Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/223

1842 sant snow and fog rendered very difficult. The wind having backed to the southward, drove us farther to the westward than we wished, so that at noon we were in latitude 74° 26′ S., and longitude 182° 0′ W., the magnetic dip 86° 43′ S. Towards evening the gale moderated, and admitted of our making more sail on the ships. By 5 a.m.Feb. 16. we had little more than a fresh breeze, and at noon it was nearly calm, with clear weather. Our latitude was 75° 6′ S. and longitude 187° 04′ W., magnetic dip 87° 11′, and the variation 77° 17′ E. The prospect on the fog clearing away was most cheering; not a particle of ice, except two small bergs, being in sight from the masthead; and although we could not fail to remember that three days anterior to this date last year we were compelled to relinquish our exploration along the barrier to the eastward, in consequence of the sea freezing over, yet we had every reason to believe, from the temperature we had hitherto experienced, that the last winter had set in both earlier and with greater severity than usual: we, therefore, still hoped to accomplish something more. Our crews were employed clearing away the ice which had accumulated about the hull and rigging by the freezing of the waves and spray that fell over them during the late gale. In the afternoon we hove to and sounded in two hundred and ninety fathoms, on a bottom of green mud, the temperature at that depth being 32°, while that of the surface was 30°.