The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-13

absent vessel The three others head ed for Macquerie island, the appointed place of first rendezvous. This separa-
 ton of the tender took place in latitude 4S She was not seen again during the cruise south of the Auckland islands The barometer now began to assume @ lower range and the temperature 10 fall below fifty. On January Sd the fog
 became very thick and the Peacock got beyond hearing of the flagships horns, | bells, drums and guns, and was parted
 with, The weather began to play all sorts of tricks, and Captain Wilkes was
 able to get no observations. A large number of albatrosses, Port Egmont
 hens and petres were seen,
 On the 10th the Vincennes met the
 first iceberg. The temperature Of the
 water fell to thirty-two degrees. The
 vessel passed close to the berg and
 found it a mile long and one hundred
 and eighty feet in height This was in | latitude 6S.S. There was @ strong cur
 rent running of about twenty miles a | day Thirty miles further south the
 second iceberg was seen, and twenty five miles south of this the third. They
 were apparently much worn by the sea
 into cavities, exhibiting Assures as l though they were ready to be rent asunder. The weather became misty again and light snow fell More ice
 bergs were met of very peculiar
 square shape, with plane upper sur | face-quite different from those met
 with in the North Polar sea,
 | Towards six o'clock on the 11th, hav- | ing passed dozens of these flat-top. 1 stratified bergs, the explorers began to
 perceive smaller pieces of ice floating
 in little patches. As the icebergs in
 creased in number the sea became
 smoother, and finally there was no ap-
 parent motion Between and 9 of | that evening a bay of ice was entered
 and at 1O:3O the commander of the
 squadron found his further progress
 stopped by a compact barrier of large, square icebergs and masses of inter- l vening ice The sky cleared and the
 night was beautiful. The distant low
 rustling of the ice was the only sound | to break the impressive stiffness.
 This first captivity in the ice occurred 1 in latitude 6411 south, longitude 164.30
 east. The temperature of the air was
 3S degrees, that of the water 32. To- I wards morning a thick fog set in and 1 the Vincennes and Porpoise lost sight of each other The former beat about all day in the fog with the barrier of
 ice close to it. It was impossible to see
 quarter of a mile ahead and often not
 more than a ships length. The mist l formed into ice in the rigging, and the
 decks were slippery and dangerous. ! In the meantime the absent Peacock
 had steered for Macquerie island and
 had made it on the 10th The surf was
 beating with great violence against the
 rocks with noise like thunder, and a dozen fruitless efforts at landing were
 made before one was successful Hay l ing gotten a number of fine specimens 1 of pengulus, Captain Hudson headed
 south, and on the 18th of January
 reached the ice barrier again. Early
 next morning he sighted the Porpoise. | The crew of the latter vessel on the 1 18th had discovered several sea ele- | plants on the ice, and had managed to I capture q female. From the presence 1 of this animal and the discoloration of
 the ice and water, Lieutenant Com
 mandant Ringgold was strongly im-
 pressed with the idea of land in the vi cinity, but on sounding in one hundred | fathoms no bottom was reached. He
 even thought he discerned to the south | east something like distant mountains. l But a nearer approach was impossible,
 as he was then in actual contact with
 the icy barrier.
 l On January 10th appearances be- lieved at the time to be land were visi- 1 ble from the three ships. A compari-
 son of the three observations, when ta-
 ken in connection with the more posi- | tive proofs of it's existence afterwards
 obtained, has left no doubt that the ap- l pearances were not deceptive. From
 this day therefore, said Captain
 Wilkes, i've date the discovery which
 is claimed by the squadron-that of the l Antarctic continent.''''
 1 On board the Peacock Passed Mid
 shipman Eld and Reynolds both saw l the land and reported it to Captain l Hudson, who confirmed their observa- tions. On board the Porpoise Lieuten- ant-Commandant Ringgold, who had
 gone aloft in the afternoon, the wealth.
 CT being fine. saw over the field of ice ''an object, large, dark and rounding,
 resembling a mountain in the dis
 tance." The icebergs were all light
 and brilliant, making a strong con l trast, as he puts it. He watched the l land for several hours. It was plainly
 seen from the decks of the Vincennes,
 and Captain Wilkes made a sketch of | it.
 l For many days thereafter the three vessels of the squadron skirted vest
 ward along the ice barrier, and on the l 18th the Vineennes's officers distinctly l saw high land, leaving no further pos sible doubt of the discovery. Sound
 ings brought up mud, and great bowl | ders were found on the icebergs
 These evidences. together with the 1 presence of hundreds of penguins on 1 the ice, proved conclusively that land
 was near. All efforts however, to pass
 the great perpendicular wall of crystal
 were futile, and after many narrow es- capes from being crushed with the ice, i days of slow creeping through mists
 and fogs, calm nights lighted up by
 moon, sun, stars and the aurora au- stralis, together with adventures on l the ice island with queer Antarctic ami
 mals, frightful gales and experiences ! novel md irwin or +O eVpp inc most an-