A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1Cook, James
History
A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1
Cook, James
Antarctica; Oceania -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800; Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800
At four o'clock the next morning, being in the latitude of 62 deg. 10' south,
longitude 172 deg. west, we saw the first ice island, 11 deg. 1/2 farther south
than the first ice we saw the preceding year after leaving the Cape of Good
Hope. At the time we saw this ice, we also saw an antarctic peterel, some
grey albatrosses, and our old companions pintadoes and blue peterels. The
wind kept veering from S.W. by the N.W. to N.N.E. for the most part a
fresh gale, attended with a thick haze and snow; on which account we
steered to the S.E. and E., keeping the wind always on the beam, that it
might be in our power to return back nearly on the same track, should our
course have been interrupted by any danger whatever. For some days we had a
great sea from the N.W. and S.W., so that it is not probable there can be
any land near, between these two points.
We fell in with several large islands on the 14th, and about noon, with a
quantity of loose ice, through which we sailed. Latitude 64 deg. 55' south,
longitude 163 deg. 20' west. Grey albatrosses, blue peterels, pintadoes, and
fulmers, were seen. As we advanced to the S.E. by E. with a fresh gale at
west, we found the number of ice islands increase fast upon us. Between
noon and eight in the evening we saw but two; but before four o'clock in
the morning of the 15th, we had passed seventeen, besides a quantity of
loose ice which we ran through. At six o'clock, we were obliged to haul to
the N.E., in order to clear an immense field that lay to the south and S.
E. The ice, in most part of it, lay close packed together; in other places,
there appeared partitions in the field, and a clear sea beyond it. However,
I did not think it safe to venture through, as the wind would not permit us
to return the same way that we must go in. Besides, as it blew strong, and
the weather at times was exceedingly foggy, it was the more necessary for
us to get clear of this loose ice, which is rather more dangerous than the
great islands. It was not such ice as is usually found in bays or rivers
and near shore; but such as breaks off from the islands, and may not
improperly be called parings of the large pieces, or the rubbish or
fragments which fall off when the great islands break loose from the place
where they are formed.
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