Our course was east, 3⁄4 north, till noon the next day, when we were in the latitude of 59° 2ʹ south, and nearly under the same meridian as we were when we fell in with the last field of ice, five days before; so that had it remained in the same situation, we must now have been in the middle of it. Whereas we did not so much as see any. We cannot suppose that so large a float of ice as this was, could be destroyed in so short a time. It therefore must have drifted to the northward, and this makes it probable that there is no land under this meridian, between the latitude of 55° and 59°, where we had supposed some to lie, as mentioned above.
As we were now only sailing over a part of the sea where we had been before, I directed the course E. S. E. in order to get more to the south. We had the advantage of a fresh gale, and the disadvantage of a thick fog, much snow and sleet, which, as usual, froze on our rigging as it fell, so that every rope was covered with the finest transparent ice I ever saw. This afforded an agreeable sight enough to the eye, but conveyed to the mind an idea of coldness, much greater than it really was; for the weather was rather milder than it had been for some time past, and the sea less encumbered with ice. But the worst was, the ice so clogged the rigging, sails, and blocks, as to make them exceedingly bad to handle. Our people however surmounted those difficulties with a steady perseverance, and withstood this intense cold much better than I expected.
We continued to steer to the E. S. E. with a fresh gale at N. W. attended with snow and sleet, till the 8th, when we were in the latitude of 61° 12ʹ south, longitude 31° 47ʹ east. In the afternoon we passed more ice islands than we had seen for several days. Indeed they were now so familiar to us, that they were often passed unnoticed, but more generally unseen on account of the thick weather. At nine o’clock in the evening, we came to one which had a quantity of loose ice about it. As the wind was moderate, and the weather tolerably fair, we shortened sail, and stood on and off, with a view of taking some on board on the return of light; but at four o’clock in the morning, finding ourselves to leeward of this ice, we bore down to an island to leeward of us, there being about it some loose ice, part of which we saw break off. There we brought to, hoisted out three boats, and in about five or six hours, took up as much ice as yielded fifteen tons of good fresh water. The pieces we took up were hard, and solid as a rock, some of them were so large, that we were obliged to break them with pick-axes, before they could be taken into the boats.
The salt water which adhered to the ice, was so trifling as not to be tasted, and after it had lain on deck a short time, entirely drained off; and the water which the ice yielded, was perfectly sweet and well-tasted. Part of the ice we broke in pieces, and put into casks, some we melted in the coppers, and filled up the casks with the water, and some we kept on deck for present use. The melting and stowing away the ice is a little tedious, and takes up some time, otherwise this is the most expeditious way of watering I ever met with.
Having got on board this supply of water, and the Adventure about two-thirds as much (of which we stood in great need), as we had once broke the ice, I did not doubt of getting more whenever we were in want. I therefore, without hesitation, directed our course more to the south, with a gentle gale at N. W. attended, as usual, with snow showers. In the morning of the 11th, being then in the latitude of 62° 44ʹ south, longitude 37° east, the variation of the compass was 24° 10ʹ west, and the following morning in the latitude of 64° 12ʹ south, longitude 38° 14ʹ east, by the mean of three compasses, it was no more than 23° 52ʹ west. In this situation we saw some penguins, and being near an island of ice, from which several pieces had broken, we hoisted out two boats, and took on board as much as filled all our empty casks; and the Adventure did the same. While this was doing, Mr. Forster shot an albatross, whose plumage was of a colour between brown and dark grey, the head and upper side of the wings rather inclining to black, and it had white eye-brows. We began to see these birds about the time of our first falling in with the ice islands, and some had accompanied us ever since. These, and the dark-brown sort with a yellow bill, were the only albatrosses that had not now forsaken us.
At four o’clock P. M. we hoisted in the boats, and made sail to the S. E. with a gentle breeze at S. by W. attended with showers of snow.
On the 13th, at two o’clock A. M. it fell calm. Of this we took the opportunity to hoist out a boat, to try the current, which we found to set N. W. near one third of a mile an hour. At the time of trying the current, a Fahrenheit’s thermometer was immerged in the sea 100 fathoms below its surface, where it remained twenty minutes. When it came up, the mercury stood at 32, which is the freezing point. Some little time after, being exposed to the surface of the sea, it rose to 331⁄2, and in the open air to 36. The calm continued till five o’clock in the evening, when it was succeeded by a light breeze from the south and S. E. with which we stood to the N. E. with all our sails set.
Though the weather continued fair, the sky, as usual, was clouded. However, at nine o’clock the next morning, it was clear, and we were enabled to observe several distances between the sun and moon. The mean result of which gave 39° 30ʹ 30ʺ east longitude. Mr. Kendal’s watch, at the same time, gave 38° 27ʹ 45ʺ, which is 1° 2ʹ 45ʺ west of the observations; whereas, on the 3d instant, it was half a degree east of them.
| In the evening I found the variation, by the mean of Azimuths taken with Gregory’s compass, to be | 28° | 14ʹ | 0 |
| By the mean of six Azimuths by one of Dr. Knight’s | 28 | 32 | 0 |
| And by another of Dr. Knight’s | 28 | 34 | 0 |
Our latitude at this time was 63° 57ʹ, longitude 39° 381⁄2ʹ east.