Dec. 22.The next day it was nearly calm in the afternoon, and some interesting experiments on the temperature of the sea were made: at the surface it was 37°, at one hundred and fifty fathoms 38°.5, at three hundred fathoms 39°.5, at four hundred and fifty fathoms 39°.7, at six hundred fathoms, 39°.7; showing that since yesterday we had crossed the point of uniform temperature of the ocean throughout its whole depth; and that the effect of the radiation of its heat from the surface extended to below three hundred fathoms. Our lat. 59° S., long. 171° E.
23.Snow and sleet accompanied a moderate south-easterly breeze, and reduced the temperature of the surface of the sea to 32°. The elegant little blue petrel passed us in large flocks, going to the southward. The albatross and smaller petrels hovered about in considerable numbers; and a few bottle-nosed whales were seen.
During the last three days we had felt the influence of a current, drifting us to the north, between ten and eleven miles each day.
Christmas-day was passed by us in a strong 25.gale, but it did not prevent our enjoying the usual festivities of the joyous season. Constant snow and rain, which as usual attended the northerly gale, and the expectation of meeting with ice, as well as the possibility of passing new land, deterred me from running during the continuance of such unfavourable weather; we therefore hove-to under