deg. 41' 36" South latitude, and 144 deg. 55'
longitude. During the night we were becalmed, but in the morning a fresh
breeze sprang up directly in our teeth, and the current carried us so far
to the South, that, even from the mast, we could no longer see land. Under
these circumstances, to attempt to regain the Spiridow Island would have
been attended by too great loss of time; so that we remained uncertain
whether this and the other, which we saw in the North, were the two King
George's Islands or not. I can only say, that if they really are so,
their discoverer has given their geographical position very
inaccurately.

The south-east trade-wind had ceased to befriend us, and shifting gusts
from the north-west and south blew with such violence as frequently to
tear our sails, accompanied by incessant rain and storm. The sea being
at the same time remarkably calm, proved that we were surrounded by
islands, and that, in consequence, the greatest caution was required in
sailing, especially as the currents in this region are often very
strong. We soon saw land directly before us; and as in the neighbourhood
of all coral