SOUTHERN CRU I SE. 137 



We found the coast to trend off to the southeast, and I judged we 

 could see it trending from twenty-five to thirty miles. We had now 

 ascertained, beyond a doubt, that there was no open space next to the 

 land, as I had been led to believe would be found, so late in the season. 

 The whole area was studded with icebergs, which it now became 

 necessary to get clear of, if possible, before night set in. 



It was a day of great excitement to all, for we had ice of all kinds 

 and descriptions to encounter, from the iceberg of huge quadrangular 

 shape, with its stratified appearance, to the sunken and deceptive 

 mass, that it was difficult to perceive before it was under the bow. 

 Our situation was critical, but the weather favoured us for a few hours. 

 On clearing these dangers, w 7 e kept off' to the southward and west- 

 ward, under all sail, and at 8 p. m. we counted eighty large ice-islands 

 in sight. Afterwards it became so thick with mist and fog, as to 

 render it necessary to lay-to till daylight, before w T hich time we had a 

 heavy snow-storm. The. temperature of the water had fallen to 29° ; 

 air 28°. At one hundred fathoms depth we found the former 29°. A 

 strong gale now set in from the southward and westward. The 

 brig's deck was covered with ice and snow, and the weather became 

 excessively damp and cold. The men were suffering, not only from 

 want of sufficient room to accommodate the numbers in the vessel, 

 but from the inadequacy of the clothing with which they had been 

 supplied. Although purchased by the government at great expense, it 

 was found to be entirely unworthy the service, and inferior in every 

 way to the samples exhibited. This was the case with all the articles 

 of this description that were provided for the Expedition. Not having 

 been able to satisfy myself to whom the blame is to be attributed, 

 contractors or inspectors, I hesitate to give their names publicity. 

 The deception is in my opinion to be attributed to both. 



On the 5th of March the gale had increased. The tender Sea-Gull 

 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 every direction, 

 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 



VOL. I. M2 18 



