Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1924-08-08
lnhsbitant. of the Isle of Georgia.

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety. Washington, d. CO
South Georgia, due east of Cape
Horn in the South Atlantic ocean, is
the typical outpost of the Antarctic
as Iceland Ia of the Arctic, but it Is
much smaller island than the latter
and lacking its tempering Gulf stream.
has never been possible of colonial
ton. But IL it has no extensive his
tory of it's own, 1t has a place In the
history of geographic discovery, for
it was the first South Polar land
known to man and was found during
the golden age of exploration. And
1t later came to be an Ell Dorado of
seal skins for brave Yankee shippers.
Until the latter part of the Eight
eenth century, maps Of the world com
monty included conjectured land
mass lying south of the known conti-
nents and labeled Terra Australis In
cognita. From time to time since the
discovery of America, vague reports
of southern land had been brought to
Europe by mariners who had been
DtOWh 0OulllNdIu Oul VI lilCAA NOuA Sc
and contemporary geographers had
held persistent hopes for the dlscov-
cry and exploitation of an austral
continent which might add a second
New World to the globe.
In 1775, Capt James Cook, COM
mander Of H. M. s. Resolution on a
voyage in search of this terra in
cognita. was cruising along the coast
of an ice-covered island in latitude
"a degrees 80 minutes south. The
isle had appeared unexpectedly in the
path of the Resolution, and 1t was
the first assurance Of the disappolnt-
ment in store for mankind.
The discoverer was somewhat de-
pressed on seeing the barrenness of
the new land, whose rocky shore and
cliffs of ice were but gloomy auguries
for a habitable territory lying still
nearer the Southern pole.
The Isle of Georgia.
Referring to his blighted hope of q
fair Antarctic land, he said: ITO
judge of the bulk by the sample, 1t
would not be worth the discovery. . y. i.
Who would have thought that an is
land of no greater extent than this,
situated between the latitude Of "a
degrees and 80 degrees, should, in the
very height of summer be in man.
ner wholly covered, many fathoms
deep, with frozen snow?"
Cook took possession of the coun-
try for England and named 1t the Isle
of Georgia; and, after charting the
coast, he proceeded on his famous
decentralization of the world.
| South Georgia, as the island came
TO be called, was destined not to be
forgotten, for the brave tales of Cap
tain Cook were popular reading dur
ing the early years of American In
dependence. 1t may be that his word
"sea-bears' was the lure that started
the first follower in the wake of the
Resolution Certain 1t Is that before
the close of the Eighteenth century
| bold Yankee mariners from New Lon
don, Stonington, and other Long Is
! land sound ports had begun to reap
! the harvest of fur-seals skins at South
Georgia.
When the supply of lucrative fur
seals first began. to fail, the other
amphibious monsters mentioned by
| Cook, the sea-elephants, were forced
! to pay the costs of the ruthless voy-
ayers. The sea-elephant is the larg-
est Of seals, and is thickly invested
with blubber which yields an oil lit
tie inferior to the product of the
sperm whale; hence, elephant hunt
ing" became an important industry at
most of the subantarctic islands. In
many of its haunts the species was
soon exterminated, and, although at
South Georgia it still persists, its days
are numbered unless absolute protec-
ton be soon enforced.
But the tale of human industry at
| the barren isle Is not yet told, and
the latest development already over
shadows a century Of sealing. Eight
cen years ago Norwegian seafarers,
Vikings still, found a field unspoiled
by the bloody dynasty of their Amer
lean predecessors, and they have made
South Georgia the headquarters of the
greatest whale fishery on earth.
Between 1910 and 1920 more than
10000 whales, representing value OF
roughly fifty millions of dollars, have
been shot ON the offshore banks and
towed to the bustling whaling stations
of the island. In single ar isea-
son of 1915-1916) the South Georgian
catch numbered $50 whales.
Glaciers Are Mighty.
| Small though South Georgia is, It's
glaciers are as mighty as those OF
Spitzbergen. and there is ample cyl