ARMOUR OF ICE.

On 6th December, at 8.30 A.M., they reckoned they were "at the Antipodes to our friends in London, consequently as far removed from them as possible." Here a swell coming from the south-west showed there was no great body of land in that direction, except at a considerable distance. The first ice was seen on 12th December in 62 degrees 10 minutes South, and on the 15th, in 66 degrees South, they were obliged to edge away north as they were surrounded by large quantities of loose ice, and it was very foggy. Working up to between 64 and 65 degrees, they again headed east still hampered by ice and fog, but in a few days the weather improved a little, and they recovered the Antarctic Circle, and reached 67 degrees 31 minutes South on the 23rd, the highest south latitude hitherto attained. The rigging was so coated with ice that it was difficult to work the ship, and Cook altered his course to the north-east. Marra says, under 18th December:

"Icicles frequently hung to the noses of the men, more than an inch long…the men, cased in frozen snow, as if clad in armour, where the running rigging has been so enlarged by frozen sleet as hardly to be grasped by the largest hand…yet, under all these hardships, the men cheerful over their grog, and not a man sick, but of old scars."

Cook says that some of the men suffered from fever brought on by the unavoidable exposure to cold and wet, but it was slight, and "happily yielded to the simplest remedies." The ship was so surrounded by masses of ice as to cause some apprehension, but by taking advantage of every breath of air the danger was averted. Christmas Day was passed in constant watchfulness.

"We were fortunate in having continual daylight, and clear weather, for had it been foggy as on some of the preceding days, nothing less than a miracle could have saved us from being dashed to pieces."

On 7th January 1774, five very successful observations gave the mean longitude as 123 degrees 21 minutes West, the watch gave it 123 degrees 44 minutes, and the dead reckoning as 123 degrees 39 minutes. Cook signifies his keen appreciation of the watch machine, and says: "I must here take notice that our longitude can never be erroneous while we have so good a guide as Mr. Kendal's watch."