Proceedings after leaving the Isle of Georgia, with an Account of the Discovery of Sandwich Land; with some Reasons for there being Land about the South Pole.
1775 January
On the 25th, we steered E.S.E., with a fresh gale at N.N.E., attended
with foggy weather, till towards the evening, when the sky becoming
clear, we found the variation to be 9° 26' E., being at this time in the
latitude of 56° 16' S., longitude 32° 9' W.
Having continued to steer E.S.E., with a fine gale at N.N.W., till
day-light next morning, on seeing no land to the east, I gave orders to
steer south, being at this time in the latitude of 56° 33' S., longitude
31° 10' W. The weather continued clear, and gave us an opportunity to
observe several distances of the sun and moon for the correcting our
longitude, which at noon was 31° 4' W., the latitude observed 57° 38' S. We continued to steer to the south till the 27th, at noon, at which time we were in the latitude of 59° 46' S., and had so thick a fog that we could not see a ship's length. It being no longer safe to sail before the wind, as we were to expect soon to fall in with ice, I therefore hauled to the east, having a gentle breeze at N.N.E. Soon after the fog clearing away, we resumed our course to the south till four o'clock, when it returned again as thick as ever, and made it necessary for us to haul upon a wind.
I now reckoned we were in latitude 60° S., and farther I did not intend
to go, unless I observed some certain signs of soon meeting with land. For it would not have been prudent in me to have spent my time in penetrating to the south, when it was at least as probable that a large tract of land might be found near Cape Circumcision. Besides, I was tired of these high southern latitudes, where nothing was to be found but ice and thick fogs. We had now a long hollow swell from the west, a strong indication that there was no land in that direction; so that I think I may venture to assert that the extensive coast, laid down in Mr Dalrymple's chart of the ocean between Africa and America, and the Gulph of St Sebastian, do not exist.
At seven o'clock in the evening, the fog receding from us a little, gave
us a sight of an ice island, several penguins and some snow peterels; we
sounded, but found no ground at one hundred and forty fathoms. The fog
soon returning, we spent the night in making boards over that space
which we had, in some degree, made ourselves acquainted with in the day.
At eight in the morning of the 28th, we stood to the east, with a gentle
gale at north; the weather began to clear up; and we found the sea
strewed with large and small ice; several penguins, snow peterels, and
other birds were seen, and some whales. Soon after we had sun-shine, but
the air was cold; the mercury in the thermometer stood generally at
thirty-five, but at noon it was 37°; the latitude by observation was 60°
4' S., longitude 29° 23' W.
We continued to stand to the east till half-past two o'clock, p.m., when
we fell in, all at once, with a vast number of large ice-islands, and a
sea strewed with loose ice. The weather too was become thick and hazy, attended with drizzling rain and sleet, which made it the more dangerous to stand in among the ice. For this reason we tacked and stood back to the west, with the wind at north. The ice-islands, which at this time surrounded us, were nearly all of equal height, and shewed a flat even surface; but they were of various extent, some being two or three miles in circuit. The loose ice was what had broken from these isles.
Next morning, the wind falling and veering to S.W., we steered N.E.; but
this coarse was soon intercepted by numerous ice-islands; and, having
but very little wind, we were obliged to steer such courses as carried
us the clearest of them; so that we hardly made any advance, one way or
other, during the whole day. Abundance of whales and penguins were about
us all the time; and the weather fair, but dark and gloomy.
At midnight the wind began to freshen at N.N.E., with which we stood to
the N.W., till six in the morning of the 30th, when the wind veering to
N.N.W., we tacked and stood to N.E., and soon after sailed through a
good deal of loose ice, and passed two large islands. Except a short
interval of clear weather about nine o'clock, it was continually foggy, with either sleet or snow. At noon we were, by our reckoning, in the latitude of 59° 3O' S., longitude 29° 24' W.