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

On the 24th, the wind blew from N.W. to N.E., a gentle gale, fair and cloudy. At noon we were byobservation, in the latitude of 56° 31' S, and longitude 31° 19' E., the thermometer at 35. And beingnear an island of ice, which was about fifty feet high, and 400 fathoms in circuit, I sent the master inthe jolly-boat to see if any water run from it. He soon returned with an account that there was notone drop, or any other appearance of thaw. In the evening we sailed through several floats, or fieldsof loose ice, lying in the direction of S.E. and N.W.; at the same time we had continually severalislands of the same composition in sight.On the 25th, the wind veering round from the N.E., by the east to south, it blew a gentle gale; withwhich we stood to the W.S.W, and at noon were in the latitude of 57° 50' S., and longitude 29° 32'E. The weather was fair and cloudy; the air sharp and cold, attended with a hard frost. And, althoughthis was the middle of summer with us, I much question if the day was colder in any part of England.The wind continued at south, blew a fresh gale, fair and cloudy weather, till near noon the next day,when we had clear sun-shine, and found ourselves, by observation, in the latitude of 58° 31' S.,longitude 26° 57' E.In the course of the last twenty-four hours we passed through several fields of broken loose ice.They were in general narrow, but of a considerable length, in the direction of N.W. and S.E. The icewas so close in one, that it would hardly admit the ship through it. The pieces were flat, from four tosix or eight inches thick, and appeared of that sort of ice which is generally formed in bays or rivers.Others again were different; the pieces forming various honey-combed branches, exactly like coralrocks, and exhibiting such a variety of figures as can hardly be conceived.We supposed this ice to have broke from the main field we had lately left; and which I wasdetermined to get to the south of, or behind, if possible, in order to satisfy myself whether or not itjoined to any land, as had been conjectured. With this view I kept on to the westward, with a gentlegale at south, and S.S.W., and soon after six o'clock in the evening, we saw some penguins, whichoccasioned us to sound; but we found no ground with 150 fathoms.In the morning of the 27th, we saw more loose ice, but not many islands; and those we did see werebut small. The day being calm and pleasant, and the sea smooth, we hoisted out a boat, from whichMr Forster shot a penguin and some peterels. These penguins differ not from those seen in otherparts of the world, except in some minute particulars distinguishable only by naturalists. Some of thepeterels were of the blue sort, but differed from those before-mentioned, in not having a broad bill;and the ends of their tail feathers were tipped with white instead of dark-blue. But whether thesewere only the distinctions betwixt the male and female, was a matter disputed by our naturalists. Wewere now in the latitude of 58° 19' S., longitude 24° 39' E., and took the opportunity of the calm, tosound; but found no ground with a line of 220 fathoms. The calm continued till six in the evening,when it was succeeded by a light breeze from the east, which afterwards increased to a fresh gale.In the morning of the 28th I made the signal to the Adventure to spread four miles on my starboardbeam; and in this position we continued sailing W.S.W., until four o'clock in the afternoon, when thehazy weather, attended with snow showers, made it necessary for us to join. Soon after we reefedour top-sails, being surrounded on all sides with islands of ice. In the morning of the 29th we letthem out again, and set top-gallant-sails; still continuing our course to the westward, and meetingwith several penguins. At noon we were by observation in the latitude of 59° 12', longitude 19° 1' E.,which is 3° more to the west than we were when we first fell in with the field of ice; so that it ispretty clear that it joined to no land, as we conjectured.Having come to a resolution to run as far west as the meridian of Cape Circumcision, provided we