At Noon, The Mercury In The
Thermometer Stood At 32-1/2, And We Found The Air Exceedingly Cold.
The
thick fog continuing with showers of snow, gave a coat of ice to our
rigging of near an inch thick.
In the afternoon of the next day the fog
cleared away at intervals; but the weather was cloudy and gloomy, and the
air excessively cold; however, the sea within our horizon was clear of ice.
We continued to stand to the north, with the wind easterly, till the
afternoon on the first of February, when falling in with some loose ice
which had been broken from an island to windward we hoisted out two boats,
and having taken some on board, resumed our course to the N. and N.E., with
gentle breezes from S.E., attended sometimes with fair weather, and at
other times with snow and sleet. On the 4th we were in the latitude of 65 deg.
42' S., longitude 99 deg. 44'. The next day the wind was very unsettled both in
strength and position, and attended with snow and sleet. At length, on the
6th, after a few hours calm, we got a breeze at south, which soon after
freshened, fixed at W.S.W., and was attended with snow and sleet.
I now came to the resolution to proceed to the north, and to spend the
ensuing winter within the tropic, if I met with no employment before I came
there. I was now well satisfied no continent was to be found in this ocean,
but what must lie so far to the south, as to be wholly inaccessible on
account of ice; and that if one should be found in the southern Atlantic
Ocean, it would be necessary to have the whole summer before us to explore
it. On the other hand, upon a supposition that there is no land there, we
undoubtedly might have reached the Cape of Good Hope by April, and so have
put an end to the expedition, so far as it related to the finding a
continent; which indeed was the first object of the voyage. But for me at
this time to have quitted the southern Pacific Ocean, with a good ship
expressly sent out on discoveries, a healthy crew, and not in want either
of stores or of provisions, would have been betraying not only a want of
perseverance, but of judgment, in supposing the south Pacific Ocean to have
been so well explored, that nothing remained to be done in it. This,
however, was not my opinion; for though I had proved that there was no
continent but what must lie far to the south, there remained nevertheless
room for very large islands in places wholly unexamined; and many of those
which were formerly discovered, are but imperfectly explored, and their
situations as imperfectly known. I was besides of opinion, that my
remaining in this sea some time longer, would be productive of improvements
in navigation and geography, as well as in other sciences.
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