APPENDIX. 425 
the whole surface of the ocean in the direction of south and west 
presented a perfect and impassable barrier of ice ; that he had been 
completely frozen in for a short time on the 23d, and the ice forming 
rapidly around him, when, fortunately, a breeze of wind rescued him 
from his perilous situation. When we fell in with him, he was 
endeavouring to push his way north. 
From the time of our first falling in with icebergs, we had been 
daily passing great numbers (as will be shown by the chart), and 
encountered on the 17th and part of the 18th, the heaviest gale and 
sea we have experienced since we left the United States ; the ther- 
mometer in the air at that time standing at 21° of Fahrenheit, and 
the w T ater at 28° ; the ship completely coated with ice, every spray 
thrown over her freezing ; and about her bows and head fairly packed 
with it. From the 19th to the 25th, we were without a sight of the 
sun or sky, surrounded by ice and icebergs, within the most neigh- 
bourly distance. During a lift of the fog, for a few moments only, on 
the morning of the 22d, and by the aid of an ice-blink, we discovered 
an extended range of icebergs and field-ice in mass, presenting a 
perfect barrier to our further progress south in that direction; and 
so completely were we hemmed in by icebergs on that occasion, that 
I was compelled to carry all the canvass on the ship that she would 
bear, and work her out into some more open position, through a fog 
so dense as to limit our view to two or three times the length of the 
ship. In doing this, we of course kept well prepared, as the dif- 
ferent icebergs popped upon us, to tack, ware, or perform such other 
evolutions as were found necessary to avoid them. 
On the evening of the 25th of March, having reached the latitude 
of 68° 08' S., and then in longitude 95° 44' W., (we had been as far 
west as 97° 58',) with the air at 29°, and the water 30° of Fahrenheit, 
— having had it much lower, as far back as the 17th, and to the north- 
ward of us, where the ship was covered with ice, as well as some 
parts of her gun-deck, — the sun having crossed the equator, and made 
some northern declination ; the shortness of the days here, and the 
little time allowed for running the ship amongst icebergs, without 
much hazard, in consequence of fogs and snow-storms; the miserable 
condition of the Peacock for a winter's campaign, in the event of 
being frozen in ; the masses of ice we had yet to pass through on 
our return, and the nature of my instructions ; — these circumstances, 
combined with the report of Lieutenant "Walker, premonished me of 
vol. i. 107 
