SECOND VOYAGE 121 



danger, they wished for daylight. This, when it came, 

 served only to increase their apprehensions, by exhibiting 

 to view those huge mountains of ice which, in the night, 

 they had passed without seeing. 



These dangers were, however, now become so familiar, 

 that the apprehensions they caused were never of long 

 duration, and were, in some measure, compensated both 

 by the seasonable supplies of fresh water the ice islands 

 afforded, and also by their romantic appearance, greatly 

 heightened by the foaming of the waves, which at once 

 filled the mind with admiration and horror, and can only 

 be described by the hand of an able painter. 



On the 7th of March, the weather became fair, the sky 

 cleared up, and the night was remarkably pleasant, as well 

 as the morning of the next day ; which, for the brightness 

 of the sky, and serenity and mildness of the weather, gave 

 place to none they had seen since they had left the Cape 

 of Good Hope. It was such as is little known in this 

 sea ; and, to make it still more agreeable, they had not 

 one island of ice in sight. 



March 17th, Captain Cook now resolved to quit the high 

 southern latitudes, and to proceed to New Zealand, to look 

 far the Adventure, and to refresh his people. He had 

 penetrated further towards the South Pole than any 

 previous navigator, but, in 1823, Weddell, just fifty years 

 after, attained the latitude of 74 15', being 214 geographical 

 miles further south than Captain Cook ; and, in 1841, 

 Captain Sir James Clark Ross reached the highest latitude 

 that in all probability will ever be attained in the Antarctic 

 Ocean, viz., 78 4', when he discovered the South Polar 

 Barrier, extending 450 miles in length, with a perpendicular 

 face of ice 180 feet above the sea level.* 



As the wind, which continued between the north and 

 west, would not permit them to touch at Van Diemen's 

 Land, they shaped their course to New Zealand ; and being 

 under no apprehensions of meeting with any danger, the 

 captain was net backward in carrying sail. 



For the three days past, the mercury in the thermometer 

 had risen to forty-six, and the weather was quite mild. 

 Seven or eight degrees of latitude had made a surprising 

 difference in the temperature of the air, which they felt 

 with an agreeable satisfaction. 



* Tliis voyage of Sir James C. Koss (already alluded to), in her 

 Majesty's ships Erebus and Terror (the same ships in which Franklin 

 Crozier, Fitz james, and their gallant associates nobly perished in the 

 service of their country) will ever stand as one of the most remarkable 

 in the maritime annals of England ; and it is much to be regretted 

 that no medal has been awarded to the gallant seamen who perilled 

 their lives in this voyage in the Antarctic Ocean. 



