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Chap. VII.]
CROSS ANTARCTIC CIRCLE.
171
1840
Town before our departure. The specific gravity of the water at the surface and that taken up from six hundred fathoms was exactly the same, being 1.0272, in both cases at a temperature of 32°.
The current was found to be setting to the E.S.E., at the rate of eight miles per diem.
At 6 p.m. a fine breeze sprang up from the eastward, and we carried a press of sail all night, passing a great many bergs, and much loose ice in long narrow streams, as we advanced to the southward. A beautiful white petrel was seen in the evening, giving notice of our approach to a large body of ice, although we were not at the time aware that these birds never wander far from the main pack.
Dec. 31.At noon the next day we were in lat. 66° 0′ S. and long. 171° 50′ E. At this time the weather was beautifully clear, and a strong ice-blink in the sky, from S.W. to S. E., pointed out the situation of the pack. The streams of ice became more numerous but fewer bergs were seen during the day. At 9 p.m. a line of ice was seen from the masthead, from E. by S. to S. by E., which proved to be the pack edge; but falling perfectly calm soon afterwards, we were not able to approach it until 8 a.m. Jan. 1. the next morning, when a light northerly wind sprang up, bringing thick weather and snowshowers. We steered to the southward, passing great quantities of drift ice; at ten o'clock we crossed the antarctic circle, and came to the edge of the main pack, of which, however, we could only
