The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World, Vol. III. Being the First of the Second VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World, Vol. III. Being the First of the Second Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
At four o’clock the next morning, being in the latitude of 62° 10ʹ S.
longitude 172° W. we saw the first ice island, 11-1/2° farther S. 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 south-west by the north-west to
north-north-east, for the most part a fresh gale, attended with a thick
haze and snow; on which account we steered to the south-east and east,
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 north-west and south-west, 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° 55ʹ S.,
longitude 163° 20ʹ W. Grey albatrosses, blue peterels, pintadoes, and
fulmers were seen. As we advanced to the south-east by east, 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 north-east, in order to clear an immense
field which lay to the south and south-east. 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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