292 ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



On the 16th the three vessels were in longitude 157° 46' E., and all 

 within a short distance of each other. The water was much disco- 

 loured, and many albatrosses, Cape pigeons, and petrels were seen 

 about the ships. On board the Vincennes, we sounded with two 

 hundred and thirty fathoms, and found no bottom ; the water had the 

 appearance of an olive-green colour, as if but forty and fifty fathoms 

 deep. At the surface, its temperature was 32°, at the depth sounded, 

 31°. I should have tried for a deeper cast, but the line was seen to be 

 stranded, when we were obliged to stop; we fortunately saved our 

 apparatus, with Six's thermometers. 



On this day (16th January) appearances believed at the time to be 

 land were visible from all the three vessels, and the comparison of the 

 three observations, when taken in connexion with the more positive 

 proofs of its existence afterwards obtained, has left no doubt that the 

 appearance was not deceptive. From this day, therefore, we date the 

 discovery which is claimed for the squadron. 



On board the Peacock, it appears that Passed Midshipmen Eld and 

 Reynolds both saw the land from the masthead, and reported it to 

 Captain Hudson : he was well satisfied on examination that the appear- 

 ance was totally distinct from that of ice-islands, and a majority of the 

 officers and men were also satisfied that if land could exist, that was it. 



I mention particularly the names of these two gentlemen, because 

 they have stated the same fact under oath, before the court-martial, 

 after our return. 



On board the Porpoise, Lieutenant-Commandant Ringgold states, 

 that " he went aloft in the afternoon, the weather being clear and fine, 

 the horizon good, and clouds lofty; that he saw over the field-ice an 

 object, large, dark, and rounding, resembling a mountain in the dis- 

 tance ; the icebergs were all light and brilliant, and in great contrast." 

 He goes on to say, in his report, " I watched for an hour to see if the 

 sun in his decline would change the colour of the object : it remained 

 the same, with a white cloud above, similar to that hovering over high 

 land. At sunset the appearance remained the same. I took the bear- 

 ings accurately, intending to examine it closely as soon as we got a 

 breeze. I am thoroughly of opinion it is an island surrounded by 

 immense fields of ice. The Peacock in sight to the southward and 

 eastward over the ice ; the sun set at a few minutes before ten ; soon 

 after, a light air from the southward, with a fog-bank arising, which 

 quickly shut out the field-ice." 



In Passed Midshipman Eld's journal, he asserts that he had been 

 several times to the masthead during the day, to view the barrier ; 

 that it was not only a barrier of ice, but one of terra firm a. Passed 



