SECTION 11.

Ice Islands, and sufferings of Lieutenant Riou and his Crew, in the Guardian Frigate, by striking against an Island of this kind.

AMONG the many interesting discoveries which this voyage revealed to the world, the vast islands of floating ice which abound in the southern latitudes may be considered as peculiarly worthy of notice. The first of these was met with on the 10th of December, 1773, in latitude 50° 40′ south. It was about fifty feet high, and half a mile in circuit, flat at top, while its sides rose in a perpendicular direction, against which the sea broke exceed. ingly high.

In the afternoon of the same day, they sailed near another large cubical mass, which was about 2000 feet long, 400 feet broad, and at least as high again as the main top gallant-mast head, or 200 feet. According to the experiments of Boyle, and Mairan, the volume of ice is to that of sea-water nearly as 10 to 9; consequently, by the known rules of hydrostatics, the volume of ice which rises above the surface of the water, is to that which sinks below it as 1 to 9. Supposing therefore this piece to be entirely of a regular figure, its depth under water must have been 1800 feet, and its whole height 2000 feet: allowing its length as above mentioned 2000 feet, and its breadth 400 feet, the whole mass must have contained 1600 millions cubic feet of ice. Such is the account given by Mr. Foster. Mr.Wales, astronomer on board the Resolu. tion, who published "Remarks on Mr. Forster's account of this voyage," doubts the principles on which the calculation is founded, as the experiments above referred to were made with real, solid and compact ice, whereas the ice which composed this mass was light and porous, being chiefly snow and salt water-frozen together, and bears not perhaps a greater proportion to the weight of salt-water than that of 5 to 6, or 6 to 7 at the utmost." On the 12th, six more islands were seen, some of them nearly two miles in circuit, and 60 feet high; and yet such was the force and height of the waves, that the sea broke quite over them. This exhibited for a few moments a view very pleasing to the eye, but a sense of danger soon filled the mind with horror; for had the ship got

against the weather side of one of these islands, when the sea ran high, she must have been dashed to pieces in a moment. On the 14th, their rout to the southward was stopped by an immense field of low ice, 54 deg. 50 min. south, 21 deg. 34 min. east. No end could be seen to this ice, either to the east, west, or south. In different parts of the field were islands, or hills of ice, like those that had been before found floating in the sea; several on board thought they saw land over the ice, but they were only fog-banks, which bore that appearance.

The ships then changed their course to the eastward; large islands of ice were hourly beheld in all directions round the sloops, so that they were become as familiar to those on board as the clouds and the sea. Whenever a strong reflection of white was seen on the skirts of the sky near the horizon, then ice was sure to be met with: notwithstanding which, the ice itself is not entirely white, but often tinged, especially near the surface of the sea, with a most beautiful sapphirine, or rather berylline blue, evidently reflected from the water. This blue colour sometimes appeared 20 or 30 feet above the surface, and was probably produced by some particles of sea-water which had been dashed against the mass in tempestuous weather, and had penetrated into its inter. stices. In great islands of ice were frequently observed shades or casts of white, lying above each other in strata, sometimes of six inches, and at other times of a foot high. This appearance seems to confirm the opinion concerning the increase and accumu. lation of such huge masses, by heavy falls of snow at different intervals for snow being of various kinds, small grained, largegrained, in light feathery locks, &c. the various degrees of its compactness account for the different colours of the strata.

Islands of ice still surrounded them, and in the evening the sun setting just behind one of them, tinged its edges with gold, and brought upon the whole mass a beautiful suffusion of purple. January 9, 1773, three boats were hoisted out, and in about five or six hours took up as much ice as yielded fifteen tons of good fresh-water. The salt-water which adhered to the ice was so trifling as not to be tasted, and after it had lain on deck a short time, entirely drained off; and the water which the ice yielded was perfectly sweet and well tasted. Part of this ice was broken in pieces, and put into casks; another part was melted in the

copper, and filled up the casks with water; and some was kept on deck for present use. This water had a purer taste than any which was on board; the only fault it possessed, according to Mr. Forster, was that the fixed air was expelled from it, by which means almost every one who used it was afflicted with swellings in the glands of the throat. Mr. Wales the astronomer, in his remarks on Mr. Forster's work, doubts whether water procured from ice causes such soreness and swellings; and asserts that disorders of these kinds were by no means general on board the Resolution. Certain it is, that the fixed air might easily have been incorporated into this fluid, only by pouring it from one vessel into another, backward and forward, for a short time. Here was a discovery made important to science; that nature forms great masses of ice in the midst of the wide ocean, which are destitute of any saline particles, but have all the useful and salubrious qua. lities of the pure element. "Crantz, in his History of Greenland, relates, that the stupendous masses of ice found in the northern seas, called ice-islands or mountains, melted into fresh water; though he did not imagine that they originated from the sea, but that they were first formed in the great rivers of the north, and being carried down into the ocean, were afterwards increased to that amazing height by the snow that fell upon them; but that all frozen sea-water would thaw into fresh, had either never been asserted, or had met with little credit; neither did Captain Cook expect such a transmutation."

January 31, they passed near two islands of ice 50° 50′ S. 56° 48 E. one of which appeared to be breaking or falling to pieces, by its crackling noise, which, according to Captain Cook, was equal to the report of a four-pounder.

The second time Captain Cook crossed the antarctic circle, in longitude 147° 46′ W. ice-islands also were seen very high and rugged, forming at their tops many peaks; while those which had been seen before, were flat and not so high. Many of the latter moreover, were two and three hundred feet in height, and bes tween two and three miles in circuit, with perpendicular cliffs or sides astonishing to behold.

The following passages which occur in Mr. Forster's account of this voyage are too interesting to be omitted here. On Christmas. day the captain invited the officers and mates to dinner; and one

of the lieutenants entertained the petty officers. "The sailors feasted on a double portion of pudding, regaling themselves with the brandy of their allowance, which they had saved for this occasion some months beforehand, having a premeditated solicitude to get drunk on that day. The sight of an immense number of iceislands could not deter the sailors from indulging in their favourite amusement; as long as they had brandy left, they would persist to keep Christmas, though the elements had conspired together for their destruction. Their long acquaintance with a seafaring life, had inured them to all kinds of perils; and their heavy labour, with the inclemencies of the weather, and other hardships, making their muscles rigid and their nerves obtuse, had communicated insensibility to their minds. Jan. 20, being in lat. 62° 34′, longitude 116° 24′ west, they were becalmed; when two ice-islands came in sight, one of which appeared to be as large as any that had been seen; it was supposed to be full two hundred feet in height, and terminated in a peak not unlike the cupola of St. Paul's church. January 25th, the wind increased very much, and in a short time blew a tempestuous gale. At nine o'clock at night a huge mountainous wave struck the ship on the beam, and filled the deck with a deluge of water; it poured into the cabin, and extinguished the lights, leav. ing the gentlemen who were sitting there for a moment in doubt, whether they were not entirely overwhelmed, and sinking into the abyss. Indeed, the situation of those on board was at this time very dismal. The ocean about them wore a furious aspect, seem. ing, as it were, to be incensed at the presumption of a few intruding mortals. "A gloomy melancholy," says Mr. Forster, "loured on the brows of our shipmates, and a dreary silence reigned among us. Salt meat, our constant diet, was become loathsome to us all, even to those that had been bred to a nautical life from their earliest years. The hour of dinner was hateful to us; for the well-known smell of the victuals had no sooner reached us, than we found it impossible to partake of them with a hearty appetite." Thus were these southern cruisers beset with hardships peculiarly severe. The ice, the fog, the storms, and ruffled surface of the sea, composed a soul-sinking scene, which was seldom cheered by the reviving beams of the sun. short," says Mr. Forster, "we rather vegetated than lived; we withered, and became indifferent to all that animates the soul at

"In

other times; we sacrificed our health, our feelings, our enjoyments, to the honour of pursuing a track unattempted before."

Whilst upon this subject we ought not to pass over the sufferings of Lieutenant Riou and his crew, in the Guardian frigate, about the latitude of 45° south, and their almost miraculous escape from shipwreck when carried against a vast ice-island, in foggy weather, proving more especially how peculiarly fortunate Captain Cook was through the whole course of his dangerous navigation.

Lieutenant Riou was proceeding to the new settlement at Botany Bay with stores and provisions, having some convicts on board. The force with which the ship struck against a moun tainous ice-island on Christmas day 1789, then in a latitude much more to the northward than those floating islands are generally met with, had rendered her so leaky, that all the exertions of the officers and crew were ineffectual to stop its increase. When the ship was thought to be on the point of sinking, provisions and ne cessaries were providing for the boats, the officers and men in general being desirous of quitting the ship, and endeavouring, by means of the boats, to reach the nearest shore, which was more than four hundred leagues distant. Lieutenant Riou, however, declared his fixed determination to remain on board the ship and perish with her. Whilst the horrors of death were thus before his eyes, he remained as calm and collected as when in a state of perfect security; he wrote a letter to the secretary of the admiralty, wherein he spoke highly of the good conduct both of the officers and men on board, recommended to the protection of the lords of the admiralty his sister and mother, as there seemed to be no possibility of his remaining many hours alive. When he had finished this letter and delivered it to one of his officers, he ordered the boats to be hoisted out, and with the most anxious assiduity superintended their fitting out. On board the launch were fifteen persons, who, nine days after quitting the ship, when on the point of perishing through hunger, thirst, and fatigue, were taken up by a French merchant ship from the Mauritius bound to the Cape of Good Hope. Lieutenant Riou, and that part of the crew which remained with him on board the ship, thus abandoned to their fate, did not surrender themselves to hopeless despair; and their exertions to reduce the quantity of water in the ship were so judiciously directed, that they at length proved successful, the ship