stand to the
N.E., in which route we met with several large ice islands, loose ice,
and many penguins; and at midnight, came at once into water uncommonly
white, which alarmed the officer of the watch so much, that he tacked
the ship instantly. Some thought it was a float of ice; others that it
was shallow water; but, as it proved neither, probably it was a shoal of
fish.

We stood to the south till two o'clock next morning, when we resumed our
course to the east with a faint breeze at S.S.E. which having ended in a
calm, at six, I took the opportunity of putting a boat in the water to
try if there were any current; and the trial proved there was none. Some
whales were playing about us, and abundance of penguins: a few of the
latter were shot, and they proved to be of the same sort that we had
seen among the ice before, and different both from those on Staten Land,
and from those at the isle of Georgia. It is remarkable, that we had not
seen a seal since we left that coast. At noon we were in latitude of 56 deg.
44' S., longitude 25 deg. 33' W. At this time we got a breeze at east, with
which we stood to the south, with a view of gaining the coast we had
left; but at eight o'clock the wind shifted to the south, and made it
necessary to tack and stand to the east; in which course we met with
several ice-islands and some loose ice; the weather continuing hazy with
snow and rain.

No penguins were seen on the 5th, which made me conjecture that we were
leaving the land behind us, and that we had already seen its northern
extremity. At noon we were in the latitude of 57 deg. 8' S., longitude 23 deg.
34' west, which was 3 deg. of longitude to the east of Saunders's Isle. In
the afternoon the wind shifted to the west; this enabled us to stretch
to the south, and to get into the latitude of the land, that, if it took
an east direction, we might again fall in with it.

We continued to steer to the south and S.E. till next day at noon, at
which time we were in the latitude of 58 deg. 15' S., longitude 21 deg. 34'
west, and seeing neither land nor signs of any, I concluded that what we
had seen, which I named Sandwich Land, was either a group of islands, or
else a point of the continent. For I firmly believe that there is a
tract of land near the Pole which is the source of most of the ice that
is spread over this vast southern ocean. I also think it probable that
it extends farthest to the north opposite the southern Atlantic