But The Weather Continued Thick And Hazy, With Sleet And
Snow, Which Froze On The Rigging As It Fell, And Ornamented The Whole With
Icicles; The Mercury In The Thermometer Being Generally Below The Freezing
Point.
This weather continued till near noon the next day; at which time we
were in the latitude of 59 deg.
12' S.; longitude 9 deg. 45' E.; and here we saw
some penguins.
The wind had now veered to the west, and was so moderate, that we could
bear two reefs out of the top-sails. In the afternoon, we were favoured
with a sight of the moon, whose face we had seen but once since we left the
Cape of Good Hope. By this a judgment may be formed of the sort of weather
we had since we left that place. We did not fail to seize the opportunity
to make several observations of the sun and moon. The longitude deduced
from it was 9 deg. 34' 30" E. Mr Kendal's watch, at the same time, giving 10 deg.
6' E., and the latitude was 58 deg. 53' 30" S.
This longitude is nearly the same that is assigned to Cape Circumcision;
and at the going down of the sun we were about ninety-five leagues to the
south of the latitude it is said to lie in. At this time the weather was so
clear, that we might have seen land at fourteen or fifteen leagues
distance. It is, therefore very probable, that what Bouvet took for land,
was nothing but mountains of ice, surrounded by loose or field-ice.
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