Narrative of the Voyages Round the World, Performed by Captain James Cook / With an Account of His Life During the Previous and Intervening Periods

by Andrew Kippis

Captain Cook, on the 8th of September, crossed the line in the longitude of 8° west, and proceeded, without meeting anything remarkable, till the 11th of October. When at 6h. 24m. 12s. by Mr. Kendal's watch, the moon rose about four digits eclipsed; soon after which the gentlemen prepared to observe the end of the eclipse. The observers were, the captain himself, and Mr. Forster, Mr. Wales, Mr. Pickersgill, Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. Harvey.

Our commander had been informed, before he left England, that he sailed at an improper season of the year, and that he should meet with much calm weather, near and under the line. But though such weather may happen in some years, it is not always, or even generally to be expected. So far was it from being the case with Captain Cook, that he had a brisk south-west wind in those very latitudes where the calms had been predicted: nor was he exposed to any of the tornadoes, which are so much spoken of by other navigators. On the 29th of the month, between eight and nine o'clock at night, when our voyagers were near the Cape of Good Hope, the whole sea, within the compass of their sight, became at once, as it were, illuminated. The captain had been formerly convinced, by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, that such appearances in the ocean were occasioned by insects. Mr. Forster, however, seemed disposed to adopt a different opinion. To determine the question, our commander ordered some buckets of water to be drawn up from alongside the ship, which were found full of an innumerable quantity of small globular insects, about the size of a common pin's head, and quite transparent. Though no life was perceived in them, there could be no doubt of their being living animals, when in their own proper element: and Mr. Forster became now well satisfied that they were the cause of the sea's illumination.

On the 30th, the Resolution and Adventure anchored in Table Bay; soon after which Captain Cook went on shore, and, accompanied by Captain Furneaux, and the two Mr. Forsters, waited on Baron Plettenberg, the governor of the Cape of Good Hope, who received the gentlemen with great politeness, and promised them every assistance the place could afford. From him our commander learned, that two French ships from the Mauritius, about eight months before, had discovered land in the latitude of 48° south, along which they sailed forty miles, till they came to a bay, into which they were upon the point of entering, when they were driven off, and separated in a hard gale of wind. Previously to this misfortune, they had lost some of their boats and people, that had been sent to sound the bay. Captain Cook was also informed by Baron Plettenberg, that in the month of March, two other ships from the island of Mauritius, had touched at the Cape in their way to the South Pacific Ocean; where they were going to make discoveries, under the command of M. Marion.

From the healthy condition of the crews, both of the Resolution and Adventure, it was imagined by the captain that his stay at the Cape would be very short. But the necessity of waiting till the requisite provisions could be prepared and collected, kept him more than three weeks at this place; which time was improved by him in ordering both the ships to be caulked and painted, and in taking care that, in every respect, their condition should be as good as when they left England.

On the 22d of November, our commander sailed from the Cape of Good Hope, and proceeded on his voyage, in search of a southern continent. Having gotten clear of the land, he directed his course for Cape Circumcision; and, judging that cold weather would soon approach, he ordered slops to be served to such of the people as were in want of them, and gave to each man the fear-nought jacket and trowsers allowed by the admiralty. On the 29th, the wind, which was west-north-west, increased to a storm, that continued, with some few intervals of moderate weather, till the 6th of December. By this gale, which was attended with hail and rain, and which blew at times with such violence that the ships could carry no sails, our voyagers were driven far to the eastward of their intended course, and no hopes were left to the captain of reaching Cape Circumcision. A still greater misfortune was the loss of the principal part of the live stock on board, consisting of sheep, hogs, and geese. At the same time, the sudden transition from warm mild weather, to weather which was extremely cold and wet, was so severely felt by our people, that it was necessary to make some addition to their allowance of spirits, by giving each of them a dram on particular occasions.

Our navigators, on the 10th of December, began to meet with islands of ice. One of these islands was so much concealed from them by the haziness of the weather, accompanied with snow and sleet, that they were steering directly towards it, and did not see it till it was at a less distance than that of a mile. Captain Cook judged it to be about fifty feet high, and half a mile in circuit. It was flat at the top, and its sides rose in a perpendicular direction, against which the sea broke to a great height. The weather continuing to be hazy, the captain, on account of the ice islands, was obliged to proceed with the utmost caution. Six of them were passed on the 12th, some of which were nearly two miles in circuit, and sixty feet high; nevertheless, such were the force and height of the waves, that the sea broke quite over them. Hence was exhibited a view, that for a few moments was pleasing to the eye; but the pleasure was soon swallowed up in the horror which seized upon the mind, from the prospect of danger. For if a ship should be so unfortunate as to get on the weather side of one of these islands, she would be dashed to pieces in a moment.

The vessels, on the 14th, were stopped by an immense field of low ice, to which no end could be seen, either to the east, west, or south. In different parts of this field were islands or hills of ice, like those which our voyagers had found floating in the sea, and twenty of which had presented themselves to view the day before. Some of the people on board imagined that they saw land over the ice, and Captain Cook himself at first entertained the same sentiment. But upon more narrowly examining these ice hills, and the various appearances they made when seen through the haze, he was induced to change his opinion. On the 18th, though in the morning our navigators had been quite imbayed, they were, notwithstanding, at length enabled to get clear of the field of ice. They were, however, at the same time, carried in among the ice islands, which perpetually succeeded one another; which were almost equally dangerous; and the avoiding of which was a matter of the greatest difficulty. But perilous as it is to sail in a thick fog, among these floating rocks, as our commander properly called them; this is preferable to the being entangled with immense fields of ice under the same circumstances. In this latter case the great danger to be apprehended, is the getting fast in the ice; a situation which would be alarming in the highest degree.

It had been a generally received opinion, that such ice as hath now been described, is formed in bays and rivers. Agreeably to this supposition, our voyagers were led to believe that land was not far distant, and that it lay to the southward behind the ice. As, therefore, they had sailed above thirty leagues along the edge of the ice, without finding a passage to the south, Captain Cook determined to run thirty or forty leagues to the east, and afterward to endeavour to get to the southward. If, in this attempt, he met with no land or other impediment, his design was to stretch behind the ice, and thus to bring the matter to a decision. The weather, at this time, affected the senses with a feeling of cold much greater than that which was pointed out by the thermometer, so that the whole crew complained. In order the better to enable them to sustain the severity of the cold, the Captain directed the sleeves of their jackets to be lengthened with baize; and had a cap made for each man of the same stuff, strengthened with canvass. These precautions greatly contributed to their comfort and advantage. It is worthy of observation, that although the weather was as sharp, on the 25th of December, as might have been expected, in the same month of the year, in any part of England, this was the middle of summer with our navigators. Some of the people now appearing to have symptoms of the scurvy, fresh wort was given them every day, prepared under the direction of the surgeons, from the malt which had been provided for the purpose.

By the 29th, it became sufficiently ascertained, from the course our commander had pursued, that the field of ice, along which the ships had sailed, did not join to any land as had been conjectured. At this time, Captain Cook came to a resolution, provided he met with no impediment, to run as far west as the meridian of Cape Circumcision. While he was prosecuting this design, a gale arose, on the 31st, which brought with it such a sea, as rendered it very dangerous for the vessels to remain among the ice; and the danger was increased by discovering an immense field to the north, which extended farther than the eye could reach. As our voyagers were not above two or three miles from this field, and were surrounded by loose ice, there was no time to deliberate. They hauled to the South; and though they happily got clear, it was not till the ships had received several hard knocks from the loose pieces, which were of the largest kind. On Friday, the 1st of January, 1773, the gale abated; and on the next day, in the afternoon, our people had the felicity of enjoying the sight of the moon, the face of which had not been seen by them but once since they had departed from the Cape of Good Hope. Hence a judgment may be formed of the sort of weather they had been exposed to, from the time of their leaving that place. The present opportunity was eagerly seized, for making several observations of the sun and moon.

Captain Cook was now nearly in the same longitude which is assigned to Cape Circumcision, and about ninety-five leagues to the south of the latitude in which it is said to lie. At the same time the weather was so clear, that land might have been seen at the distance of fourteen or fifteen leagues. He concluded it, therefore, to be very probable, that what Bouvet took for land was nothing but mountains of ice, surrounded by loose or field ice. Our present navigators had naturally been led into a similar mistake. The conjecture, that such ice as had lately been seen was joined to land, was a very plausible one, though not founded on fact. Upon the whole, there was good reason to believe, that no land was to be met with, under this meridian, between the latitude of fifty-five and fifty-nine, where some had been supposed to exist.