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Updated: June 7, 2025
One of the photographs taken prior to 1909 shows a vast plain, apparently a square mile in area, covered and crowded with Laysan albatrosses. They stand there on the level sand, serene, bulky and immaculate. Thousands of birds appear in one view a very remarkable sight. Naturally man, the ever-greedy, began to cast about for ways by which to convert some product of that feathered host into money.
These were made of wicker, and varied in shape on different occasions. We were now well to the south of Africa, in the roaring forties, and we saw many schools of whales, and albatrosses accompanied us for many days. A Spanish officer shot one one day we told him this would bring us bad luck, as the souls of lost sea captains are said to inhabit these majestic birds.
The Elsinore, sailless, drifted about that morning, the sport of wind and wave; and the gang put many lines overboard for the catching of mollyhawks and albatrosses. Oh, I worried the hungry fishers with my rifle. No man could show himself for'ard without having a bullet whop against the iron-work perilously near him.
On the 6th, we had a fresh gale from the southward, and saw a vast number of petrels; albatrosses, etc. were about the vessel: we passed a great quantity of rock-weed, and perceiving the water to change colour, we hove to, and sounded, but got no bottom with 120 fathoms of line.
Off Cape Horn our adventurous little craft met with the rough usage from winds and waves that marked the passage of its predecessors. Stormy petrels hovered over it and pecked its neck and cork. Albatrosses stooped inquiringly and flapped their gigantic wings above it. South Sea seals came up from Ocean's caves, and rubbed their furred sides against it.
No land quadrupeds are found here; birds and amphibious animals are the only inhabitants." Here congregate numerous flocks of penguins, which stalk about on the beach, head in air. To quote an early navigator, Sir John Nasborough, they look like children in white aprons. Numerous albatrosses are also met with here, some of them measuring seventeen feet from tip to tip of their wings.
We had now also many sea-birds about the ship, such as albatrosses, gulls of different kinds, and a large black bird, which, in the motion of its wings, had much the appearance of a crow, but its neck and wings are longer than those of that bird, and it is altogether larger.
All the time we were followed by the usual large flocks of Cape-pigeons and albatrosses of every color. The former resembled the common barn-pigeon exactly, but are in fact gulls of beautiful and varied colors, mostly dove-color. We caught many with fishing-lines baited with pork. We also took in the same way many albatrosses.
I have observed that the ropes to all our sails, the square sails especially, are not of a size and strength sufficient to wear out the canvass. At noon, latitude 55° 20' S., longitude 134° 16' W., a great swell from N.W.: Albatrosses and blue peterels seen.
In the southern hemisphere midsummer comes at Christmas and midwinter at the end of June. Then the albatrosses assemble in enormous flocks at Auckland and other small, lonely islands to breed. There are still districts in the interior of the fifth continent which have never been visited by Europeans.
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