From The Same Cause, Myself As Well As Several Of My
People, Had Fingers And Toes Chilblained.
Such is the summer weather we
enjoyed!
The wind continued unsettled, veering from the south to the west, and blew
a fresh gale till the evening. Then it fell little wind, and soon after a
breeze sprung up at north, which quickly veered to N.E. and N.E. by E.,
attended with a thick fog, snow, sleet, and rain. With this wind and
weather we kept on to the S.E., till four o'clock in the afternoon of the
next day, being the first of March, when it fell calm, which continued for
near twenty-four hours. We were now in the latitude of 60 deg. 36' S.,
longitude 107 deg. 54', and had a prodigious high swell from the S.W., and, at
the same time, another from the S. or S.S.E. The dashing of the one wave
against the other, made the ship both roll and pitch exceedingly; but at
length the N.W. swell prevailed. The calm continued till noon the next day,
when it was succeeded by a gentle breeze from S.E., which afterwards
increased and veered to S.W. With this we steered N.E. by E., and E. by N.,
under all the sail we could set.
In the afternoon of the 3d, being in latitude 60 deg. 13', longitude 110 deg. 18',
the variation was 39 deg. 4' W. But the observations, by which this was
determined, were none of the best, being obliged to make use of such as we
could get, during the very few and short intervals when the sun appeared. A
few penguins were seen this day, but not so many islands of ice as usual.
The weather was also milder, though very changeable; thermometer from 36 to
38. We continued to have a N.W. swell, although the wind was unsettled,
veering to N.W. by the W. and N., attended with hazy sleet and drizzling
rain.
We prosecuted our course to the east, inclining to the south, till three
o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, when, (being in the latitude of 60 deg.
37', longitude 113 deg. 24') the wind shifting at once to S.W. and S.W. by S.,
I gave orders to steer E. by N. 1/2 N. But in the night we steered E. 1/2
S. in order to have the wind, which was at S.S.W., more upon the beam, the
better to enable us to stand back, in case we fell in with any danger in
the dark. For we had not so much time to spare to allow us to lie-to.
In the morning of the 5th, we steered E. by N., under all the sail we could
set, passing one ice island and many small pieces, and at nine o'clock the
wind, which of late had not remained long upon any one point, shifted all
at once to east, and blew a gentle gale.
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