South Orkneys is a group of two larger and several smaller mountainous, barren islands covered with ice and snow and surrounded by many rocks, lying NE of the Antarctic Peninsula between 6020S and 6050S, and 4420W and 46457W. It was discovered on the occasion of the joint cruise by Capt. George Powell, a British sealer in the sloop Dove, and Capt. Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer in the sloop James Monroe, in December 1821. The islands were named Powell's Group on Powell's chart, published in England, Nov. 1, 1822. They were explored and roughly recharted by Capt. James Weddell, British sealer, in 1823. Weddell's chart carried the name South Orkney Islands, which became accepted internationally. Subsequent charts of the group were published by the French expedition under Capt. Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1837-40, and by the Norwegian whaling captain Petter Sorlle, 1912-13. A running survey of the islands was completed in 1933 by DI personnel on the Discovery II. Further surveys were made by the FIDS in the period 1947-50.