the close-reefed topsails. At noon we were in lat. 62° 10′ S., and long. 170° 24′. E.
Dec. 26.The wind veered to the westward, but the weather was still so thick that we continued hove-to until 2 p.m., when we wore round, and stood to the southward.
27.On the 27th we had a strong south-westerly gale, with clear weather, violent squalls, and frequent snow-showers. The temperature of the sea fell to 29° at 5 a.m., at which it remained all day, and led us to expect soon to meet with ice.
The gale moderated early the next morning, and was succeeded by a calm between 5 and 9 a.m., when an easterly breeze sprang up, and enabled us to resume our southerly course, having been driven back to the northward very considerably by the late storm.
A great many whales were seen during the afternoon; and at 4 p.m., when in lat. 63° S. and long. 174° 30′ E., we tried for soundings, with six hundred fathoms, without striking the ground. The temperature at the surface was 30°, at one hundred and fifty fathoms 35°.5, at three hundred fathoms 38°.2, and at six hundred fathoms 39°.7, at which depth the mean temperature of the ocean was reached by the thermometers.
At 7 20 p.m. the first iceberg was seen, in latitude 63° 20′ S.; several others came in sight shortly afterwards, and before eight o'clock fifteen were counted from the deck. Unlike the icebergs of the arctic seas, they presented very little variety of