'Land in sight,' and all who were not on deck quickly gathered
there to take their first look at the Antarctic Continent. The
sun, near the southern horizon, still shone in a cloudless sky, and
far away to the south-west the blue outline of the high mountain
peaks of Victoria Land could be seen. The course was now directed for
Robertson Bay, and after some difficulty, owing to the reappearance
of loose streams of pack-ice, the ship was eventually steered into
the open water within the bay.

Robertson Bay is formed by the long peninsula of Cape Adare, within
which, standing but slightly above the level of the sea, is a curious
triangular
[Page 43]
spit, probably the morainic remains of the vaster ice conditions
of former ages. It was on this spit that the expedition sent forth
by Sir George Newnes and commanded by Borchgrevink spent their
winter in 1896, the first party to winter on the shores of the
Antarctic Continent. Here Scott decided to land for a short time,
and very soon Armitage, Bernacchi and Barne were at work among
the thousands of penguins that abounded, while the naturalists
wandered further afield in search of specimens. In the center of
Cape Adare beach the hut used by the members of Borchgrevink's
party was still found to be standing in very good condition, though
at the best of times deserted dwellings are far from cheerful to
contemplate. Bernacchi had been a member of this small party of
eight, and on the spot he recalled the past, and told of the unhappy
death of Hanson--one of his comrades.

Later on Bernacchi and some others landed again to visit Hanson's
grave, and to see that all was well with it. They took a tin cylinder