A Voyage Round the World (Forster)/Book 1/Chapter 4

by Georg Forster

1772.
November.

 

CHAP.IV.

 

Run from the Cape to the Antarctic Circle; first season spent in high Southern Latitudes.—Arrival on the Coast of New Zeeland.

 

Sunday 22.

We sailed from Table bay, about four in the afternoon, on the 22d of November, after having saluted the fort. The wind blew in hard squalls, which continued all night, and gave us once more a rough reception on the boisterous element; while the same luminous appearance, which we had observed before our coming into this bay, was perceived again, though in a much slighter degree. The next day

Monday 23.

towards eight in the morning, we lost sight of the Cape, and directed our course to the southward. As we were now entering on an unexampled navigation, not knowing when we might meet with a new place of refreshment, the captain gave the strictest orders to prevent the waste of fresh water; to this end a centry was placed at the scuttled-cask^[1], and a regular allowance of water was daily served out to the crew, besides which they were permitted to drink at the cask, but not to carry any water away. The captain himself washed with salt-water, and all our company were obliged to conform to this necessary restriction. The distilling machine improved by Mr. Irving, was likewise constantly employed, to supply at least some part of the quantity daily consumed.

Tuesday 24.On the 24th in the afternoon, the weather being fair and moderate, after a hard gale we caught nine albatrosses with a line and hook, baited with a bit of sheep's skin. Several of them measured above ten feet from tip to tip, between the expanded wings. The younger ones seemed to have a great mixture of brownish feathers, whereas the full-grown were almost entirely white except their wings, which were blackish, and their scapulars which were barred and sprinkled with dotted lines of black.

A large brown fish resembling the sun fish (tetrodon mola), was likewise seen close to the ship for a short space of time.

Sunday 29.On the the 29th the wind, which had for three or four days past blown a very strong gale, now encreased so much, that we ran during the last twenty-four hours, almost under the bare fore-sail. The sea at the same time ran very high, and frequently broke over the sloop, in which none of the cabins were prepared for such bad weather, our course from England to the Cape having been remarkably free of storms. The people, and especially persons not brought up to sea-affairs, were ignorant how to behave in this new situation; the prodigious rolling of the vessel therefore daily made great havock among cups, saucers, glasses, bottles, dishes, plates, and every thing that was moveable; whilst the humorous circumstances sometimes attending the general confusion, made us bear these irreparable losses with greater composure than might have been expected. The decks, and the floors of every cabin were however continually wet; and the howl of the storm in the rigging, the roar of the waves, added to the violent agitation of the vessel, which precluded almost every occupation, were new and awful scenes, but at the same severely felt, and highly disagreeable. The air was likewise unpleasantly sharp and cold about this time, our latitude being now about 42° south; and frequent rains contributed to make the service of the seamen hard and comfortless. To secure them in some measure against the inclemencies of the weather, the captain ordered a general distribution of clothes to be made, which had been expressly provided at the expence of the Admiralty to serve this purpose. Every person whose duty exposed him to the severity of southern climates, from the lieutenant to the sailor, was provided with a jacket and a pair of trowsers of the thickest woollen stuff called fearnought^[2], or strong flannel, which kept out the wet for a long time, and had this only fault, in common with every thing the navy provides, viz. that they were supplied by contract, and therefore generally too short for our people. If we consider the distresses to which M. de Bougainville's crew were reduced for want of cloathing, we cannot help reflecting on the better fortune of English seamen, who, under an equitable government, may expect to be treated with peculiar care; and who, on perilous expeditions, are humanely and attentively supplied with necessaries to face the dangers of the sea, and support their spirits in adversity. A trying moment frequently occurs, where the despondence caused by ill-treatment and heavy sufferings, must have the most fatal consequences, since its direct opposite, an undaunted resolution is then most necessary; such a moment we experienced in this night. A petty officer in the forepart of the vessel, awaking suddenly, heard a noise of water streaming through his birth, and breaking itself against his own and his mess-mates chests; he leaped out of his bed, and found himself to the middle of the leg in water. He instantly acquainted the officer of the quarter-deck with this dreadful circumstance, and in a few moments almost every person in the ship was in motion; the pumps were employed, and the officers encouraged the seamen with an alarming gentleness, to persevere in their work; notwithstanding which the water seemed to gain upon us; every soul was filled with terror, encreased by the darkness of the night.

 

Ponto nox incubat atra,
Præsentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.

Virgil.

 

For what obscured light the heav'ns did grant,
Did but convey unto their fearful minds
A doubtful warrant of immediate death.

Shakespeare.

 

The chain-pumps were now cleared, and our sailors laboured at them with great alacrity; at last one of them luckily discovered that the water came in through a scuttle (or window) in the boatswain's store-room, which not having been secured against the tempestuous southern ocean, had been staved in by the force of the waves. It was immediately repaired, and closely shut up, and we escaped for this time with the greatest part of the clothes and effects of the sailors and officers thoroughly soaked in salt water. We should have found it difficult, if not utterly impossible, to clear the ship of the water, if the midshipman had not providentially awaked before it had gained too much upon us: the presence of mind of our officers, and the spirit of our seamen would have been exerted in vain, and we must perhaps have gone down to the bottom, in the midst of a very dark night and turbulent ocean, which would have effectually prevented our consort from giving us assistance. A distribution of fishing-hooks and lines was made about this time to every person on board, as it was uncertain how soon we might meet with land, and consequently with an opportunity of making use of them.

December.
Saturday 5.The stormy weather continued, intermixed with frequent rains and fogs, till the fifth of December^[3], when we set the top-gallant sails for the first time, after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and observed the latitude at noon, in 47° 10′ south. In the afternoon, however, the showers returned, and a western swell announced a wind from that quarter, which actually came on during night, blowing at about S.W. and chilled the air so considerably, that the thermometer sunk from 44° to 38° during the night, and some snow began to fall the next morning. The wind soon encreased to a storm again; so that on the 7thMonday 7. in the afternoon, we had only a single sail set. A variety of birds of the petrel and tern genus, had attended us in greater or lesser numbers ever since we had left the Cape, and the high sea and winds seemed to have no other influence on them, than that of bringing more of them about us. The principal sorts were the Cape-petrel, or pintada (procellaria capensis), and the blue petrel, so called from its having a blueish-grey colour, and a band of blackish feathers across the whole wing. We likewise saw the two before mentioned species of albatrosses^[4] from time to time, together with a third, less than the others, which we named the sooty, and our sailors called the quaker bird, from its having a greyish-brown colour. Many birds of all these different species surrounded us on the 8th of December, the wind still continuing very high, and the sea very turbulent.Tuesday 8. We now likewise saw pinguins^[5] for the first time, and some bunches of sea-weed, of the species called the sea-bamboo (fucus buccinalis Lin.). These appearances greatly favoured the hope of meeting with land, as it had hitherto been held uncontroverted that weeds, especially rockweeds, (such as these were) and pinguins were never to be met with at a great distance from shores; but experience has shewn that these prognostics are not to be relied upon, and probably derive all their credit from single accidental proofs in their favour, supported by the name of some celebrated mariner. Future observations on the nature of floating rock-weeds, and drift-wood, might perhaps lead to some more determinate conclusions; for as these weeds must have been at first detached from the rocks on which they grew, it is probable that from the degree of freshness or of putridity which they have when found, the time they have been adrift, and in some rare instances, the distances from land, may be conjectured; but the direction and force of the winds and waves, and other accidental circumstances, must in that case be carefully taken into consideration.

The wind abated during night, so that we set our courses on the 9th in the morning.Wednesday 9. The thermometer at eight o'clock was however fallen to 35°, and only rose one degree at noon, being then in 49° 45′ of south latitude. Towards night it grew colder again, and at half an hour past ten, we found the thermometer on deck very near 32°, and the edges of the scuttled-cask, filled with fresh water, were freezing. This great cold preceded the sight of ice floating in the sea, which we fell in with on the next morning.Thursday 10. The first we saw, was a lump of considerable size, so close to us, that we were obliged to bear away from it; another of the same magnitude a little more a-head, and a large mass about two leagues on the weather-bow, which had the appearance of a white head-land, or a chalk-cliff.

In the afternoon we passed another large cubical mass about 2000 feet long, 400 feet broad, and at least as high again as our main-top-gallant-mast head, or 200 feet high. According to the experiments of Boyle and Mairan^[6] the volume of ice is to that of sea-water, nearly as ten to nine: consequently, by the known rules of hydrostatics, the volume of ice which rises above the surface of the water, is to that which sinks below it, as one to nine. Supposing the piece which we now saw to be entirely of a regular figure, its depth under water must have been one thousand eight hundred feet, and its whole height two thousand feet, allowing its length as abovementioned two thousand feet, and its breadth four hundred feet, the whole mass must have contained one thousand six hundred millions cubic feet of ice.

These prodigious pieces of ice, in all probability, drift but very slowly and imperceptibly, since the greatest part of them being under water, the power of winds and waves can have but little effect; currents perhaps are the principal agents which give them motion, though I much question, whether their velocity is ever considerable enough to carry them two miles in four-and-twenty hours. At the time we met with this first ice, all our conjectures about its formation could not amount to more than bare probabilities, and had not sufficient experience to support them: but after we have made the tour of the globe, without finding the Southern Continent, the existence of which has been so universally believed in Europe; it seems in the highest degree reasonable to suppose this floating ice to have been formed in the sea^[7]; an idea the more probable, as repeated and decisive experiments have evinced, that salt-water may be frozen.

This ice likewise served to shew us the great difference between the temperature of the northern and southern hemisphere. We were now in the midst of December, which answers to our June, and the latitude observed at noon gave only 51° 5′ south, notwithstanding which we had already passed several pieces of ice, and the thermometer stood at 36°. The want of land in the southern hemisphere seems to account for this circumstance, since the sea, as a transparent fluid, absorbs the beams of the sun, instead of reflecting them.

On the 11th of December, about three o'clock in the afternoon, we passed to leeward of a large piece, or island of ice, at least half a mile in length. The thermometer on deck, which had been at 36° about two o'clock, was risen to 41°, on account of the fair sunshine, which continued all the afternoon: when we came abreast of the ice, the wind directly blowing from thence, it gradually sunk to 37⅓; however we had no sooner passed it, than the mercury regained its former station of 41°. We also found that this difference of four degrees, very perceptibly affected our bodies, and concluded that the large masses of ice greatly contributed to refrigerate the general temperature of the air in these inhospitable seas. The waves dashed with great violence against the island of ice, as against a fixed body; sometimes they broke entirely over it, notwithstanding its height, which was not much inferior to that of the beforementioned piece, and we frequently saw the spray rise very high above it, a phænomenon, which, on account of the fair weather, had a remarkable fine effect. The sea-water by this means washed upon the ice, is probably congealed there, and serves to encrease the mass; a circumstance very materially conducive to ascertain the history of its formation.

Notwithstanding the coldness of this climate, our sloops were still surrounded by birds of the petrel genus, albatrosses and pinguins. We particularly observed a petrel, about the size of a pigeon, entirely white, with a black bill and blueish feet; it constantly appeared about the icy masses, and may be looked upon as a sure fore-runner of ice. Its colour induced us to call it the snowy-petrel. A grampus and several whales likewise made their appearance among the ice, and in these chilling regions served to vary the dismal scene, and gave us some idea of a southern Greenland.

Sunday 13.The number of icy masses encreased around us every day, so that we numbered upwards of twenty of a vast size on the 13th in the afternoon. One of them was full of black spots, which were taken for seals by some, and for aquatic birds by others, though we could not find that they even shifted their places. However seals being hitherto looked upon as certain signs of land, we sounded in the evening with a line of one hundred and fifty fathoms, but found no bottom. The latitude we were now in, was that in which Captain Lozier Bouvet had placed his pretended discovery of Cape Circumcision, and our longitude was only a few degrees to the eastward of it: the general expectation of seeing land, was therefore very great, and every little circumstance like the preceding roused all our attention; the clouds a-head were curiously examined at every moment, since every one was eager to be the first to announce the land. We had already had several false alarms from the fallacious conformation of fog-banks, or that of islands of ice half hid in snow storms, and our consort the Adventure had repeatedly made the signals for seeing land, deceived by such appearances: but now, the imagination warmed with the idea of M. Bouvet's discovery, one of our lieutenants, after having repeatedly been up to the mast-head, (about six o’clock in the morning on Monday 14.the 14th) acquainted the captain that he plainly saw the land. This news soon brought us all upon deck: We saw an immense field of flat ice before us, broken into many small pieces on the edges, a vast number of islands of ice of all shapes and sizes rose beyond it as far as the eye could reach, and some of the most distant considerably raised by the hazy vapours which lay on the horizon, had indeed some appearance of mountains. Several of our officers persisted in the opinion that they had seen land here, till Captain Cook, about two years and two months afterwards (in February 1775) on his course from Cape Horn towards the Cape of Good Hope, sailed over the same spot, where they had supposed it to lie, and found neither land nor even ice there at that time. Numbers of pinguins, pintadas, fulmars, snowy and blue petrels^[8] attended this vast extent of ice, and different species of cetaceous animals spouted up the water around us: two of them, shorter than other whales, were particularly noticed, in respect of their bulk and of a white or rather fleshy-colour. A great degree of cold in these icy regions entirely precluded the idea of a summer, which we had expected at this time of the year; our thermometer stood at 31° in the morning, and did not rise beyond 33° at noon, though the latitude we observed this day was only 54° 55′ south. We passed through quantities of broken ice in the afternoon, and saw another extensive ice-field, beyond which several of our people still persisted in, taking fog-banks for land. It snowed a good deal during night, and in the morning it was almost calm, but very foggy. A boat was hoisted out to try the direction of the current. Mr. Wales the astronomer, and my father, took this opportunity to repeat the experiments on the temperature of the sea at a certain depth. The fog encreased so much while they were thus engaged, that they entirely lost sight of both the ships. Their situation in a small four-oared boat, on an immense ocean, far from any inhabitable shore, surrounded with ice, and utterly destitute of provisions, was truly terrifying and horrible in its consequences. They rowed about for some time, making vain efforts to be heard, but all was silent about them, and they could not see the length of their boat. They were the more unfortunate, as they had neither mast nor sail, and only two oars. In this dreadful suspence they determined to lie still, hoping that, provided they preserved their place, the sloops would not drive out of sight, as it was calm. At last they heard the jingling of a bell at a distance; this sound was heavenly music to their ears; they immediately rowed towards it, and by continual hailing, were at last answered from the Adventure, and hurried on board, overjoyed to have escaped the danger of perishing by slow degrees, through the inclemencies of weather and through famine. Having been on board some time, they fired a gun, and being within hail of the Resolution, returned on board of that sloop, to their own damp beds and mouldering cabins, upon which they now set a double value, after so perilous an expedition. The risks to which the voyager is exposed at sea are very numerous, and danger often arises where it is least expected. Neither can we trace the care of Providence more evidently in storms among hidden rocks and shoals, and where water or fire threaten destruction, than in these little circumstances, which the traveller and the reader are both too apt to forget or pass lightly over, if they come to a favourable issue.

Friday 18.The quantity of impenetrable ice to the south did not permit us to advance towards that quarter; therefore, after several fruitless attempts, we stood on to the eastward, along it, frequently making way through great spots covered with broken ice, which answered the description of what the northern navigators call packed ice. Heavy hail showers and frequent falls of snow continually obscured the air, and only gave us the reviving sight of the sun during short intervals. Large islands of ice were hourly seen in all directions around the sloops, so that they were now become as familiar to us as the clouds and the sea; their frequency however still led to new observations, which our long acquaintance with them served to confirm. We were certain of meeting with ice in any quarter where we perceived a strong reflexion of white on the skirts of the sky near the horizon. However the ice is not always entirely white, but often tinged, especially near the surface of the sea, with a most beautiful sapphirine or rather berylline blue, evidently reflected from the water; this blue colour sometimes appeared twenty or thirty feet above the surface, and was there probably owing to some particles of sea-water which had been dashed against the mass in tempestuous weather, and had penetrated into its interstices. We could likewise frequently observe in great islands of ice, different shades or casts of white, lying above each other in strata of six inches or one foot high. This appearance seems to confirm the opinion concerning the farther encrease and accumulation of such huge masses by heavy falls of snow at different intervals. For snow being of various kinds, small grained, large grained, in light feathery locks, &c, the various degrees of its compactness account for the different colours of the strata.

Tuesday 22. We did not lose sight of our destination to explore the southern frigid zone, and no sooner perceived the sea more open than before, than we stood once more to the southward. We made but small advances at first, the wind being very faint, and almost falling calm in the morning Wednesd. 23.on the 23d. We seized this opportunity to hoist out a boat, and continue the experiments on the current, and on the temperature of the sea. The species of petrels which were numerous about us, were likewise examined, described, and drawn this day, having been shot as they hovered with seeming curiosity over our little boat.

Thursday 24.We continued standing southerly, and even made a good deal of westing, the wind being S.S.E. The next morning the wind blew pretty fresh,Friday 25. and carried us past several islands of ice; some whales, and a number of birds appearing about us. Our first Christmas day during this voyage, was spent with the usual chearfulness among officers and passengers; but among the sailors, notwithstanding the surrounding rocks of ice, with savage noise and drunkenness, to which they seem to have particularly devoted the day. The next morningSaturday 26. we sailed through a great quantity of packed or broken ice, some of which looked dirty or decaying. Islands of ice still surrounded us, and in the evening, the sun setting just behind one of them, tinged its edges with gold, and brought upon the whole mass a beautiful suffusion of purple. A dead calm which succeeded on the 27th, gave us an opportunity of hoisting the boat out, and going to shoot pinguins and petrels. The chace of pinguins proved very unsuccessful, though it afforded great sport; the birds dived so frequently, continued so long under water, and at times skipped continually into and out of the water, making way with such amazing velocity in a strait line, that we were obliged to give over the pursuit. At last we came near enough to one, to wound it; but though we followed it closely, and fired above ten times with small shot, which we could observe to hit, yet we were at last obliged to kill it with ball. When we took it up, we perceived that its hard, glossy plumage, had continually turned the shot aside. This plumage is extremely thick, and consists of long narrow feathers, which lie above each other as closely as scales, and secure these amphibious birds against the wet, in which they almost constantly live. Their very thick skin and their fat seem wisely appropriated to them by nature, to resist the perpetual winter of these unhospitable climates; their broad belly, the situation of their feet far behind, and their fins, which supply the place of wings, are constructed with equal wisdom to facilitate the progress of their otherwise lumpish bodies through the water. The one that we had now shot weighed eleven pounds and a half. The blue petrels which are seen throughout this immense ocean, and which now settled in flocks of several hundreds on the smooth surface of the water, were not worse fitted out against the cold than the pinguins. Their plumage was amazingly abundant, and increased their bulk in a great proportion; and two feathers instead of one, proceeded out of every root, lying within each other, and formed a very warm covering. As they are almost continually in the air, their wings are very strong, and of a great length to support them. On the ocean, between New Zeeland and America, we have found them above seven hundred leagues from any land; a distance which it would have been impossible for them to have passed, without an amazing strength in their bones and muscles, and the assistance of long wings. Possibly these birds spreading over the whole ocean far from any land, may live a considerable time without fresh supplies of food; that being the case with many animals of prey, both in the class of quadrupeds and that of birds. Our experience should seem in some measure to contradict, and in some degree to confirm, this supposition. For whenever we lamed any of them, they disgorged a quantity of viscid food, to all appearance recently digested, which the rest immediately swallowed up with such avidity as seemed to indicate a long fast. Therefore it may be probable, that several sorts of blubbers (mollusca) inhabit these icy seas, which may come to the surface in fair weather, and supply the weary birds with food. We were glad to meet with subjects from whence these little reflections could be drawn. They afforded us a momentary relief from that gloomy uniformity with which we slowly passed dull hours, days, and months in this desolate part of the world. We were almost perpetually wrapt in thick fogs, beaten with showers of rain, sleet, hail, and snow, the temperature of the air being constantly about the point of congelation in the height of summer; surrounded by innumerable islands of ice against which we daily ran the risk of being shipwrecked, and forced to live upon salt provisions, which concurred with the cold and wet to infect the mass of our blood. These severities naturally inspired a general wish for a happier change of situation and climate, though our seamen coming fresh and strong from England, were not yet dispirited amid the numberless fatigues and inclemencies to which they were exposed. The prophylactics, with which we had been supplied, and which were regularly served to the crew, namely portable broth, and sour krout, had a wonderful effect in keeping them free from the sea-scurvy. Two or three men however, of a bad habit of body, could not resist this dreadful disease; one of them in particular, George Jackson, a carpenter, fell ill ten days after leaving the Cape; his gums were ulcerous, and his teeth so loose, as to lie sideways. A marmalade of carrots, which had been much recommended was tried, but without success, it having no other effect than that of keeping him open. Our surgeon, Mr. Patton, then began the cure with fresh wort, i.e, the infusion of malt, by which he gradually recovered, and in the space of a few weeks was perfectly cured, his teeth fast, and his gums entirely renewed. As the efficient cause of his complaint still existed, he was obliged to continue the use of wort even after his cure, and by that means was kept free from all scorbutic symptoms. The encomiums on the efficacy of malt cannot be exaggerated, and this useful remedy ought never to be forgotten on board of ships bound on long voyages; nor can we bestow too much care to prevent its becoming damp and mouldy, by which means its salutary qualities are impaired, as we experienced during the latter part of our voyage.

1773.
January,
Friday 1.The new year began with snow-showers and fresh cold gales, which carried us to the westward, under the meridian, where M. Bouvet placed the discovery, which he called Cape Circumcision. The sight of seals and pinguins once more revived the hopes of some of our fellow-voyagers, who bid us look out for land, which by their account could not be far off. Our course however soon disappointed their expectations, and only served to invalidate their testimonies of the proximity of land.

Sunday 3.The wind shifted to the north-westward in the night, and we stood back again to the east, having first proceeded beyond the meridian of M. Bouvet's discovery. We passed the spot where we had met with much ice on the 31st of December, and found it drifted away from thence; after which we continued our course to the S.E.

Saturday 9.On the 9th, in the morning, we saw a large island of ice, surrounded with many small broken pieces, and the weather being moderate we brought to, hoisted out the boats, and sent them to take up as much of the small ice as they could. We piled up the lumps on the quarterdeck, packed them into casks, and after dinner melted them in the coppers, and obtained about thirty days water, in the course of this day, and in the latitude of 61° 36′ south. Two days afterwards we had another opportunity of supplying our sloops with ice, which our people performed with great alacrity, notwithstanding the excoriation of their hands, which the cold and the sharpness of the sea produced. A picturesque view of some large masses of ice, and of our ships and boats employed in watering from small ice, is inserted in Captain Cook's account of this voyage. Some white whales of a huge size, seemingly sixty feet long, were observed here, and many pinguins floated past us, standing upright on small bits of ice. The water we melted out of this ice was perfectly fresh, and had a purer taste than any which we had on board. If any fault could be found with it, it was that the fixed air was expelled from it, by which means almost every one who used it was affected with swellings in the glands of the throat. Water melted from snow or ice is known always to have this effect, and the constant use of it in mountainous countries produces those enormous wens (goîtres) which are common among Alpine nations, and are become so habitual that they are looked upon as ornamental. Several persons on board, unacquainted with natural philosophy, were very seriously afraid that the ice, when it began to melt, would burst the casks in which it was packed, not considering that its volume must be greater in its frozen than in its melted state, since it floated on the surface. The Captain, to undeceive them, placed a little pot filled with stamped ice in a temperate cabin, where it gradually dissolved, and in that state took up considerably less space than before. Ocular demonstration always goes farther than the clearest arguments; but reasoning never has less weight than with sailors.

Sunday 27.On the 17th, in the forenoon, we crossed the antarctic circle, and advanced into the southern frigid zone, which had hitherto remained impenetrable to all navigators. Some days before this period we had seen a new species of petrel, of a brown colour, with a white belly and rump, and a large white spot on the wings, which we now named the antarctic petrel, as we saw great flights of twenty or thirty of them hereabouts, of which we shot many that unfortunately never fell into the ship. About five o'clock in the afternoon, we had sight of more than thirty large islands of ice a-head, and perceived a strong white reflexion from the sky over the horizon. Soon after we passed through vast quantities of broken ice, which looked honey-combed and spungy, and of a dirty colour. This continually thickened about us, so that the sea became very smooth, though the wind was fresh as before. An immense field of solid ice extended beyond it to the south, as far as the eye could reach from the mast-head. Seeing it was impossible to advance farther that way, Captain Cook ordered the ships to put about, and stood north-east by north, after having reached 67° 15′ south latitude, where many whales, snowy, grey, and antarctic petrels, appeared in every quarter.

Wednesd. 20.On the 19th and 20th we saw a bird, which a gentleman, who had been at Falkland's islands, called a Port-Egmont hen^[9], and which proved to be the skua or great northern gull (larus catarractes), common in the high latitudes of both hemispheres. The appearance of this bird, was likewise construed into a prognostick of land; but our disappointments had already been so frequent in this respect, that we were not easily led to give credit to bare assertions. We saw a bird of this species again on the 27th, when we had a great variety of all kinds of petrels and albatrosses around us. It always soared up to a great height, perpendicularly over our heads, and looked down upon us, as it should seem with great attention, turning its head now on one side, and now on the other. This was a novelty to us, who were used to see all the other aquatic birds of this climate keep near the surface of the sea. The next evening, and on the 29th, we had several porpesses passing by us with amazing swiftness in all directions. They were pied, and had a large blotch of white on the sides, which came almost up to the back behind the dorsal fin. Their velocity was at least triple that of our vessels, though we now went at the rate of seven knots and a half. In the afternoon we saw a small black and white bird, which some called an ice-bird, and others a murr, and which seldom or never go out of sight of land; but as we could not come near enough to examine it more accurately, we rather believed that it might be a species of petrel. We stood however off and on this night and the next, finding the sea very moderate, though the wind blew very fresh. We were the more induced to take this precaution as we had received intelligence at the Cape of Good Hope of a discovery of land hereabouts, by the French captains M. de Kerguelen and M. de St. Allouarn, in January 1772.

As the journal of that voyage has been suppressed in France, I shall here insert such particulars as were communicated to us by several French officers at the Cape of Good Hope. M. de Kerguelen, a lieutenant in the French navy, commanding the vessel (flute) la Fortune, and having with him a smaller vessel (gabarre) le Gros Ventre, commanded by M. de St. Allouarn, sailed from the Isle of France or Mauritius, the latter end of 1771. On the 13th of January 1772, he saw two isles, which he called the Isles of Fortune; and the next morning one more, which from its shape they called Isle Ronde. Almost about the same time, M. de Kerguelen saw land, of a considerable extent and height, upon which he sent one of the officers of his ship a-head in the cutter to sound. But the wind blowing fresh, M. de St. Allouarn in the Gros Ventre shot ahead of the boat, and finding a bay, which he called the Gros Ventre's bay, sent his own yawl to take possession of the land which was performed with the utmost difficulty. Both the boats then returned aboard the Gros Ventre, and the cutter was cut adrift on account of the bad weather. M. de St. Allouarn then spent three days in quest of M. de Kerguelen, who had been driven sixty leagues to leeward, on account of his weak masts, and was returned towards the Isle of France. M. de St. Allouarn continued to take the bearings of this land, and doubled its northern extremity beyond which it tended to the south-eastward. In this direction he coasted it for the space of twenty leagues, and seeing it was very high, inaccessible, and destitute of trees, he left it, standing over to the coast of New Holland, from thence to Timor and Batavia, and at last back to the Isle of France, where he died soon after his arrival. On M. de Kerguelen's return to Europe, he was immediately sent out again with a 64 gun ship called the Roland, and the frigate l'Oiseau, captain Rosnever; but after having just seen the land, which he had discovered in his former voyage, he returned without making farther discoveries. The northern coast of the land which he discovered, is situated in about 48 degrees south latitude, and about 82 degrees east longitude from Ferro, or 6 degrees east of the Isle of France, (i.e. in about 64° 20′ east from Greenwich.)

M. de Marion in his expedition of 1772, in January, fell in with small islands in three different places, about the latitude of 46½° and 47½°, and about the longitudes of 37°, 46½°, and 48½° east from Greenwich. These islands were all of inconsiderable extent, high, rocky, destitute of trees, and almost entirely barren: M. de Marion had two ships under his command, one the Mascarin, captain Crozet, the other the Castrie, captain Du Clesmure. They proceeded to the southern extremity of New Holland, or Diemen's land, first seen by Tasman; and from thence to the bay of islands in New Zeeland, where M. de Marion was killed with 28 of his men by the natives, of which more shall be said in the sequel. After this loss M. de Crozet, on whom the command devolved, passed through the western part of the South Sea to the Philippinas, from whence he returned to the Isle de France. Agreeably to these accounts, the discoveries of the French voyagers have been laid down in an excellent chart of the southern hemisphere, by M. de Vaugondy, under the direction of the duke de Croy, and published in March 1773.

On the 31st in the evening, our latitude being nearly that of 50° south, we passed by a large island of ice, which at that instant crumbled to pieces with a tremendous explosion. The next morningMonday 1. a bundle of sea weeds was seen floating past the sloop; and in the afternoon, captain Furneaux in the Adventure having hailed us, acquainted captain Cook that he had seen a number of divers, resembling those in the English seas, and had past a great bed of floating rock-weeds. In consequence of these observations we stood off and on during night, and continued an easterly course the next morning.Tuesday 2. We saw many petrels and black shear-waters, some rock-weed, and a single tern (sterna) or as the seamen call it an egg-bird, which had a forked tail. At noon we observed in 48° 36′ south latitude, which was nearly the same in which the French discoveries are said to be situated. After noon we stood south-westward, but the next day the gale encreased to such a degree, as obliged us to hand our topsails, and stand on under the courses all night: however, at eight o'clock on the 4th, we found a smooth sea again, and set more sail, changing our course to the north-westward at noon. On the 6th our latitude at noon was nearly 48 degrees south, about 60 degrees east from Greenwich, when not seeing any land, we gave over the attempt to stand in search of it, and directed our course once more to the south-eastward, to the main object of our voyage. The smoothness of the sea, whilst we had strong easterly gales, however persuaded us, that there was probably some land near us to the eastward, and the situation given to the French discoveries, in M. Vaugondy's late chart, has confirmed our supposition; for, according to it, we must have been at least 2 degrees of longitude to the west of it, on the second of February, when we were farthest to the east in the given latitude. Though we did not fall in with the land itself, yet we have done so much service to geography by our track, as to put it beyond a doubt, that the French discovery is a small island, and not, what it was supposed at first to be, the north cape of a great southern continent.

Monday 8.On the 8th in the morning, we had an exceeding thick fog, during which we lost sight of the Adventure, our consort. We fired guns all that day and the next, at first every half hour, and afterwards every hour, without receiving any answer; and at night we burnt false fires, which likewise proved ineffectual.

Wednesd. 10.On the 10th in the morning, notwithstanding all our endeavours to recover our consort, we were obliged to proceed alone on a dismal course to the southward, and to expose ourselves once more to the dangers of that frozen climate, without the hope of being saved by our fellow-voyagers, in case of losing our own vessel. Our parting with the Adventure, was almost universally regretted among our crew, and none of them ever looked around the ocean without expressing some concern on seeing our ship alone on this vast and unexplored expanse, where the appearance of a companion seemed to alleviate our toils, and inspired cheerfulness and comfort. We were likewise not entirely without apprehensions, that the Adventure might have fallen in with land, as the sight of pinguins, of little diving petrels, and especially of a kind of grebe, seemed to vindicate its vicinity. Indeed, according to the chart of M. Vaugondy we must have been but very little to the south of it at that time.

Wednesd. 17.On the 17th we were near 58 degrees south, and took up a great quantity of small ice, with which we filled our water-casks. A variety of petrels and albatrosses, had attended us continually; and from time to time the skua, or great northern gull (larus catarractes), which our people called a Port Egmont hen, many pinguins, some seals, and some whales had made their appearance near us. A beautiful phænomenon was observed, during the preceding night, which appeared again this and several following nights. It consisted of long columns of a clear white light, shooting up from the horizon to the eastward, almost to the zenith, and gradually spreading on the whole southern part of the sky. These columns sometimes were bent sideways at their upper extremity, and though in most respects similar to the northern lights (aurora borealis) of our hemisphere, yet differed from them, in being always of a whitish colour, whereas ours assume various tints, especially those of a fiery, and purple hue. The stars were sometimes hid by, and sometimes faintly to be seen through the substance of these southern lights, (aurora australis), which have hitherto, as far as I can find, escaped the notice of voyagers. The sky was generally clear when they appeared, and the air sharp and cold, the thermometer standing at the freezing point.

Wednesd. 24.On the 24th, being in about 62 degrees south latitude, we fell in once more with a solid field of ice, which confined our progress to the south, very much to the satisfaction of every body on board. We had now been long at sea, without receiving any refreshment; the favorable season for making discoveries towards the frozen zone, drew to an end; the weather daily became more sharp, and uncomfortable, and presaged a dreadful winter in these seas; and, lastly, the nights lengthened apace, and made our navigation more dangerous than it had hitherto been. It was therefore very natural, that our people, exhausted by fatigues and the want of wholesome food, should wish for a place of refreshment, and rejoice to leave a part of the world, where they could not expect to meet with it. We continued however from this day till the 17th of MarchMarch.
Wednesd. 17. to run to the eastward, between 61° and 58° of south latitude, during which time we had a great share of easterly winds, which commonly brought fogs, and rains with them, and repeatedly exposed us to the most imminent danger of being wrecked against huge islands of ice. The shapes of these large frozen masses, were frequently singularly ruinous, and so far picturesque enough; among them we passed one of a great size, with a hollow in the middle, resembling a grotto or cavern, which was pierced through, and admitted the light from the other side. Some had the appearance of a spire or steeple; and many others gave full scope to our imagination, which compared them to several known objects, by that means attempting to overcome the tediousness of our cruize, which the sight of birds, porpesses, seals, and whales, now too familiar to our eyes, could not prevent from falling heavily upon us. Notwithstanding our excellent preservatives, especially the sour-krout, several of our people had now strong symptoms of sea-scurvy, such as bad gums, difficult breathing, livid blotches, eruptions, contracted limbs, and greenish greasy filaments in the urine. Wort was therefore prescribed to them, and those who were the most affected drank five pints of it per day; the contracted limbs were bathed in it, and the warm grains applied to them. By this means we succeeded to mitigate, and in some individuals entirely to remove the symptoms of this horrid disease. The rigours of the climate likewise violently affected the live sheep, which we had embarked at the Cape of Good Hope. They were covered with eruptions, dwindled to mere skeletons, and would hardly take any nourishment. Our goats and sows too, miscarried in the tempestuous weather, or their off-spring were killed by the cold. In short, we felt, from the numerous concurrent circumstances, that it was time to abandon the high southern latitudes, and retire to some port, where our crew might obtain refreshments, and where we might save the few sheep, which were intended as presents to the natives of the South-sea islands.

On the 16th, being in about 58 degrees of south latitude, we saw the sea luminous at night, though not to such a degree as we had observed it near the Cape, but only by means of some scattered sparks. This phænomenon was however remarkable, on account of the high latitude we were in, and the cold weather, our thermometer being at 33¼° at noon. We saw the southern lights again during the nights of the 16th and 19th; and this last time, the columns formed an arch across the sky, rather brighter than any we had hitherto seen. We now stood to the north-eastward, in order to reach the south end of New-Zeeland; and on this course we had strong gales, and frequently saw weeds, especially rock-weeds, together with numbers of petrels, and other birds. We were much amused by a singular chace of several skuas or great grey gulls, after a large white albatross. The skuas seemed to get the better of this bird, notwithstanding its length of wings, and whenever they overtook it, they endeavoured to attack it under the belly, probably knowing that to be the most defenceless part; the albatross on these occasions had no other method of escaping, than by settling on the water, where its formidable beak seemed to keep them at bay. The skuas are in general very strong and rapacious birds, and in the Ferro Islands frequently tear lambs to pieces, and carry them away to their nests. The albatrosses do not seem to be so rapacious, but live upon small marine animals, especially of the mollusca, or blubber class. They appeared in great numbers around us, as we came to the northward of 50 degrees south, only few solitary birds having gone so far to the south as we had penetrated; from whence it may be inferred, that they are properly inhabitants of the temperate zone.

As we stood to the northward, we also observed more seals every day, which came from the coast of New Zeeland. A large trunk of a tree, and several bunches of weeds were seen on the 25th,Thursday 25. and greatly exhilarated the spirits of our sailors. Soon after, the land was descried, bearing N.E. by E. at a vast distance. About five o'clock in the afternoon we were within a few miles of it, and saw some high mountains inland, and a broken rocky coast before us, where several inlets seemed to indicate an extensive bay or sound. We tried soundings in 30 fathoms, but found none; however, at the mast-head they observed sunken rocks close to us, on which we immediately tacked, and stood off shore, as the weather was growing dark and misty. The next morning we found this part of New Zeeland lay to the southward of Cape West, and had not been explored by captain Cook, in the Endeavour.

Thus ended our first cruize in the high southern latitudes, after a space of four months and two days, out of sight of land, during which we had experienced no untoward accident, and had been safely led through numerous dangers by the guiding hand of Providence, which preserved our crew in good health during the whole time, a few individuals excepted. Our whole course, from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zeeland, was a series of hardships, which had never been experienced before: all the disagreeable circumstances of the sails and rigging shattered to pieces, the vessel rolling gunwale to, and her upper works torn by the violence of the strain; the concomitant effects of storms, which have been painted with such strong expression, and blackness of Colorit, by the able writer of Anson's Voyage, were perhaps the least distressing occurrences of ours. We had the perpetual severities of a rigorous climate to cope with; our seamen and officers were exposed to rain, sleet, hail, and snow; our rigging was constantly encrusted with ice, which cut the hands of those who were obliged to touch it; our provision of fresh water was to be collected in lumps of ice floating on the sea, where the cold, and the sharp saline element alternately numbed, and scarified the sailors' limbs; we were perpetually exposed to the danger of running against huge masses of ice, which filled the immense Southern ocean: the frequent and sudden appearance of these perils, required an almost continual exertion of the whole crew, to manage the ship with the greatest degree of precision and dispatch. The length of time which we remained out of sight of land, and the long abstinence from any sort of refreshment were equally distressful; for our hooks and lines distributed in November (See pag. 90.) had hitherto been of no service, on account of our navigation in high southern latitudes, and across an unfathomable ocean, where we saw no fish except whales, and where it is well known no others can be expected; the torrid zone being the only one where they may be caught out of soundings.

 

———— Atrum
Defendens pisces hiemat mare.

Horat.

 

We may add to these the dismal gloominess which always prevailed in the southern latitudes, where we had impenetrable fogs lasting for weeks together, and where we rarely saw the cheering face of the sun; a circumstance which alone is sufficient to deject the most undaunted, and to sour the spirits of the most cheerful. It is therefore justly to be wondered at, and ought to be considered as a distinguishing mark of divine protection, that we had not felt those ill effects which might have been expected, and justly dreaded as the result of such accumulated distresses.

 

1. An open butt placed on the quarter-deck, and daily filled with fresh water out of the hold, for the use of the ship's company.
2. A distribution of the same nature was made to Captain Cook's crew in his first voyage round the world. See Hawkesworth's Compilation, vol. II. p. 40.
3. We had lost six large hogs of our live stock, and some sheep, during this uncomfortable weather.
4. See p. 51.
5. These birds, which since the time of Sir John Narborough, have been repeatedly mentioned by almost every navigator that has visited the Southern extremities of America, are so well known to the English reader, from the accounts of Anson, Byron, Bougainville, Pernetty, &c. that it is scarce necessary to describe them. They are in a manner amphibious creatures, and their wings are unfit for flying, but shaped like strong fleshy membranes, which perform all the functions of fins. There are upwards of ten different species known to the naturalists at present.
6. See Mairan's Dissertation sur la Glace. Paris, 1749, p. 261.
7. Mr. Adanson, on returning from Senegal, brought several bottles filled with sea-water with him, taken up in different latitudes, which being brought to Paris from Brest in the midst of winter, the water in them froze so as to break them; the ice was perfectly fresh, and the residuum of brine was run out. See his Voyage au Senegal, p. 190. Mr. Edward Nairne, F.R.S. has made experiments on sea-water during the hard frost in 1776, inserted in the LXVI. volume of the Philosophical Transactions, which put it beyond a doubt, that solid and fresh ice may be formed from sea-water.
8. Aptenodytes antarctica; Procellaria capensis, glacialis, nivea, & vittata.
9. This bird is mentioned in Lieutenant Cook's voyage in the Endeavour. See Hawkesworth, vol. II. p. 283.