We
Had The Advantage Of A Fresh Gale, And The Disadvantage Of A Thick Fog;
Much Snow And Sleet, Which,
As usual, froze on our rigging as it fell; so
that every rope was covered with the finest transparent ice
I ever saw.
This afforded an agreeable sight enough to the eye, but conveyed to the
mind an idea of coldness, much greater than it really was; for the weather
was rather milder then it had been for some time past, and the sea less
encumbered with ice. But the worst was, the ice so clogged the rigging,
sails, and blocks, as to make them exceedingly bad to handle. Our people,
however, surmounted those difficulties with a steady perseverance, and
withstood this intense cold much better than I expected.
We continued to steer to the E.S.E. with a fresh gale at N.W. attended with
snow and sleet, till the 8th, when we were in the latitude of 61 deg. 12' S.,
longitude 31 deg. 47' E. In the afternoon we passed more ice islands than we
had seen for several days. Indeed they were now so familiar to us, that
they were often passed unnoticed; but more generally unseen on account of
the thick weather. At nine o'clock in the evening, we came to one, which
had a quantity of loose ice about it. As the wind was moderate, and the
weather tolerably fair, we shortened sail, and stood on and off, with a
view of taking some on board on the return of light. But at four o'clock in
the morning, finding ourselves to leeward of this ice, we bore down to an
island to leeward of us; there being about it some loose ice, part of which
we saw break off. There we brought-to; hoisted out three boats; and in
about five or six hours, took up as much ice as yielded fifteen tons of
good fresh water. The pieces we took up were hard, and solid as a rock;
some of them were so large, that we were obliged to break them with pick-
axes before they could be taken into the boats.
The salt water which adhered to the ice, was so trifling as not to be
tasted, and, after it had lain on deck for a short time, entirely drained
off; and the water which the ice yielded, was perfectly sweet and well-
tasted. Part of the ice we broke in pieces, and put into casks; some we
melted in the coppers, and filled up the casks with the water; and some we
kept on deck for present use. The melting and stowing away the ice is a
little tedious, and takes up some time; otherwise this is the most
expeditious way of watering I ever met with.[7]
Having got on board this supply of water, and the Adventure about two-
thirds as much (of which we stood in great need,) as we had once broke the
ice, I did not doubt of getting more whenever we were in want.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 50 of 461
Words from 25293 to 25802
of 239428
