days. The weather was very cold and wet, and we felt disappointed at not touching at the Cape.
Sept. 10th.—Lat. 36° 43´ S., lon. 45° 30´ W., ther. 64°.—Another calm, and another battue: the gentlemen returned from the watery plain with great éclat, bringing seven albatross, thirty pintados, a Cape hen, and two garnets. One of the albatross, which was stuffed for me, measured fifty-three inches from head to tail, and nine feet ten inches across the wings.
Sept. 20th.—In the evening we passed St. Paul's and Amsterdam, but the haziness of the weather prevented our seeing them. This, the most southerly point of our voyage, was also the coldest. The cold was really painful.
Sept. 23.—A school[1] of twenty or thirty whales passed near the ship; it was almost a calm; they were constantly on the surface, frolicking and spouting away. They were, the sailors said, of the spermaceti order, which are smaller in size, and do not spout so high as the larger race. I was disappointed. Two of the officers of the Lancers rowed within ten yards of a large whale, and fired a Congreve rocket into its body; the whale gave a spring and dived instantly. The rocket would explode in a few seconds and kill him: a good prize for the first ship that falls in with the floating carcase. They fired at another, but the rocket exploded under water and came up smoking to the surface. The boat returned safely to the ship, but it was rather a nervous affair.
Sept. 25th.—Another calm allowed of more shooting, and great was the slaughter of sea game. I must make an extract from Colonel Luard's work, speaking of a battle that took place on the 10th:—"The Cape hen was a large fierce black bird, and only having its wing broken, tried to bite every person's legs in the boat. When she was placed on the ship's quarter-deck, a small terrier belonging to one of the officers attacked her, and they fought for some time with uncertain advantage; the bloody streams from the dog proving the severity of the bird's bite: at last the terrier seized his adversary by the throat, when the battle and the bird's life ended together. In lat. 4° 13´ S., long.
- ↑ A technical term used in the whale fishery.
