1?79. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 165 



take the trouble to compare the degree of heat, 

 during the hot sultry weather we had at the begin- 

 ning of this month, with the extreme cold which we 

 now endured, he will conceive how severely so rapid 

 a change must have been felt by us. 



In the gale of the 18th, we had split almost all the 

 sails we had bent, which being our second best suit, 

 we were now reduced to make use of our last and 

 best set. To add to Captain Clerke's difficulties, the 

 sea was in general so rough, and the ships so leaky, 

 that the sail-makers had no place to repair the sails 

 in, except his apartments, which, in his declining 

 state of health, was a serious inconvenience to him. 



On the 20th, at noon, being in latitude 49° 45' N. 

 and longitude 161° 15' E. ; and eagerly expecting to 

 fall in with the coast of Asia, the wind shifted sud- 

 denly to the north, and continued in the same quarter 

 the following day. However, although it retarded 

 our progress, yet the fair weather it brought was no 

 small refreshment to us. In the forenoon of the 

 21st, we saw a whale, and a land-bird ; and, in the 

 afternoon, the water looking muddy, we sounded, 

 but got no ground with an hundred and forty 

 fathoms of line. During the three preceding days, 

 we saw large flocks of wild-fowl, of a species resem- 

 bling ducks. This is usually considered as a proof 

 of the vicinity of land ; but we had no other signs of 

 it, since the 16th ; in which time we had run upward 

 of an hundred and fifty leagues. 



On the 22d, the wind shifted to the north-east, 

 attended with misty weather. The cold was exceed- 

 ingly severe, and the ropes were so frozen, that it 

 was with difficulty we could force them through the 

 blocks. At noon, the latitude, by account, was 51° 

 38', longitude 160° 7' j and on comparing our present 

 position with that given to the southern parts of 

 Kamtschatka, in the Russian charts, Captain Gierke 

 did not think it prudent to run on toward the land 

 all night. We therefore tacked at ten"; and, having 



m 3 



