PHANTOM ISLANDS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 584, 12 August 1909, Page 5

PHANTOM ISLANDS.

THE NIMROD SAILS OVER. SUPPOSED LOCATION., ; ; ' " TWO SOLITARY "MACS." (By Association'.—Copyright.) London, August 10, News has been- lecoivcd , that : Captain Davis, of the Antarctic ■ exploring : ship .Nimr rod, is satisfied, by and . .making -soundings at each;charted position, that the 'Emerald, Nimrod,. and Dougherty Islands do not exist. He found a solitary inhabitant: at Macquane Island, named M'Kibbon,, collecting .jcal and penguin oil in preparation for .his former party's next visit. M'Kibbon's only companions were two dogs. Captain Davis is now homeward bound from Monte Video.. ' i SUPPOSED LOCATION OF MISSING ISLES. The three islands or group of islands which the Nimrod has found not to exist 'in ..the plaoes assigned to. them have a reported exist;enca dating' from the earlier part of the last century. . ' Dougherty Island was reported in. 18-11 by ;a whaler, the James Stewart, commanded by Captain Dougherty, - who- placed' the land in latitude: 59.205. and longitude 120 W. It was afterwards placed by' Captain Ke'ates in 1858 somewhat to the east of- this position.. Captain' Eilbech, in tho Nimrod; ship, in 1828, reported a group of small-Islands, which: ; were named after his ship, in latitude 56.805. and ' longitude 158.30W.' Search later made failed to reveal land, though there w.ere indications .of a . shoal. - _- , Emerald Island was reported by Captain C. J. Nockells in the ship Emerald in 1821, in latitude .57.158. and longitude 163 E. Subsequent searoU' failed to locate-the islands. ' Macquarie Island—where the oil-seeker leads for the present a Robinson Crusoe-like existence—is situated in latitude 54.445. and longitude'ls9.49E. ' It was discovered in the early part of last century by a. colonial vessel, and' received the name of the Governor : of New South,-Wales.