stefansson-wrangel-09-32-101r

PLOVER LAND 401

tock that he had visited “the islands and reefs lying to the north-
ward.” I have since examined his manuscript map, sketched into
his diary at the time, and this shows that he had seen some small
sand bars that are 15 or 20 miles north-northeast of Cape McClin-
tock or only that much distant from our New Land. I have also
stood at Cape McClintock looking northeast without seeing any-
thing but what he saw. I then went to the “islands and reefs”
which he visited and even to those beyond, which he saw only
from a distance still without seeing land beyond. And the day
was apparently clear. But later, on days of more favorable
weather conditions, I have climbed up the hills on our New Land
(which is now called Brock Island) and seen Prince Patrick Island
and all the intervening islands and sand bars.

Having justified by a few examples our thesis that nonexistent
lands reveal themselves while real ones lie in hiding, we come to
the interesting case of Plover Land.

Kellett’s Plover Land

Captain Kellett, who was McClintock’s superior officer in 1853
(when McClintock discovered Prince Patrick Island and left there
the record quoted above), had three years earlier been in command
of the Herald on her Beaufort Sea voyage when she discovered
Herald Island. After telling about discovering and landing on
Herald Island Kellett reports that in about latitude 72° N., longi-
tude 175° W., there is an extensive land upon which he did not
set foot. In his account the following is perhaps the most striking
passage:

There was a fine clear atmosphere (such a one as can only be seen in
this climate), except in the direction of this extended land, where the
clouds rose in numerous extended masses, occasionally leaving the very
lofty peaks uncapped, where could be distinctly seen columns, pillars, and
very broken peaks, characteristic of the higher headlands in this sea—
East Cape and Cape Lisburne, for example. As far as man can be certain
who has 130 pairs of eyes to assist him, and all agreeing, I am certain
we have discovered an extensive land.¹

Other Voyages in the Vicinity of Plover Land

Plover Land (named for the companion ship to the Herald)
was put on the charts. But later Commander Rodgers in the

¹Papers and Correspondence Relative to the Arctic Expedition under Sir
John Franklin, Parliamentary Papers, 1850.