1841.
perature at the intermediate depths was as follows: at 900 fathoms, 40°·2; at 750 fathoms, 41°; at 600 fathoms, 42°·2; at 450 fathoms, 44°·5; and at 150 fathoms, 48°·7: so that the mean temperature of the ocean is at least nine hundred fathoms below the surface in latitude, 49° 17′ S., and longitude, 172° 28′ W.
These experiments, which had occupied us about five hours, were hardly completed, when a breeze sprang up from the northward, before which we made all sail. Sperm whales, patches of sea-weed, and flocks of penguins, were seen in such abundance, that I was in great hopes of meeting with land. Although we did not see any, I think it not improbable that some small islands may be eventually found in this neighbourhood, however much the great depth of the sea may seem to militate against the supposition. The penguins were all going to the eastward, and I have no doubt proceeding to their breeding quarters, perhaps to the Nimrod Islands. It is a wonderful instinct, far beyond the powers of untutored reason, that enables these creatures to find their way, chiefly under water, several hundred miles, to their place of usual resort, as each succeeding spring season of the year arrives.
Dec. 5.Another most beautiful day. A large shoal of the bottle-nose whales played about the ship, and kept company for several hours. A piece of drift timber and many patches of sea-weed were seen; great numbers of penguins of a large species were observed making their way to the eastward; and,