A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15: Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15: Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
At eight o'clock, the weather, which had been very hazy, clearing up, we
saw Cape Bristol bearing E.S.E., and terminating in a point to the
north, beyond which we could see no land. This discovery relieved us
from the fear of being carried by the swell on the most horrible coast
in the world, and we continued to stand to the north all night, with a
light breeze at west.
On the 1st of February, at four o'clock in the morning, we got sight of
a new coast, which at six o'clock bore N. 60° east. It proved a high
promontory, which I named Cape Montagu, situated in latitude 58° 27' S.,
longitude 26° 44' west, and seven or eight leagues to the north of Cape
Bristol. We saw land from space to space between them, which made me
conclude that the whole was connected. I was sorry I could not determine
this with greater certainty; but prudence would not permit me to venture
near a coast, subject to thick fogs, on which there was no anchorage;
where every port was blocked or filled up with ice; and the whole
country, from the summits of the mountains, down to the very brink of
the cliffs which terminate the coast, covered, many fathoms thick, with
everlasting snow. The cliffs alone was all which was to be seen like
land.
Several large ice-islands lay upon the coast; one of which attracted my
notice. It had a flat surface, was of considerable extent both in height
and circuit, and had perpendicular sides, on which the waves of the sea
had made no impression; by which I judged that it had not been long from
land, and that it might lately have come out of some bay on the coast,
where it had been formed.
At noon we were east and west of the northern part of Cape Montagu,
distant about five leagues, and Freezeland Peak bore S. 16° east,
distant twelve leagues; latitude observed 58° 25' S. In the morning the
variation was 10° 11' east. At two in the afternoon, as we were standing
to the north, with a light breeze at S.W., we saw land bearing N. 25'
east, distant fourteen leagues. Cape Montagu bore at this time, S. 66°
east; at eight it bore S. 40° east; Cape Bristol, S. by E.; the new land
extending from N. 40° to 52° east; and we thought we saw land still more
to the east, and beyond it.
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