1772.
December.
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[1] the- ↑ See Mairan's Dissertation sur la Glace. Paris, 1749, p. 261.
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