400 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



and had they not been seen breeding at Heard Island it might have been fancied that 

 they used the ice for the purpose. 



On the 16th, at 2 a.m., the ship again running into a quantity of brash ice, which was 

 apparently thick from S.W. to W. by N. the vessel wore round to the northwards. 

 At 4 a.m. a large number of icebergs were in sight ; one being pyramidal in shape and 

 of a peculiar blue colour like a turquoise; at 7 a.m. it fell calm, and the sea being smooth 

 steam was got up in order, if possible, to effect a landing on the ice, and obtain a 

 series of magnetic observations free from the local errors of the ship. Although the 

 sky overhead was clouded the atmosphere was remarkably clear, so that objects 20 miles 

 distant appeared only five or six miles off, so much so that icebergs at that distance 

 seemed from the masthead to be a line of unbroken pack, or a large floe, but on steaming 

 towards them always turned out to be the usual tabular bergs. Some of these were very 

 large, at least four miles in length, but all about the height of 200 feet, and all with 

 steep, inaccessible sides. At 10 a.m., seeing no chance of effecting a landing on the ice, the 

 small pieces in the pack rising and falling with the swell, and the bergs being inaccessible, 

 sail was made and the vessel stood to the southward. Although the sky overhead was 

 covered with an impervious cloud all the forenoon, so that the position of the ship could 

 not be ascertained by astronomical observation in the early part of the day, the sun was 

 shining on all the distant bergs, and there were no clouds of any description near the 

 horizon from S.W. to S.E. (true). 



At 2.30 p.m., having stood 10 miles southward of the Antarctic Circle, the vessel 

 tacked and stood to the northward. At this time there was no pack ice in sight but a 

 large number of icebergs as far as the eye could reach, some of them certainly two or three 

 miles in length. The clear sky to the southward was just what could have been wished 

 had the object been to attain a very high latitude, for land of any elevation would 

 certainly have been seen at a distance of 50 or 60 miles had it existed. The object, 

 however, was not to attain a particularly high latitude, but merely to make observations 

 on the temperature and depth of the sea in the vicinity of the ice, and it would have 

 been foolish to go farther south in an unfortified ship with only six months' provisions on 

 board. At 3.30 p.m. the sun shone out, and at 5 p.m. a double altitude was obtained 

 which gave the position. At 2.30 p.m., when the ship tacked to the northward, the 

 position was lat. 66° 40' S., long. 78° 22' E. The absence of pack ice at the turning 

 point indicated that the pack seen on the two previous days was a detached floe. A 

 number of Penguins on small detached pieces of ice were passed during the day, 

 and several Whales were seen. The weather was fine all day, calm in the forenoon, an 

 easterly breeze in the afternoon, which gradually freshened ; the barometer steady at 

 28"800 inches till noon, after which it fell ; the mean temperature of the air 29°, and of 

 the surface water 30°'5. At 8 p.m. the topsails were double reefed, and at 11 p.m. the 

 ship hove to, the weather having become misty and snow squalls passing over. 



