120 ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



east, latitude 62° 08' 05" south. The sea is quite smooth, 

 and the surface is covered with shrimps. 



February 21st. This morning Captain Wilkes announced 

 to the officers and crew his intention to bear-up and return . 

 north. The intelligence was received with much rejoicing, 

 for we all felt worn out with fatigue and exposure. He also 

 called aft all hands, and thanked them for the assistance they 

 afforded him, and in addition he promised the sailors that he 

 would use his utmost exertions to obtain extra pay for them. 



On the 11th of March, at 1.30 P. M., we again dropped 

 our anchor at Fort Macquarie, Sydney. Here we found the 

 "Peacock." She arrived a few days before, and was now 

 undergoing repairs, having sustained heavy damages during 

 her late cruise by coming in contact with large masses of ice. 

 We also heard here of the arrival at Hobart Town, Van 

 Dieman's Land, of the French Expedition,* commanded by 

 Admiral D'Urville. 



We remained at Sydney until the 19th of March. We 

 then took our departure for New Zealand, where we arrived 

 after a pleasant passage of eleven days. The " Peacock" re- 

 ceived orders to follow as soon as her repairs were completed. 



* In 1837 the French Government sent out an Expedition under Rear-Admiral D'Ur- 

 ville.. an eminent explorer, who had already made three voyages round the world. 

 Two corvettes, the "Astrolabe" and "Zelee," sailed from Toulon, and by the end 

 of the year had followed Waddell's track in the Antarctic Seas until they were 

 stopped by the ice between the 63d and 64th parallels. On three occasions an entrance 

 was forced into it, but they were driven back each time, and forced to return. 

 After a protracted cruise in Polynesia and the Indian Archipelago, D'Urville resolved 

 to make another attempt to get to the south, and touched at Hobart Town in a dis- 

 tressed condition, having lost three officers and thirteen men by dysentery. He sailed 

 January 1st, 1840, his special aim being to approach or reach the magnetic or ter- 

 restial pole. On the 21st he was surrounded by numerous ice-islands, and saw a 

 lofty line of coast covered with enow, stretching from southwest to northwest, ap- 

 parently without limit. With some difficulty a landing was effected, and not being 

 aware of our discovery two days before, possession was taken in the name of France, 

 and the land was called La Terra Adelie, after the wife of the discoverer. 



