At the time of Morrell's voyage the Weddel Sea had not been named and its geography and coastline was almost entirely unknown. This made the sighting plausible at the start. Morrell made obvious errors when he told about the new sighting. He also had the reputation of liking to invent new stories. These two aspects made many people sceptical about the sighting. In the German explorer Wilhelm Filchner's ship "Deutschland" was blocked by ice in the Weddel Sea and drifted into the area, where Morrell had reported the new land. Filchcher searched for the land, but found no trace of it. A sounding of the sea bottom revealed more than of water, indicating no land nearby. Three years later, trapped in the same waters with his ship "Endurance", Ernest Shackleton was able by similar means to confirm the land's non-existence.