1773 January
Next day, towards noon, the gale abated, so that we could carry close- reefed top-sails. But the weather continued thick and hazy, with sleet and snow, which froze on the rigging as it fell, and ornamented the whole with icicles; the mercury in the thermometer being generally below the freezing point. This weather continued till near noon the next day; at which time we were in the latitude of 59° 12' S.; longitude 9° 45' E.; and here we saw some penguins.
The wind had now veered to the west, and was so moderate, that we could bear two reefs out of the top-sails. In the afternoon, we were favoured with a sight of the moon, whose face we had seen but once since we left the Cape of Good Hope. By this a judgment may be formed of the sort of weather we had since we left that place. We did not fail to seize the opportunity to make several observations of the sun and moon. The longitude deduced from it was 9° 34' 30" E. Mr Kendal's watch, at the same time, giving 10° 6' E., and the latitude was 58° 53' 30" S.
This longitude is nearly the same that is assigned to Cape Circumcision; and at the going down of the sun we were about ninety-five leagues to the south of the latitude it is said to lie in. At this time the weather was so clear, that we might have seen land at fourteen or fifteen leagues distance. It is, therefore very probable, that what Bouvet took for land, was nothing but mountains of ice, surrounded by loose or field-ice. We ourselves were undoubtedly deceived by the ice-hills, the day we first fell in with the field-ice. Nor was it an improbable conjecture, that that ice joined to land. The probability was however now greatly lessened, if not entirely set aside; for the space between the northern edge of the ice, along which we sailed, and our route to the west, when south of it, no where exceeded 100 leagues, and in some places not 60. The clear weather continued no longer than three o'clock the next morning, when it was succeeded by a thick fog, sleet, and snow. The wind also veered to N.E. and blew a fresh gale, with which we stood to S.E. It increased in such a manner, that before noon we were brought under close-reefed top-sails. The wind continued to veer to the north, at last fixed at N.W., and was attended with intervals of clear weather.
Our course was E. 1/4 N., till noon the next day, when we were in the latitude of 59° 2' S., 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 then 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° 12' S., longitude 31° 47' E. 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 for 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° 44' S., longitude 37° E., the variation of the compass was 24° 10' W., and the following morning in the latitude of 64° 12' S., longitude 38° 14' E., by the mean of three compasses, it was no more than 23° 52' W. 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 have 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.