Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/260

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. in. MARCH si, 1917.

Buckle Island, Borrode ..e Island, Young Island, and Row Island. Sir James Clark Ross saw them in 1842, but being in quite a different position could not reconcile them with Balleny's description and named them the Russell Islands, under the impression that they were new land. Capt. Scott passed them in March, 1904, and found Sturge Island to be much larger than Balleny had supposed, more than twenty miles long and with a high mountain on the northern end.

On Mar. 2, 1839, when in lat. 6458'S..and long. 121 E., Balleny saw land to the south- ward, which he named Sabrina Land ; but as he was prevented by pack-ice from going near, and as no other vessel has seen this land, it is possible that he was mistaken. The Sabrina was lost in a storm on Mar. 24. The Eliza Scott returned safely to London on Sept. 17, 1839.

See Dr. H. R. Mill's ' Siege of the South Pole,' chap. viii. (Alston Rivers, 1905); also <}apt. Scott's ' Voyage of the Discovery ' (Smith & Elder, 1905), vol. i. p. 13, and vol. ii. pp. 387 et seq. SYLVIA DODDS.

Balleny Island was named after John Balleny, who left the Thames on July 16,

1838, in command of the schooner Eliza Scott (154 tons), and accompanied by the cutter Sabrina (of 54 tons) under H. Free- man. The little expedition was one of several fitted out by the enterprising Enderby Brothers, whose ships had visited the Southern seas since 1785. Charles En- derby became an original fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, and remained actively interested in its work ior forty-seven years. The Enderby Brothers differed from other merchants by the careful choice of their skippers, who were men of education, and often of naval training. See the valuable chapter on " Enderby Brothers ' in Mr. H. R. Mill's " The Siege of the South Pole,' London, 1905.

After spending some time in Chalky Bay> New Zealand, Balleny again sailed on Jan. 7,

1839. On Feb. 1 of the same year the Eliza Scott and Sabrina were stopped in the Antarctic by a large body of ice. The weather was thick and foggy, with light winds. On Feb. 9, 1839, at 8 A.M. the sky cleared, and in the course of that day the Ballem* Islands were discovered. Later the Sabrina got lost in a gale, but by Sept. 17, 1839, the Eliza Scott was safely back in the Thames.

In the ninth volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society there is an article upon ' John Balleny's Discoveries in the Antarctic Ocean in February, 1839.' In the Bttlletin de la Societe de Geographic of 1839, pp. 84-8, there are extracts from the Journal of the Eliza Scott while upor this expedition ; and in the library of the Royal Geographical Society is the ' Log Book of the schooner Eliza Scott from July, 1838, to September, 1839, during her voyage from London to New Zealand on discovery to the southward and to Madagascar, and return to London, with remarks, kept by W. Moore, chief mate,' 4to (manuscript). Mr. Mill's book ' The Siege of the South Pole,' with a bibliography, is specially valuable. See also ' Proceedings at a Public Dinner given to C. Enderby, Esquire, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, April 18, 1849.' Balleny does not appear to have been present at the dinner, and may have died before that date. Charles Enderby, who was largely if not solely responsible for John Balleny's expedition, died Aug. 31, 1876, aged 78.

The name Balleny is uncommon. John Ballinie appears in the Registers of Uffculme, Devon, in 1652.

A. L. HUMPHREYS.

187 Piccadilly, W.

[Several other correspondents thanked for replies.]

RIMES ON ST. THOMAS'S DAY (12 S. iii. 9, 96, 173). If my memory does not deceive me, the sayings on this subject, as used in Northern .France, were not very different from those quoted by COL. NICHOLSON, but the units of length were not the same. On St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13) the days were said to lengthen by the hop of a flea : "A la Sainte Luce au saut d'une puce " ; on Christmas Day by the jump of a donkey : " A la Noel, du saut d'un baudet." Steven- son has told how difficult it is to move the latter, and the French proverb means that there is, practically, no difference at all in the length of the days during this part of the winter. We have to wait until Jan. 6, Twelfth Day ("Jour des Rois "), to dis- cover any improvement : " Aux Rois on s'en aper9oit." PIERRE TURPIN.

INSCRIPTIONS IN GROSVENOR CHAPEL, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET (12 S. iii. 183). No. 14, The name stated to be illegible is probably Fust, as Sir Herbert Jenner, Knt., took the name of Fust in 1842. His wife was a Miss Lascelles.

R. J. FYNMORE