s reason to conjecture that we had a
southerly current. Indeed, this was no more than what might reasonably be
supposed, to account for such huge masses of ice being brought from the
south. In the afternoon we had a few hours calm, succeeded by a breeze from
the east, which enabled us to resume our N.W. by N. course.

1774 January

January 1st, the wind remained not long at east, but veered round by the
south to the west; blew fresh, attended with snow showers. In the evening,
being in the latitude of 58 deg. 39' S., we passed two islands of ice, after
which we saw no more till we stood again to the south.

At five o'clock in the morning on the 2d, it fell calm; being at this time
in the latitude of 58 deg. 2', longitude 137 deg. 12'. The calm being succeeded by
a breeze at east, we steered N.W. by W. My reason for steering this course,
was to explore part of the great space of sea between us and our track to
the south.

On the 3d, at noon, being in latitude 56 deg. 46', longitude 139 deg. 45', the
weather became fair, and the wind veered to S.W. About this time we saw a
few small divers (as we call them) of the peterel tribe, which we judged to
be such as are usually seen near land, especially in the bays, and on the
coast of New Zealand. I cannot tell what to think of these birds; had there
been more of them, I should have been ready enough to believe that we were,
at this time, not very far from land, as I never saw one so far from known
land before. Probably these few had been drawn thus far by some shoal of
fish; for such were certainly about us, by the vast number of blue
peterels, albatrosses, and such other birds as are usually seen in the
great ocean; all or most of which left us before night. Two or three pieces
of seaweed were also seen, but these appeared old and decayed.

At eight o'clock in the evening, being in the latitude of 56 deg. S., longitude
140 deg. 31' W., the wind fixing in the western board, obliged us to steer
north-easterly, and laid me under the necessity of leaving unexplored a
space of the sea to the west, containing near 40 deg. of longitude, and half
that of latitude. Had the wind continued favourable, I intended to have run
15 or 20 degrees of longitude more to the west in the latitude we were then
in, and back again to the east in the latitude of 50 deg.. This route would
have so intersected the space above mentioned, as hardly to have left room
for the bare supposition of any land