In Short, We Were Carried Quite Out Of
The Straits To The North In About An Hour.
Upon this shift of tide there
arose such a short sea, and so lofty at the same time, that we
alternately dipped our bowsprit and poop-lanterns into the water; our
ship all the while labouring most violently, and refusing to answer the
helm.
The tide shifted again at midnight, and we shot through the
straits, steering S. with a brisk gale at N.W. without seeing the land
distinctly on either side: And, in the morning, had a good offing to the
southward.
We found it very cold before we got thus far; but now we began to feel
the utmost extremity of coldness. The bleak western winds had of
themselves been sufficiently piercing; but these were always accompanied
by snow or sleet, which beat continually on our sails and rigging, cased
all our masts, yards, and ropes with ice, and rendered our sails almost
useless. We had been so much accustomed to most severe storms, that we
thought the weather tolerable when we could carry a reefed main-sail; as
we were often for two or three days together lying-to under bare poles,
exposed to the shocks of prodigious waves, more mountainous than any I
had ever seen. We now sensibly felt the benefit of our awning, without
which we could scarcely have lived. The wind continued to rage without
intermission from the westward, by which we were driven to the latitude
of 61 deg.
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