The Admiralty now ordered the _Invincible_ to go to Gibraltar. On leaving harbour on the 14th, the _Cornwall_ gave her a rousing send-off by "cheering ship," to which she enthusiastically replied. Admiral Sturdee sailed from Port Stanley on December 16th, to the great regret of the remainder of the squadron. He called in at Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, and Pernambuco _en route_, and was received in almost the same spirit in which Nelson was acclaimed by the Ligurian Republic at Genoa in 1798. Rear-Admiral Stoddart in the _Carnarvon_ now took over the command of our squadron. The _Inflexible_ continued the search for some days, after which she also was ordered off and sailed for the Mediterranean on December 24th. The remainder of our ships were scattered on both sides of South America and around Cape Horn. Few people have the opportunity of realising the beauty and grandeur of the scenery in this part of the world, which resembles nothing so much as the fjords of Norway in the winter time. The depth of water allows ships to navigate the narrowest channels, where glacier-bounded mountains rise precipitously from the waters edge. Once on rounding a headland we came upon a most unusual sight: some forty albatrosses were sitting on the water. Our arrival caused them considerable inconvenience and alarm, and it was the quaintest sight to see these huge birds with their enormous spread of wing endeavouring to rise, a feat which many of them were unable to achieve even after several attempts. All these "fjords" abound in seals--chiefly of the hairy variety--sea-lions, and every imaginable kind of penguin. Long ropes of seaweed, usually known amongst the seafaring world as kelp, grow on the submerged rocks, and are an invaluable guide to the sailor as they indicate the rocky patches. They grow to an enormous length, and are to be seen floating on the face of the water; in fact, we had many an anxious though profitable moment in these unsurveyed localities owing to their sudden and unexpected appearance. At intervals a sliding glacier would enshroud the face of a mountain in a dense mist formed by myriads of microscopic particles of ice, which would be followed by wonderful prismatic effects as the sun forced his way through, transforming the scene into a veritable fairyland of the most gorgeous lights and shades. Towards sunset the rose-pink and deep golden shafts of light on the snow-covered peaks beggared all description, and forced the onlooker literally to gasp in pure ecstasy. Only the pen of a brilliant word-painter could do justice to the wealth of splendour of this ever-changing panorama.