of, and, if it had happened, this circumstance would never have been related.[4] These difficulties, together with the improbability of finding land farther south, and the impossibility of exploring it, on account of the ice, if we should find any, determined me to get more to the north.  At the time we last tacked, we were in the longitude of 159 deg. 20’ W., and in the latitude of 66 deg. 0’ S. Several penguins were seen on some of these islands, and a few antarctic peterels on the wing.

We continued to stand to the north, with a fresh gale at west, attended with thick snow showers, till eight o’clock in the evening, when the wind abated, the sky began to clear up, and at six o’clock in the morning of the 16th it fell calm.  Four hours after, it was succeeded by a breeze at N.E. with which we stretched to the S.E., having thick hazy weather, with snow showers, and all our rigging coated with ice.  In the evening, we attempted to take some up out of the sea, but were obliged to desist; the sea running too high, and the pieces being so large, that it was dangerous for the boat to come near them.

The next morning, being the 17th, we succeeded better; for, falling in with a quantity of loose ice, we hoisted out two boats; and by noon got on board as much as we could manage.  We then made sail for the east, with a gentle breeze northerly, attended with snow and sleet, which froze to the rigging as it fell.  At this time we were in the latitude of 64 deg. 41’ south, longitude 155 deg. 44’ west.  The ice we took up proved to be none of the best, being chiefly composed of frozen snow; on which account it was porous, and had imbibed a good deal of salt water; but this drained off, after lying a while on deck, and the water then yielded was fresh.  We continued to stretch to the east, with a piercing cold northerly wind, attended with a thick fog, snow, and sleet, that decorated all our rigging with icicles.  We were hourly meeting with some of the large ice islands, which, in these high latitudes, render navigation so very dangerous:  At seven in the evening, falling in with a cluster of them, we narrowly escaped running aboard of one, and, with difficulty, wore clear of the others.  We stood back to the west till ten o’clock; at which time the fog cleared away, and we resumed our course to the east.  At noon, the next day, we were in the latitude of 64 deg. 49’ S., longitude 149 deg. 19’ W. Some time after, our longitude, by observed distance of the sun and moon, was 149 deg. 19’ W.; by Mr Kendal’s watch 148 deg. 36’; and, by my reckoning, 148 deg. 43’, latitude 64 deg. 48’ S.