Whale- ship discovered. 

 Height of waves. 



SOUTHERN CRUISE. 



First ice-islands seen. 



King's George's Island. Palmer's Land. 



pany. On passing the other vessels of the squadron, 

 we received three hearty cheers, which were duly 

 returned. 



At the mouth of the harbour, Captain Hudson 

 and the few officers who had accompanied us, took 

 their leave. I must own at that moment I felt 

 greatly depressed, for I was well aware that we had 

 many, very many dangers to encounter before meet- 

 ing again. But there is a feeling produced by the 

 kind of service on which we were engaged, that 

 gives a stout heart, braces it for meeting almost 

 every emergency that may happen, and causes one 

 to look forward with hope to overcome the difficul- 

 ties that may lie in the path. After a short time 

 we saw the Peacock and Flying-Fish under sail, 

 following us. 



The wind continued light, with fine weather, 

 until the afternoon. The whole scenery around us 

 was viewed to great advantage, under a mild state 

 of the atmosphere, taking away from it the usual 

 gloomy aspect which a sky, overcast and boisterous, 

 gives. A dense bank of cumuli in the south-west 

 foretold that we were not long to enjoy such mode- 

 rate weather. About 4 P.M. a heavy squall struck 

 us, which soon took us clear of the islands, on our 

 course to the southward. 



On the 2Gth we discovered a sail, which proved 

 to be the whale-ship America, from New Zealand, 

 bound to New York, and afforded us an opportunity 

 of writing home, which we gladly availed ourselves 

 of. The master of the America informed me that 

 he had experienced constant heavy winds, and had 

 been thirty-five days from New Zealand; that the 

 ship was very leaky, but having a full cargo of 

 three thousand eight hundred barrels of oil, he was 

 in great spirits. I have seldom seen at sea a more 

 uncombed and dirty set of mariners than his crew. 

 How they preserve any tolerable state of health I 

 know not ; and it is not at all surprising that the 

 ravages of scurvy should be felt on board of some 

 vessels belonging to the whaling fleet, if this is the 

 usual state in which they are kept. 



After delivering our letters, we bore away to the 

 south-east, the wind inclining to the north-west and 

 blowing heavy, with a high and remarkably regular 

 sea following. This afforded me an opportunity I 

 had long desired, for making observations to deter- 

 mine the height of the waves, together with their 

 width and velocity. It is obviously very difficult to 

 do this with correctness. I shall therefore state 

 the means which I adopted, in order that it may be 

 perceived what reliance is to be placed on the 

 results. 



The Porpoise was directly ahead of the Sea- 

 Gull, and but two waves apart; the rate of sailing 

 was about eight knots an hour, both vessels being 

 apparently very steady. In heaving the log, I 

 found that the chip, in drawing in the line, was, 

 when on the top of the next wave astern, distant 

 by line three hundred and eighty feet, equal to one- 

 sixteenth of a mile, and the schooner being on the 

 next wave, was twice the distance, or one-eighth of 

 a mile. The time occupied for a wave to pass from 

 the schooner to the brig was thirteen seconds, 

 taking the mean of many trials, from which none 

 varied more than a second and a half. This gave 

 about twenty-six and a half miles in an hour for 

 their apparent progressive motion. In order to 

 get their height, I took the opportunity when the 

 schooner was in the trough of the sea, and my eye 



on board the Porpoise in the horizon, to observe 

 where it cut the mast. 



This gave me thirty-two feet. The waves ran 

 higher and more regular on this occasion than I 

 have seen them at any other time during the 

 cruise. 



We had many albatrosses hovering about, and at 

 times resting as it were immovable in the storm, 

 some gray petrels, and Cape pigeons in numbers. 

 The weather becoming thick, and the temperature 

 of the water having fallen to 32, I deemed it pru- 

 dent to heave-to during the darkness. 



At daylight on the 1st of March we had snow in 

 flurries, and the first ice-islands were made. They 

 excited much curiosity, and appeared to have been 

 a good deal worn, as though the sea had been wash- 

 ing over them for some time. They were of small 

 size in comparison with those we afterwards saw, 

 but being unused to the sight, we thought them 

 magnificent. At noon we made land, which proved 

 to be Ridley's Island. It was high, broken, and 

 rugged, with the top covered with snow. The rocks 

 had a basaltic appearance, and many were de- 

 tached from the main body of the island, with nu- 

 merous high pinnacles, very much worn by the sea. 

 The surf was too great to attempt a landing for the 

 purpose of procuring specimens. As we closed in 

 with the land, we lowered a boat and tried the cur- 

 rent, which was found setting to the north-north- 

 west, two fathoms per hour. 



At 6 P.M. we had several ice-islands in sight, Cape 

 Melville bearing south- by-east (true). We now 

 had light winds from the south- south- west. 



The north foreland of King George's Island was 

 in sight, and found to be well placed on the charts. 

 The appearance of all this land is volcanic; it is 

 from eight hundred to one thousand feet high. The 

 upper part is covered and the valleys filled with 

 snow of great depth. Before night we had several 

 other islands in sight, with many bergs and much 

 drift-ice. 



On the 2nd, at daylight, we made O'Briens and 

 Aspland's Islands to the eastward, with many ice- 

 islands, some of a tabular form, and from half a 

 mile to a mile in length. Through the fog and 

 mist we got a sight of Bridgeman's Island, and 

 stood for it, with the intention of lauding on it. 

 The fog cleared off as we approached it, and we 

 could perceive distinctly the smoke issuing from its 

 sides. We made it in latitude 62 06' S., and longi- 

 tude 57 10' W. 



This island is about six hundred feet high, and of 

 the shape of a flattened dome. 



On the 3rd we filled away at daylight, and stood 

 for Palmer's Land. The birds now had very much 

 increased, Cape pigeons, with the gray and black 

 petrel, and occasionally penguins, swimming about 

 us in all directions, uttering their discordant 

 screams : they seemed astonished at encountering 

 so unusual an object as a vessel in these frozen 

 seas. At 6 h 30 m we made land, which I took to be 

 Mount Hope, the eastern point of Palmer's Land. 

 By 8 A.M. we had penetrated among the numerous 

 icebergs, until we found it impossible to go further. 

 I have rarely seen a finer sight. The sea was lite- 

 rally studded with these beautiful masses, some of 

 pure white, others showing all the shades of the 

 opal, others emerald green, and occasionally here 

 and there some of a deep black, forming a sti-ong 

 contrast to the pure white. Near to us, we disco- 



