duties we were about to commence, and without which all human skill and courage must prove utterly unavailing.
Dec. 18.It blew a strong gale from the south-west, so that we could not maintain a direct course. At noon we were in lat. 54° 22′ S., long. 169° 12′ E., having completed a distance of one hundred miles to the southward. At midnight a bright appearance was observed in the clouds, between southeast and south, resembling the diffused light of aurora australis, at an altitude of 12°.
Stormy weather continued throughout the 19th and 20th, during which time we had no opportunity of sounding; 21.and on the 21st were so unfortunate as to lose two of our self-registering thermometers by the line breaking. By Commander Crozier's experiment the temperature at two hundred and thirty fathoms below the surface was 39°.5, that of the surface being 42°. We were at that time in lat. 57° 52′. S., long. 170° 30′ E.
Although Midsummer-day of the southern regions, and in so low a latitude, the temperature of the air was at no time during the day above 40°, having very gradually declined as we advanced to the southward. The smaller kind of petrel became much more numerous; several patches of seaweed were seen during the day; and we were kept in expectation of meeting with some new land, of which these, and the numbers of penguins of two or three kinds we saw, were considered to be indications.
