Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/402

358 fathoms, the temperature at that depth being 39°.2, that of the surface, 32°; we found the current setting N.60° E. ten miles per diem.

From this point the pack trended more to the southward of east, so that by noon the 26th we were in latitude 64° 38′ S., and longitude 12° W. the dip 60° 50′ S., and variation 6° W. It was blowing strong from the north-east, with a heavy swell and a thick fog, which obliged us to keep a good offing from the pack, under our lee. Throughout the whole of the next day the snow was so thick that we could not see half a mile before us, and had great difficulty in keeping the ships together, especially in passing through a cluster of large bergs, shortly before dark: we had afterwards long intervals of clearer weather between the snow showers; and even derived considerable assistance from diffused auroral light, which appeared from south-west to south-east, in small patches.

When day broke we made all sail, anxious to take advantage of the fine clear sea in which we were navigating. The pack, having suddenly turned off to the southward, could not now be seen; and we began to hope we had reached its eastern limits. Steering to the south-east, we crossed the 66th degree of latitude, in 7° west longitude, shortly before noon, when the wind veered round to the south-eastward; and being within one hundred miles of the route by which the Russian navigator, Bellinghausen, in January, 1820, reached the latitude of 69°¾ S., in 2° west