Note: |
Appears as an engraving in Sir James Clark Ross's 'A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, 1839-43' (London, 1847), vol 1, p. 252. Captain John Davis commanded Huron on the United States sealing voyage, 1820-22 and made the first documented landing of the Antarctic Peninsula on 7 February 1821, writing in his logbook 'I think this Southern Land to be a Continent'. It would appear that Davis had landed at Hughes Bay and this entry in his log is the first known reference to Antarctica as a continent written by someone who had actually seen the mainland. If this landing really did take place - and there seems little reason to doubt its authenticity - it predates Henryk Johan Bull’s landing at Cape Adare by 74 years. |