142 
SOUTHERN CRUISE. 
being in close company, both vessels were in imminent danger. At 
3 a. m. we narrowly escaped several icebergs. At 4 a. m., it blew a 
very heavy gale from the southwest ; the temperature of the air fell 
to 27°, and that of the water was 29° ; the ice formed rapidly on the 
deck, and covered the rigging, so much as to render it difficult to work 
either the brig or schooner ; dangers beset us in all directions, and it 
required all the watchfulness we were possessed of to avoid them. 
From the state of the weather, the lateness of the season, and the 
difficulty of seeing around us, not only during the several hours of 
the night, but even in the daytime, the constant fogs and mist in 
which we had been for several hours every day enveloped, rendered 
our exertions abortive, and precluded the possibility of doing any 
thing more than to attend to the sailing of the vessels. These reasons 
determined me to give up the endeavour to proceed farther south, 
feeling convinced the season for such explorations had gone by. I 
therefore ordered the Sea-Gull to return to Orange Harbour, well 
knowing that her situation was much worse than our own ; directino- 
her to touch at Deception Island on the way, while we proceeded to 
the northward to examine some of the other islands. 
