On the 7th of February, 1773, in the morning, the Resolution being then about two miles a head, the wind shifting then to the westward, brought on a very thick fog, so that we lost sight of her. We soon after heard a gun, the report of which we imagined to be on the larboard beam; we then hauled up S. E. and kept firing a four pounder every half hour; but had no answer, nor further sight of her; then we kept the course we steered on before the fog came on. In the evening it began to blow hard, and was, at intervals, more clear; but could see nothing of her, which gave us much uneasiness. We then tacked and stood to the westward, to cruize in the place where we last saw her, according to agreement in case of separation; but, next day, came on a very heavy gale of wind and thick weather, that obliged us to bring to, and thereby prevented us reaching the intended spot. However, the wind coming more moderate, and the fog in some measure clearing away, we cruized as near the place as we could get, for three days; when giving over all hopes of joining company again, we bore away for winter quarters, distant fourteen hundred leagues, through a sea entirely unknown, and reduced the allowance of water to one quart per day. We kept between the latitude of 52 and 53 south; had much westerly wind, hard gales with squalls, snow and sleet, with a long hollow sea from the S. W. so that we judged there is no land in that quarter. After we reached the longitude of 95° east, we found the variation decrease very fast; but for a more perfect account, I refer you to the table at the end of this book. On the 26th at night, we saw a meteor of uncommon brightness in the N. N. W. It directed its course to the S. W. with a very great light in the southern sky, such as is known to the northward by the name of Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. We saw the light for several nights running; and, what is remarkable, we saw but one ice island after we parted company with the Resolution, till our making land, though we were most of the time two or three degrees to the southward of the latitude we first saw it in. We were daily attended by great numbers of sea birds, and frequently saw porpoises curiously spotted white and black. On the first of March we were alarmed with the cry of land by the man at the mast head, on the larboard beam; which gave us great joy. We immediately hauled our wind and stood for it, but to our mortification were disappointed in a few hours; for what we took to be land, proved no more than clouds, which disappeared as we sailed towards them. We then bore away and directed our course toward the land laid down in the charts by the name of Van Diemen’s Land, discovered by Tasman in 1642, and laid down in the latitude 44° south, and longitude 140° east, and supposed to join to New Holland.