These unfavourable circumstances, together with dark nights, at this advanced season of the year, quite discouraged me from putting in execution a resolution I had taken of crossing the Antarctic circle once more. Accordingly, at four o’clock in the morning, we stood to the north, with a very hard gale at E. S. E., accompanied with snow and sleet, and a very high sea, from the same point, which made great destruction among the ice islands. This circumstance, far from being of any advantage to us, greatly increased the number of pieces we had to avoid. The large pieces which break from the ice islands, are much more dangerous than the islands themselves; the latter are so high out of water, that we can generally see them, unless the weather be very thick and dark, before we are very near them; whereas the others cannot be seen in the night, till they are under the ship’s bows. These dangers were, however, now become so familiar to us, that the apprehensions they caused, were never of long duration; and were, in some measure, compensated, both by the seasonable supplies of fresh water these ice islands afforded us, (without which we must have been greatly distressed,) and also, by their very romantic appearance, greatly heightened by the foaming and dashing of the waves into the curious holes and caverns which are formed in many of them; the whole exhibiting a view which at once filled the mind with admiration and horror, and can only be described by the hand of an able painter. Towards the evening, the gale abated; and in the night we had two or three hours calm. This was succeeded by a light breeze at west; with which we steered east, under all the sail we could set, meeting with many ice-islands.
This night we saw a Port Egmont hen; and next morning, being the 25th, another. We had lately seen but few birds; and those were albatrosses, sheer-waters, and blue peterels. It is remarkable, that we did not see one of either the white, or Antarctic peterels, since we came last amongst the ice. Notwithstanding the wind kept at W. and N. W. all day, we had a very high sea from the east; by which we concluded that no land could be near in that direction. In the evening, being in the latitude 60° 51ʹ, longitude 95° 41ʹ east, the variation was 43° 6ʹ west; and the next morning, being the 26th, having advanced about a degree and a half more to the east, it was 41° 30ʹ; both being determined by several azimuths.
We had fair weather all the afternoon; but the wind was unsettled, veering round by the north to the east. With this, we stood to the S. E. and E. till three o’clock in the afternoon; when, being in the latitude of 61° 21ʹ south, longitude 97° 7ʹ, we tacked, and stood to the northward and eastward, as the wind kept veering to the south. This, in the evening, increased to a strong gale, blew in squalls, attended with snow and sleet, and thick hazy weather, which soon brought us under our close-reefed top-sails.
Between eight in the morning of the 26th and noon the next day, we fell in among several islands of ice; from whence such vast quantities had broken, as to cover the sea all round us, and render sailing rather dangerous. However, by noon, we were clear of it all. In the evening the wind abated, and veered to S. W., but the weather did not clear up till the next morning; when we were able to carry all our sails, and met with but very few islands of ice to impede us. Probably the late gale had destroyed a great number of them. Such a very large hollow sea had continued to accompany the wind, as it veered from E. to S. W., that I was certain no land of considerable extent could lie within 100 or 150 leagues of our situation between these two points.
The mean height of the thermometer at noon, for some days past, was about 35; which is something higher than it usually was, in the same latitude, about a month or five weeks before, consequently the air was something warmer. While the weather was really warm, the gales were not only stronger, but more frequent; with almost continual misty, dirty, wet weather. The very animals we had on board felt its effects. A sow having in the morning farrowed nine pigs, every one of them was killed by the cold, before four o’clock in the afternoon, notwithstanding all the care we could take of them. From the same cause, myself, as well as several of my people, had fingers and toes chilblained. Such is the summer weather we enjoyed.
The wind continued unsettled, veering from the south to the west, and blew a fresh gale till the evening. Then it fell little wind; and, soon after, a breeze sprung up at north; which quickly veered to N. E. and N. E. by E., attended with a thick fog, snow, sleet, and rain. With this wind and weather, we kept on to the S. E. till four o’clock in the afternoon of the next day, being the 1st of March, when it fell calm; which continued for near twenty-four hours. We were now in the latitude of 60° 36ʹ south, longitude 107° 54ʹ; and had a prodigious high swell from the S. W., and, at the same time, another from the S. or S. S. E. The dashing of the one wave against the other, made the ship both roll and pitch exceedingly; but, at length, the N. W. swell prevailed. The calm continued till noon the next day, when it was succeeded by a gentle breeze from S. E., which afterwards increased, and veered to S. W. With this we steered N. E. by E., and E. by N., under all the sail we could set.
In the afternoon of the 3d, being in latitude 60° 13ʹ, longitude 110° 18ʹ, the variation was 39° 4ʹ, west. But the observations by which this was determined, were none of the best; being obliged to make use of such as we could get, during the very few and short intervals when the sun appeared. A few penguins were seen this day, but not so many islands of ice as usual. The weather was also milder; though very changeable; thermometer from 36 to 38. We continued to have a N. W. swell, although the wind was unsettled, veering to N. E. by the west and north, attended with hazy, sleet, and drizzling rain.
We prosecuted our course to the east, inclining to the south, till three o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th, when (being in the latitude of 60° 37ʹ, longitude 113° 24ʹ) the wind shifting at once to S. W. and S. W. by S., I gave orders to steer E. by N. 1⁄2 N. But in the night we steered E. 1⁄2 S. in order to have the wind, which was at S. S. W., more upon the beam; the better to enable us to stand back, in case we fell in with any danger in the dark. For we had not so much time to spare, to allow us to lie to.
In the morning of the 5th, we steered E. by N. under all the sail we could set, passing one ice-island and many small pieces, and at nine o’clock the wind, which of late had not remained long upon any one point, shifted all at once to east, and blew a gentle gale. With this we stood to the north, at which time we were in the latitude of 60° 44ʹ south, and longitude 116° 50ʹ east. The latitude was determined by the meridian altitude of the sun, which appeared, now and then, for a few minutes, till three in the afternoon. Indeed the sky was, in general, so cloudy, and the weather so thick and hazy, that we had very little benefit of sun or moon; very seldom seeing the face of either the one or the other. And yet, even under these circumstances, the weather for some days past could not be called very cold. It, however, had not the least pretension to be called summer weather, according to my ideas of summer in the northern hemisphere, as far as 60° of latitude; which is nearly as far north as I have been.
In the evening we had three islands of ice in sight, all of them large; especially one, which was larger than any we had yet seen. The side opposed to us seemed to be a mile in extent; if so, it could not be less than three in circuit. As we passed it in the night, a continual cracking was heard, occasioned, no doubt, by pieces breaking from it. For, in the morning of the 6th, the sea, for some distance round it, was covered with large and small pieces; and the island itself did not appear so large as it had done the evening before. It could not be less than 100 feet high; yet such was the impetuous force and height of the waves, which were broken against it, by meeting with such a sudden resistance, that they rose considerably higher. In the evening, we were in the latitude 59° 58ʹ south, longitude 118° 39ʹ east. The 7th, the wind was variable in the N. E. and S. E. quarters, attended with snow and sleet, till the evening. Then the weather became fair, the sky cleared up, and the night was remarkably pleasant, as well as the morning of the next day; which, for the brightness of the sky, and serenity and mildness of the weather, gave place to none we had seen since we left the Cape of Good Hope. It was such as is little known in this sea; and, to make it still more agreeable, we had not one island of ice in sight. The mercury in the thermometer rose to 40. Mr. Wales and the master made some observations of the moon and stars, which satisfied us that, when our latitude was 59° 44ʹ, our longitude was 121° 9ʹ. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the calm was succeeded by a breeze at S. E. The sky, at the same time, was suddenly obscured, and seemed to presage an approaching storm, which accordingly happened; for, in the evening, the wind shifted to south, blew in squalls, attended with sleet and rain, and a prodigious high sea. Having nothing to take care of but ourselves, we kept two or three points from the wind, and ran at a good rate to the E. N. E. under our two courses, and close-reefed top-sails.