These unfavourable circumstances, together with dark nights, at this advanced season of the year, quite discouraged me from putting in execution a resolution I had taken of crossing the Antarctic Circle once more.  Accordingly, at four o’clock in the morning, we stood to the north, with a very hard gale at E.S.E., accompanied with snow and sleet, and a very high sea from the same point, which made great destruction among the ice islands.  This circumstance, far from being of any advantage to us, greatly increased the number of pieces we had to avoid.  The large pieces which break from the ice islands, are much more dangerous than the islands themselves.  The latter are so high out of water, that we can generally see them, unless the weather be very thick and dark, before we are very near them.  Whereas the others cannot be seen in the night, till they are under the ship’s bows.  These dangers were, however, now become so familiar to us, that the apprehensions they caused were never of long duration; and were, in some measure, compensated both by the seasonable supplies of fresh water these ice islands afforded us, (without which we must have been greatly distressed,) and also by their very romantic appearance, greatly heightened by the foaming and dashing of the waves into the curious holes and caverns which are formed in many of them; the whole exhibiting a view which at once filled the mind with admiration and horror, and can only be described by the hand of an able painter.[3]

Towards the evening the gale abated, and in the night we had two or three hours calm.  This was succeeded by a light breeze at west, with which we steered east, under all the sail we could set, meeting with many ice islands.

This night we saw a Port Egmont hen; and next morning, being the 25th, another.  We had lately seen but few birds; and those were albatrosses, sheer-waters, and blue peterels.  It is remarkable that we did not see one of either the white or Antarctic peterels, since we came last amongst the ice.  Notwithstanding the wind kept at W. and N.W. all day, we had a very high sea from the east, by which we concluded that no land could be near in that direction.  In the evening, being in the latitude 60 deg. 51’, longitude 95 deg. 41’ E., the variation was 43 deg. 6’ W., and the next morning, being the 26th, having advanced about a degree and a half more to the east, it was 41 deg. 30’, both being determined by several azimuths.

We had fair weather all the afternoon, but the wind was unsettled, veering round by the north to the east.  With this we stood to the S.E. and E., till three o’clock in the afternoon; when, being in the latitude of 61 deg. 21’ S., longitude 97 deg. 7’, we tacked and stood to the northward and eastward as the wind kept veering to the south.  This, in the evening, increased to a strong gale, blew in squalls, attended with snow and sleet, and thick hazy weather, which soon brought us under our close-reefed top-sails.