312 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
through copper and all ; that in this way she conveyed it 
800 miles, when it must have worked out/' 
No time was lost in getting the damage temporarily 
repaired, and although the crippled ships had to run be- 
fore the wind into lower latitudes while the rigging was 
being renewed, as soon as they could be handled properly 
Ross turned south again to the sixtieth parallel to make 
a series of observations at one of the foci of maximum 
magnetic intensity in 6o° S. and 125 0 W. This was suc- 
cessfully done on March 18th and on that day also the 
anchor that had been driven into the skin of the Erebus 
by the collision and had hung there for five days greatly 
impeding her progress, worked loose and sank in deep 
water. The voyage was slow for the ships sailed 
heavily, but it was devoid of incident until April 2nd, 
when one of the quartermasters of the Erebus fell over- 
board from the main yard, and as the sea was running 
too high for a boat to live had it been lowered an unsuc- 
cessful attempt was made to bring the ship alongside the 
life-buoy on which the man had climbed, but before the 
manoeuvre could be executed he lost hold and was 
drowned, the third to be so lost from this ship. Next day 
off Cape Horn a brig was sighted the first sail met with 
since leaving New Zealand more than four months be- 
fore, but it was blowing too hard to speak her. No land 
was seen until Beauchene Island was made on April 5th, 
and next day the ships dropped anchor in Port Louis, 
Falkland Island, 137 days after leaving the Bay of Islands. 
To the disappointment of all on board there were no let- 
ters, but from a chance copy of the Navy List four of the 
officers discovered that they had received promotion on the 
day when Captain Ross’s report on the first voyage 
reached the Admiralty. 
