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
Between eight in the morning of the 26th, and noon the next day, we fell in
among several islands of ice; from whence such vast quantities had broken
as to cover the sea all round us, and render sailing rather dangerous.
However, by noon, we were clear of it all. In the evening the wind abated,
and veered to S.W. but the weather did not clear up till the next morning,
when we were able to carry all our sails, and met with but very few islands
of ice to impede us. Probably the late gale had destroyed a great number of
them. Such a very large hollow sea had continued to accompany the wind as
it veered from E. to S.W. that I was certain no land of considerable extent
could lie within 100 or 150 leagues of our situation between these two
points.
The mean height of the thermometer at noon, for some days past, was at
about 35, which is something higher than it usually was in the same
latitude about a month or five weeks before, consequently the air was
something warmer. While the weather was really _warm_, the gales were
not only stronger, but more frequent, with almost continual misty, dirty,
wet weather. The very animals we had on board felt its effects. A sow
having in the morning farrowed nine pigs, every one of them was killed by
the cold before four o'clock in the afternoon, notwithstanding all the care
we could take of them. From the same cause, myself as well as several of my
people, had fingers and toes chilblained. Such is the summer weather we
enjoyed!
1773 March
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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