Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/449

Rh "I frequently found myself so closely beset that I thought it next to impossible to escape, and if the wind had not been extremely constant in its direction, I should have been shut up or much injured; as it was, I escaped with scarcely a scratch, although we took some heavy thumps.

"The chart will show you the track of my ship and the state of the barrier, and the localities of seeing the land and approaches to it. I have not had time to insert on it the tracks of the other vessels, but they very nearly agree with ours, and their reports of the weather is very similar to what I have described; it was constructed as I went on, and your copy is a tracing from it. The ice islands are all laid down as we found them; I made the officer of the deck during his watch keep a diagram of them, and they were transferred by me to the chart; this I found gave me more confidence in proceeding among them, and facilitated and rendered comparatively safe my return, if rendered necessary, (I must guard you against supposing they were only as numerous as there represented on the chart; it contains about one sixth; frequently upwards of a hundred were counted from the deck, of large size); I would by all means recommend a similar course to be pursued. They undoubtedly change their positions, but not to signify in the time you will be among them.

"Magnetic Pole.—I consider we have approached very near to the pole. Our dip was 87° 30′ S., and the compasses on the ice very sluggish; this was in 147° 30′ E., and 67° 04′ S. Our variation, as accurately as it could be observed on the ice, we made 12° 30′ E. It was difficult to get a good observation, on account of the sluggishness of our compasses. About one hundred miles to the westward we crossed the magnetic meridian, and as rapidly increased our west variation as we had diminished that of the east.

"The pole, without giving you accurate deductions, I think my observations will place in about 70° S. latitude, and 140 E. longitude.