after having broken away from the barrier, had grounded on this curious bank, which being two hundred miles from Cape Crozier, the nearest known land, and about sixty from the edge of the barrier, was of itself a discovery of considerable interest.
We continued our course to the eastward, sailing amongst many large bergs and much loose ice. Whales were again seen during the day, but in no great numbers; white petrels were very numerous, and a king penguin of unusual size was seen on a piece of ice. At noon we were in lat. 77° 6′, long. 189° 6′. The dip had diminished to 86° 23′; and although the compasses again began to act with more precision, we here observed an unaccountable decrease of variation from 96 E. to 77 E., and then again an increase of sixteen degrees. The observations were numerous and very satisfactory, so that I have no doubt we had passed one of those extraordinary magnetic points first observed during Sir Edward Parry's second voyage[1] to the Arctic Seas, near the eastern entrance of the Hecla and Fury Straits, but either of much less power or at a greater distance. These observations should not be employed in determining the position of the magnetic pole, as they would tend to throw it very considerably to the southward of the truth. At 1 p.m. we sounded in three hundred fathoms; but here there were no bergs in sight
- ↑ See p. 297.
