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

great that I could by no means observe with any of Dr Knight's compasses.As the wind remained invariably fixed at E. and E. by S., I continued to stand to the south; and onthe 17th, between eleven and twelve o'clock, we crossed the Antarctic Circle in the longitude of 39°35' E., for at noon we were by observation in the latitude of 66° 36' 30" S. The weather was nowbecome tolerably clear, so that we could see several leagues round us; and yet we had only seen oneisland of ice since the morning. But about four p.m. as we were steering to the south, we observedthe whole sea in a manner covered with ice, from the direction of S.E., round by the S. to W.In this space, thirty-eight ice islands, great and small, were seen, besides loose ice in abundance, sothat we were obliged to luff for one piece, and bear up for another, and as we continued to advanceto the south, it increased in such a manner, that at three quarters past six o'clock, being then in thelatitude of 67° 15' S., we could proceed no farther; the ice being entirely closed to the south, in thewhole extent from E. to W.S.W., without the least appearance of any opening. This immense fieldwas composed of different kinds of ice; such as high hills, loose or broken pieces packed closetogether, and what, I think, Greenlandmen call field-ice. A float of this kind of ice lay to the S.E. ofus, of such extent, that I could see no end to it from the mast-head. It was sixteen or eighteen feethigh at least; and appeared of a pretty equal height and surface. Here we saw many whales playingabout the ice, and for two days before had seen several flocks of the brown and white pintadoes,which we named Antarctic peterels, because they seem to be natives of that region. They are,undoubtedly, of the peterel tribe; are in every respect shaped like the pintadoes, differing only fromthem in colour. The head and fore-part of the body of these are brown; and the hind-part of the body,tail, and the ends of the wings, are white. The white peterel also appeared in greater numbers thanbefore; some few dark-grey albatrosses, and our constant companion the blue peterel. But thecommon pintadoes had quite disappeared, as well as many other sorts, which are common in lowerlatitudes.SECTION III.Sequel of the Search for a Southern Continent, between the Meridian of the Cape of Good Hope andNew Zealand; with an Account of the Separation of the two Ships, and the Arrival of the Resolutionin Dusky Bay.After meeting with this ice, I did not think it was at all prudent to persevere in getting farther to thesouth; especially as the summer was already half spent, and it would have taken up some time tohave got round the ice, even supposing it to have been practicable; which, however, is doubtful. Itherefore came to a resolution to proceed directly in search of the land lately discovered by theFrench. And, as the winds still continued at E. by S., I was obliged to return to the north, over somepart of the sea I had already made myself acquainted with, and, for that reason, wished to haveavoided. But this was not to be done, as our course made good, was little better than north. In thenight the wind increased to a strong gale, attended with sleet and snow, and obliged us to doublereefour top-sails. About noon the next day the gale abated, so that we could bear all our reefs out;but the wind still remained in its old quarter.In the evening, being in the latitude of 64° 12' S., longitude 40° 15' E., a bird, called by us in myformer voyage Port Egmont Hen, (on account of the great plenty of them at Port Egmont in FalklandIsles,) came hovering several times over the ship, and then left us in the direction of N.E. They are ashort thick bird, about the size of a large crow, of a dark-brown or chocolate colour, with a whitishstreak under each wing, in the shape of a half-moon. I have been told that these birds are found ingreat plenty at the Fero Isles, North of Scotland; and that they never go far from land. Certain it is, Inever before saw them above forty leagues off; but I do not remember ever seeing fewer than twotogether; whereas here was but one, which, with the islands of ice, may have come a good way from