ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 317 



wind at this time to tack; I therefore had recourse to luffing the vessel 

 up in the wind, and wore her short round on her heel. At the same 

 time we sounded, and found a hard bottom at the depth of no more 

 than thirty fathoms. I made a rough sketch of this bay, which I have 

 called Piner's Bay, after the signal quarter-master of that name. It 

 was impossible to lower a boat, or to remain longer ; indeed, I felt it 

 imperative on me to clear its confined space before the floating ice 

 might close it up. 



At 10 h 30 m we had gone round, and in an hour more we cleared the 

 bay. At noon the wind had increased to a gale, and by one o'clock, 

 p. m., we were reduced to storm-sails, with our top-gallant yards on 

 deck. The barometer had again declined rapidly, proving a true 

 indicator, but giving little or no warning. To run the gauntlet again 

 among the icebergs was out of the question, for a large quantity of 

 field-ice would have to be passed through, which must have done us 

 considerable damage, if it did not entirely disable us. The clear space 

 we occupied was retained until five or six o'clock, when I found the 

 floe-ice was coming down upon us ; 1 then determined to lay the ship 

 for a fair drift through the channel I had observed in the morning, and 

 which I had every reason to believe, from the wind (southeast) blow- 

 ing directly through it, would not be obstructed until the floe-ice came 

 down. It was a consolation to know that if we were compelled to 

 drift, we should do so faster than the ice ; I therefore thought it as 

 well to avoid it as long as possible. Another reason determined me 

 to delay the drifting to the latest moment : I did not believe that the 

 extent of the channel we had seen in the morning was more than ten 

 miles in extent, and at the rate we drifted, the end of it would be 

 reached long before the gale was over. This, like the former gale, 

 was an old-fashioned snow-storm. All the canvass we could show to 

 it at one time was a close-reefed main-topsail and fore-storm-staysail. 

 It blew tremendously, and the sea we experienced was a short dis- 

 agreeable one, but nothing to be compared to that which accompanied 

 the first gale. From the shortness of the sea, I inferred that we had 

 some current. This state of things continued for several hours, during 

 which we every moment expected to reach the end of our channel. 

 Since the last gale, the whole crew, officers and men, had been put in 

 watch and watch, ready for an instantaneous call, and prepared for 

 rapid movements. The snow was of the same sleety or cutting 

 character as that of the previous day, and seemed as if armed with 

 sharp icicles or needles. 



The 31st brought no moderation of the weather. At 1 a. m., a 

 group of ice-islands was reported, and shortly afterwards field-ice close 



2B2 



