A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

pintadoe peterel, some blue peterels, and a few brown albatrosses. In the evening, being under the samemeridian, and in the latitude of 65° 44' S., the variation was 19° 27' E.; but the next morning, in the latitudeof 66° 20' S., longitude the same as before, it was only 18° 20' E.; probably the mean between the two isthe nearest the truth. At this time, we had nine small islands in sight; and soon after we came, the thirdtime, within the antartic polar circle, in the longitude of 109° 31' W. About noon, seeing the appearance ofland to the S.E., we immediately trimmed our sails and stood towards it. Soon after it disappeared, but wedid not give it up till eight o'clock the next morning, when we were well assured that it was nothing butclouds, or a fog bank; and then we resumed our course to the south, with a gentle breeze at N.E., attendedwith a thick fog, snow, and sleet.We now began to meet with ice islands more frequently than before; and, in the latitude of 69° 38' S.,longitude 108° 12' W., we fell in with a field of loose ice. As we began to be in want of water, I hoisted outtwo boats and took up as much as yielded about ten tons. This was cold work, but it was now familiar tous. As soon as we had done, we hoisted in the boats, and afterwards made short boards over that part of thesea we had in some measure made ourselves acquainted with. For we had now so thick a fog, that we couldnot see two hundred yards round us; and as we knew not the extent of the loose ice, I durst not steer to thesouth till we had clear weather. Thus we spent the night, or rather that part of twenty-four hours whichanswered to night; for we had no darkness but what was occasioned by fogs.At four o'clock in the morning of the 29th, the fog began to clear away; and the day becoming clear andserene, we again steered to the south with a gentle gale at N.E. and N.N.E. The variation was found to be22° 41' E. This was in the latitude of 69° 45' S., longitude 108° 5' W.; and, in the afternoon, being in thesame longitude, and in the latitude of 70° 23' S., it was 24° 31' E. Soon after, the sky became clouded, andthe air very cold. We continued our course to the south, and passed a piece of weed covered withbarnacles, which a brown albatross was picking off. At ten o'clock, we passed a very large ice island; itwas not less than three or four miles in circuit. Several more being seen a-head, and the weather becomingfoggy, we hauled the wind to the northward; but in less than two hours, the weather cleared up, and weagain stood south.On the 30th, at four o'clock in the morning, we perceived the clouds, over the horizon to the south, to be ofan unusual snow-white brightness, which we knew denounced our approach to field-ice. Soon after, it wasseen from the top-mast-head; and at eight o'clock, we were close to its edge. It extended east and west, farbeyond the reach of our sight. In the situation we were in, just the southern half of our horizon wasilluminated, by the rays of light reflected from the ice, to a considerable height. Ninety- seven ice hillswere distinctly seen within the field, besides those on the outside; many of them very large, and lookinglike a ridge of mountains, rising one above another till they were lost in the clouds. The outer or northernedge of this immense field, was composed of loose or broken ice close packed together, so that it was notpossible for any thing to enter it. This was about a mile broad, within which, was solid ice in one continuedcompact body. It was rather low and flat (except the hills), but seemed to increase in height, as you tracedit to the south; in which direction it extended beyond our sight. Such mountains of ice as these, I believe,were never seen in the Greenland seas, at least, not that I ever heard or read of, so that we cannot draw acomparison between the ice here and there.It must be allowed, that these prodigious ice mountains must add such additional weight to the ice fieldswhich inclose them, as cannot but make a great difference between the navigating this icy sea and that ofGreenland.