and repairing that which had been damaged on the outward voyage. Filhol collected natural history specimens and observed the wildlife. The weather was not helpful; the expedition endured a series of storms which caused damage to the buildings. On 9 December the skies were cloudy, though as the time of the transit approached the sun appeared briefly giving the observers a view of Venus against the sun's corona – a view obscured by clouds at the moment of first contact. They also had a twenty-second view of Venus at the end of the transit between third and fourth contacts as it was half off the sun's disc. No useful measurements were able to be made. It took three weeks for the expedition to dismantle their camp and load the ship. They departed on 28 December. Although observations and measurements of the transit had been unsuccessful, Filhol published a comprehensive account of his examination of the natural history of the island, while the chart produced by the naval officers subsequently formed the basis of maps of the island and British Admiralty charts for several decades. Many geographic features were named by the expedition after its own personnel and members of the transit committee in Paris, as well as for other expedition-related objects, including: Courrejolles Point De la Vire Point Filhol Peak Garden Cove Jacquemart Island Mount Azimuth Mount Dumas Mount Faye Mount Fizeau Mount Paris Puiseux Peak Venus Bay Yvon Villarceau Peak Other expeditions The Campbell Island expedition was one of six French expeditions sent to observe the 1874 transit. The other two sites in the southern hemisphere were Saint Paul Island in the Indian Ocean and Nouméa in New Caledonia, while in the northern hemisphere French astronomers visited Nagasaki in Japan, Peking in China, and Saigon in Vietnam. Other countries which sent similar expeditions were the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. References Campbell Island, New Zealand Transit of Venus Pacific expeditions 1874 in science History of astronomy French Academy of Sciences Expeditions from France Subantarctic expeditions 1874 in New Zealand