Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/362

322 to the eastward of Clarence Island, one of the South Shetland group, we crossed the line of equal temperature of the ocean throughout its entire depth, at 10 on the 20th, in latitude 55° 48′ S., and longitude 54° 40′ W.; but the weather did not admit of our sending thermometers lower than a thousand fathoms, at which depth the temperature was 39°.5; at 750 fathoms, 39°.3; at 600 fathoms, 39°.4; at 450 fathoms, 39°.6; at 300 fathoms, 39°.6; at 150 fathoms, 40°; and at the surface, 40°. The specific gravity of water from 150 and 600 fathoms was the same as at the surface, 1.0277 at 45°. We found by our observations that during the two preceding and following days we were carried to the eastward, by a current, at the rate of rather more than twenty miles daily.

On the morning of the 24th we saw the first iceberg, in latitude 61°. At this time we were about fifty miles to the north-east of Clarence Island; but owing to the thick weather which prevailed, we could not see it: the wind increased to a gale from the westward in the afternoon, which reduced us to a close-reefed main-topsail and storm staysails, and it blew with great violence throughout the night; but as we had plenty of sea-room, with only few bergs about us, and clear weather, it gave us no uneasiness. The temperature of the sea also being above 35°, we were assured that no large body of ice could be near us, so we stood to the southward.

The gale moderated at 9 the next morning, by