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Nightingale's
penguins

Five islands comprise the South Atlantic Ocean's Tristan d'Acunha Archipelago, Tristan d'Acunha, Inaccessible, Middle, Nightingale, and Stoltenhoff.
Inaccessible Island was discovered by a Dutch expedition in 1652. They named the island "t'Nachtglas" after their ship, and parenthetically noted "Inaccessible" in their records, when the sailors were unable to get past the beach due to the steep cliff terrain. Perhaps because of its singular appropriateness, the remote island is to this day known as Inaccessible.


 

 

  

The Stoltenhoff brothers burned their hut, disseminated their few supplies, including some of the boar-descended pigs and "some hundreds" of penguins' eggs among Challenger's personnel, and left with her on October 17, 1873. Next stop, Nightingale Island in the same archipelago, where Matkin provides his interpretation of the natural history of penguins:

We have several penguins on board for these islands swarm with them; they are the clumsiest looking creatures you ever saw, being half Bird, & half Seal, having the head & feet of a Duck, with a Seal's body & habits, except that they lay eggs. They are covered with a fur-like feather very pretty to look at....

  

Then it was on to the Cape of Good Hope.

October 27th, 150 miles from the Cape, & expecting to anchor to-morrow.
We left the islands at 7 PM on the 18th, obtaining a fine view of the Peak of Tristan as we stood away. We have had a slashing wind thus far, & have sounded four times, depth over 2,500 faths, dredging pretty fair. We picked up a fine piece of Timber which was covered with fine specimens for the Scientifics; but we have seen no vessel yet. The Germans are getting fat, one of them is reading sketches by "Boz", the other "Nicholas Nickleby".