324 Voyage of Capt. Sir James C. Ross to the Antarctic. 



Departure for the Antarctic. — Fifteen months had elapsed 

 since the expedition left England ; but the ardor of the company 

 had in no degree abated, and on December 17th, 1840, they set 

 sail steering directly south, with a moderate breeze increasing 

 to a gale. 



In lat. 57° 52' S., long. 170° 30' E., the temperature of the 

 water at 230 fathoms was 39° -5, while at the surface it was 42°. 

 It was midsummer in that hemisphere, but the mercury did not 

 rise above 46° at any time in the day. 



December 27 — the mercury was at 29° all day ; many whales 

 were seen ; soundings were not obtained at 600 fathoms, and 

 the temperature of the ocean at that depth was 39°7. 



The first iceberg was seen in lat. 63° 20' S., and others came 

 quickly into view. They were large and solid, with vertical 

 cliffs all around, and their tabular summits varied from 100 to 

 180 feet in height ; large masses were continually falling from 



them and forming long trains of floating fragments to leeward. 



Whales in great numbers were seen — some sperm, but chiefly 

 the black whale, — and they were so tame that any number of 

 them might have been killed. The Clio borealis and Argonauta 

 arctica were all around, and doubtless here as in the north, formed 

 the food of the whales. 



Icebergs became numerous — and in the night amid showers of 

 snow, the first notice of their proximity was given by the roaring 

 of the waves against their precipitous sides. 



December 30. — Having crossed the track of the Russian navi- 

 gator, Bellinghausen, in lat. 64° 38 / S., long. 173° 10' E., bot- 

 tom was struck with 1560 fathoms. 



January 1, 1841. — New year's day was kept joyously as Christ- 

 mas had been, and additional provisions and warm clothing were 

 dispensed to the people. The scene was highly exciting, for hay- 

 ing now crossed the Antarctic circle, they were fully involved in 



the pack ice, among whose innumerable masses, whales were seen 

 cruising, and the white petrels were flying about in great numbers. 



January 2. — A berg rvas seen with a large rock upon it and 

 nearly covered with mud and stones; the rock when examined 

 proved to be volcanic. On the 4th, in a clear blue sky, the sun 

 illuminated a great number of bergs of strange and curious forms, 

 reflecting its brilliant rays in every beautiful variety of color, and 

 forming, as the ships pursued their devious way among them, a 

 scene of much interest and grandeur. 



January 5.— In lat. 66° 55' S., long. 174° 34' E., nothing but 

 ice was visible, among which they navigated freely, forcing oppo- 

 sing barriers which only ships fortified as these were could have 

 withstood. Progress was made till they were sixty or seventy miles 

 from its northern edge, and it was fluctuating with the billowy 

 motion, as in thick showers of snow they advanced farther into it. 

 Many seals were seen basking on the ice, and penguins whose 



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