118 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



of a fine day, that they were induced to let out all the reefs 

 of the topsails. Their hopes, however, soon vanished ; for 

 by one o'clock the wind blew almost a hurricane. 



On the 10th of December, the weather being hazy, they 

 did not see an island of ice which they were steering directly 

 for, till they were less than a mile from it. It appeared to 

 be about fifty feet high, and half a mile in circuit. It was 

 flat at the top, and its sides rose in a perpendicular direction, 

 against which the sea broke exceedingly high. 



As the weather continued hazy, with sleet and snow, they 

 were obliged to proceed with great caution, on account of 

 the ice islands. Six of these they passed in one day, some 

 of them near two miles in circuit, and sixty feet high. And 

 yet such was the force and height of these waves, that the 

 sea broke quite over them. Captain Cook says, " This 

 exhibited a view which for a few moments was pleasing to 

 the eye ; but when we reflected on the danger, the mind 

 was filled with horror ; for, were a ship to get against the 

 weather side of one of these islands when the sea runs high, 

 she would be dashed to pieces in a moment."* 



At eight o'clock on the 14th, they brought-to under a 

 point of the ice, where they had smooth water : the two 

 captains now fixed on a rendezvous in case of separation, 

 and some other matters for the better keeping company. 



Next day they had a small gale, thick foggy weather, with 

 much snow ; their sails and rigging were hung with icicles. 

 The fog was so thick at times, that they could not see the 

 length of the ship ; and they had much difficulty to avoid 

 the many islands of ice that surrounded them. 



On the 17th they saw many whales, one seal, some 

 penguins, and white birds (probably the Procellaria nivia 

 which was found by Sir James Ross in his Antarctic expedi- 

 tion, as far south as he proceeded). They found the skirts 

 of the loose ice to be more broken than usual ; and it 

 extended some distance beyond the main field, insomuch 

 that they sailed amongst it the most part of the day ; 

 and the high ice islands without were innumerable. The 

 weather was sensibly colder than the thermometer seemed 

 to indicate, insomuch that the whole crew complained. In 

 * This would not be inevitably the case. When Sir James Ross's 

 ships came into collision on the windward side of a chain of icebergs, 

 in the South Atlantic, on the 13th of March, 1842, in a heavy gale of 

 wind, the lower yard-arms scraped against the berg ; but the " under- 

 tow," or reaction of the wave from the vertical side of the berg, 

 saved the ships from being driven to atoms against it. The stern- 

 board made by the Erebus on that occasion was one of the most 

 difficult, dangerous, and daring efforts of navigation ever attempted 

 and successfully accomplished. It is considered by all seamen aa a 

 masterpiece of intrepidity and skill. 



