31' W. About Noon, Seeing The Appearance Of Land To
The S.E., We Immediately Trimmed Our Sails And Stood Towards It.
Soon after
it disappeared, but we did not give it up till eight o'clock the next
morning, when we
Were well assured that it was nothing but clouds, or a fog
bank; and then we resumed our course to the south, with a gentle breeze at
N.E., attended with a thick fog, snow, and sleet.
We now began to meet with ice islands more frequently than before; and, in
the latitude of 69 deg. 38' S., longitude 108 deg. 12' W., we fell in with a field
of loose ice. As we began to be in want of water, I hoisted out two boats
and took up as much as yielded about ten tons. This was cold work, but it
was now familiar to us. As soon as we had done, we hoisted in the boats,
and afterwards made short boards over that part of the sea we had in some
measure made ourselves acquainted with. For we had now so thick a fog, that
we could not see two hundred yards round us; and as we knew not the extent
of the loose ice, I durst not steer to the south till we had clear weather.
Thus we spent the night, or rather that part of twenty-four hours which
answered to night; for we had no darkness but what was occasioned by fogs.
At four o'clock in the morning of the 29th, the fog began to clear away;
and the day becoming clear and serene, we again steered to the south with a
gentle gale at N.E. and N.N.E. The variation was found to be 22 deg.
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