Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  On the twenty-seventh of January, 1820, Captain James Weddel, of

  the British navy, sailed from Staten Land also in search of the

  Auroras. He reports that, having made the most diligent search and

  passed not only immediately over the spots indicated by the commander

  of the Atrevida, but in every direction throughout the vicinity of

  these spots, he could discover no indication of land. These

  conflicting statements have induced other navigators to look out for

  the islands; and, strange to say, while some have sailed through

  every inch of sea where they are supposed to lie without finding

  them, there have been not a few who declare positively that they have

  seen them; and even been close in with their shores. It was Captain

  Guy's intention to make every exertion within his power to settle the

  question so oddly in dispute. {*3}

  We kept on our course, between the south and west, with variable

  weather, until the twentieth of the month, when we found ourselves on

  the debated ground, being in latitude 53 degrees 15' S., longitude 47

  degrees 58' W.- that is to say, very nearly upon the spot indicated

  as the situation of the most southern of the group. Not perceiving

  any sip of land, we continued to the westward of the parallel of

  fifty-three degrees south, as far as the meridian of fifty degrees

  west. We then stood to the north as far as the parallel of fifty-two

  degrees south, when we turned to the eastward, and kept our parallel

  by double altitudes, morning and evening, and meridian altitudes of

  the planets and moon. Having thus gone eastwardly to the meridian of

  the western coast of Georgia, we kept that meridian until we were in

  the latitude from which we set out. We then took diagonal courses

  throughout the entire extent of sea circumscribed, keeping a lookout

  constantly at the masthead, and repeating our examination with the

  greatest care for a period of three weeks, during which the weather

  was remarkably pleasant and fair, with no haze whatsoever. Of course

  we were thoroughly satisfied that, whatever islands might have

  existed in this vicinity at any former period, no vestige of them

  remained at the present day. Since my return home I find that the

  same ground was traced over, with equal care, in 1822, by Captain

  Johnson, of the American schooner Henry, and by Captain Morrell in

  the American schooner Wasp- in both cases with the same result as in

  our own.

  ~~~ End of Text of Chapter 15 ~~~

  CHAPTER 16

  It had been Captain Guy's original intention, after satisfying

  himself about the Auroras, to proceed through the Strait of Magellan,

  and up along the western coast of Patagonia; but information received

  at Tristan d'Acunha induced him to steer to the southward, in the

  hope of falling in with some small islands said to lie about the

  parallel of 60 degrees S., longitude 41 degrees 20' W. In the event

  of his not discovering these lands, he designed, should the season

  prove favourable, to push on toward the pole. Accordingly, on the

  twelfth of December, we made sail in that direction. On the

  eighteenth we found ourselves about the station indicated by Glass,

  and cruised for three days in that neighborhood without finding any

  traces of the islands he had mentioned. On the twenty-first, the

  weather being unusually pleasant, we again made sail to the

  southward, with the resolution of penetrating in that course as far

  as possible. Before entering upon this portion of my narrative, it

  may be as well, for the information of those readers who have paid

  little attention to the progress of discovery in these regions, to

  give some brief account of the very few attempts at reaching the

  southern pole which have hitherto been made.

  That of Captain Cook was the first of which we have any distinct

  account. In 1772 he sailed to the south in the Resolution,

  accompanied by Lieutenant Furneaux in the Adventure. In December he

  found himself as far as the fifty-eighth parallel of south latitude,

  and in longitude 26 degrees 57' E. Here he met with narrow fields of

  ice, about eight or ten inches thick, and running northwest and

  southeast. This ice was in large cakes, and usually it was packed so

  closely that the vessel had great difficulty in forcing a passage. At

  this period Captain Cook supposed, from the vast number of birds to

  be seen, and from other indications, that he was in the near vicinity

  of land. He kept on to the southward, the weather being exceedingly

  cold, until he reached the sixty-fourth parallel, in longitude 38

  degrees 14' W.. Here he had mild weather, with gentle breezes, for

  five days, the thermometer being at thirty-six. In January, 1773, the

  vessels crossed the Antarctic circle, but did not succeed in

  penetrating much farther; for upon reaching latitude 67 degrees 15'

  they found all farther progress impeded by an immense body of ice,

  extending all along the southern horizon as far as the eye could

  reach. This ice was of every variety- and some large floes of it,

  miles in extent, formed a compact mass, rising eighteen or twenty

  feet above the water. It being late in the season, and no hope

  entertained of rounding these obstructions, Captain Cook now

  reluctantly turned to the northward.

  In the November following he renewed his search in the

  Antarctic. In latitude 59 degrees 40' he met with a strong current

  setting to the southward. In December, when the vessels were in

  latitude 67 degrees 31', longitude 142 degrees 54' W., the cold was

  excessive, with heavy gales and fog. Here also birds were abundant;

  the albatross, the penguin, and the peterel especially. In latitude

  70 degrees 23' some large islands of ice were encountered, and

  shortly afterward the clouds to the southward were observed to be of

  a snowy whiteness, indicating the vicinity of field ice. In latitude

  71 degrees 10', longitude 106 degrees 54' W., the navigators were

  stopped, as before, by an immense frozen expanse, which filled the

  whole area of the southern horizon. The northern edge of this expanse

  was ragged and broken, so firmly wedged together as to be utterly

  impassible, and extending about a mile to the southward. Behind it

  the frozen surface was comparatively smooth for some distance, until

  terminated in the extreme background by gigantic ranges of ice

  mountains, the one towering above the other. Captain Cook concluded

  that this vast field reached the southern pole or was joined to a

  continent. Mr. J. N. Reynolds, whose great exertions and perseverance

  have at length succeeded in getting set on foot a national

  expedition, partly for the purpose of exploring these regions, thus

  speaks of the attempt of the Resolution. "We are not surprised that

  Captain Cook was unable to go beyond 71 degrees 10', but we are

  astonished that he did attain that point on the meridian of 106

  degrees 54' west longitude. Palmer's Land lies south of the Shetland,

  latitude sixty-four degrees, and tends to the southward and westward

  farther than any navigator has yet penetrated. Coo
k was standing for

  this land when his progress was arrested by the ice; which, we

  apprehend, must always be the case in that point, and so early in the

  season as the sixth of January- and we should not be surprised if a

  portion of the icy mountains described was attached to the main body

  of Palmer's Land, or to some other portions of land lying farther to

  the southward and westward."

  In 1803, Captains Kreutzenstern and Lisiausky were dispatched by

  Alexander of Russia for the purpose of circumnavigating the globe. In

  endeavouring to get south, they made no farther than 59 degrees 58',

  in longitude 70 degrees 15' W. They here met with strong currents

  setting eastwardly. Whales were abundant, but they saw no ice. In

  regard to this voyage, Mr. Reynolds observes that, if Kreutzenstern

  had arrived where he did earlier in the season, he must have

  encountered ice- it was March when he reached the latitude specified.

  The winds, prevailing, as they do, from the southward and westward,

  had carried the floes, aided by currents, into that icy region

  bounded on the north by Georgia, east by Sandwich Land and the South

  Orkneys, and west by the South Shetland islands.

  In 1822, Captain James Weddell, of the British navy, with two

  very small vessels, penetrated farther to the south than any previous

  navigator, and this, too, without encountering extraordinary

  difficulties. He states that although he was frequently hemmed in by

  ice before reaching the seventy-second parallel, yet, upon attaining

  it, not a particle was to be discovered, and that, upon arriving at

  the latitude of 74 degrees 15', no fields, and only three islands of

  ice were visible. It is somewhat remarkable that, although vast

  flocks of birds were seen, and other usual indications of land, and

  although, south of the Shetlands, unknown coasts were observed from

  the masthead tending southwardly, Weddell discourages the idea of

  land existing in the polar regions of the south.

  On the 11th of January, 1823, Captain Benjamin Morrell, of the

  American schooner Wasp, sailed from Kerguelen's Land with a view of

  penetrating as far south as possible. On the first of February he

  found himself in latitude 64 degrees 52' S., longitude 118 degrees

  27' E. The following passage is extracted from his journal of that

  date. "The wind soon freshened to an eleven-knot breeze, and we

  embraced this opportunity of making to the west,; being however

  convinced that the farther we went south beyond latitude sixty-four

  degrees, the less ice was to be apprehended, we steered a little to

  the southward, until we crossed the Antarctic circle, and were in

  latitude 69 degrees 15' E. In this latitude there was no field ice,

  and very few ice islands in sight.

  Under the date of March fourteenth I find also this entry. The

  sea was now entirely free of field ice, and there were not more than

  a dozen ice islands in sight. At the same time the temperature of the

  air and water was at least thirteen degrees higher (more mild) than

  we had ever found it between the parallels of sixty and sixty-two

  south. We were now in latitude 70 degrees 14' S., and the temperature

  of the air was forty-seven, and that of the water forty-four. In this

  situation I found the variation to be 14 degrees 27' easterly, per

  azimuth.... I have several times passed within the Antarctic circle,

  on different meridians, and have uniformly found the temperature,

  both of the air and the water, to become more and more mild the

  farther I advanced beyond the sixty-fifth degree of south latitude,

  and that the variation decreases in the same proportion. While north

  of this latitude, say between sixty and sixty-five south, we

  frequently had great difficulty in finding a passage for the vessel

  between the immense and almost innumerable ice islands, some of which

  were from one to two miles in circumference, and more than five

  hundred feet above the surface of the water."

  Being nearly destitute of fuel and water, and without proper

  instruments, it being also late in the season, Captain Morrell was

  now obliged to put back, without attempting any further progress to

  the westward, although an entirely open, sea lay before him. He

  expresses the opinion that, had not these overruling considerations

  obliged him to retreat, he could have penetrated, if not to the pole

  itself, at least to the eighty-fifth parallel. I have given his ideas

  respecting these matters somewhat at length, that the reader may have

  an opportunity of seeing how far they were borne out by my own

  subsequent experience.

  In 1831, Captain Briscoe, in the employ of the Messieurs

  Enderby, whale-ship owners of London, sailed in the brig Lively for

  the South Seas, accompanied by the cutter Tula. On the twenty-eighth

  of February, being in latitude 66 degrees 30' S., longitude 47

  degrees 31' E., he descried land, and "clearly discovered through the

  snow the black peaks of a range of mountains running E. S. E." He

  remained in this neighbourhood during the whole of the following

  month, but was unable to approach the coast nearer than within ten

  leagues, owing to the boisterous state of the weather. Finding it

  impossible to make further discovery during this season, he returned

  northward to winter in Van Diemen's Land.

  In the beginning of 1832 he again proceeded southwardly, and on

  the fourth of February was seen to the southeast in latitude 67

  degrees 15' longitude 69 degrees 29' W. This was soon found to be an

  island near the headland of the country he had first discovered. On

  the twenty-first of the month he succeeded in landing on the latter,

  and took possession of it in the name of William IV, calling it

  Adelaide's Island, in honour of the English queen. These particulars

  being made known to the Royal Geographical Society of London, the

  conclusion was drawn by that body "that there is a continuous tract

  of land extending from 47 degrees 30' E. to 69 degrees 29' W.

  longitude, running the parallel of from sixty-six to sixty-seven

  degrees south latitude." In respect to this conclusion Mr. Reynolds

  observes: "In the correctness of it we by no means concur; nor do the

  discoveries of Briscoe warrant any such indifference. It was within

  these limits that Weddel proceeded south on a meridian to the east of

  Georgia, Sandwich Land, and the South Orkney and Shetland islands."

  My own experience will be found to testify most directly to the

  falsity of the conclusion arrived at by the society.

  These are the principal attempts which have been made at

  penetrating to a high southern latitude, and it will now be seen that

  there remained, previous to the voyage of the Jane, nearly three

  hundred degrees of longitude in which the Antarctic circle had not

  been crossed at all. Of course a wide field lay before us for

  discovery, and it was with feelings of most intense interest that I

  heard Captain Guy express his resolution of pushing boldly to the

  southward.

  ~~~ End of Text of Chapter 16 ~~~

  CHAPTER 1
7

  We kept our course southwardly for four days after giving up

  the search for Glass's islands, without meeting with any ice at all.

  On the twenty-sixth, at noon, we were in latitude 63 degrees 23' S.,

  longitude 41 degrees 25' W. We now saw several large ice islands, and

  a floe of field ice, not, however, of any great extent. The winds

  generally blew from the southeast, or the northeast, but were very

  light. Whenever we had a westerly wind, which was seldom, it was

  invariably attended with a rain squall. Every day we had more or less

  snow. The thermometer, on the twenty-seventh stood at thirty-five.

  January 1, 1828.- This day we found ourselves completely hemmed

  in by the ice, and our prospects looked cheerless indeed. A strong

  gale blew, during the whole forenoon, from the northeast, and drove

  large cakes of the drift against the rudder and counter with such

  violence that we all trembled for the consequences. Toward evening,

  the gale still blowing with fury, a large field in front separated,

  and we were enabled, by carrying a press of sail to force a passage

  through the smaller flakes into some open water beyond. As we

  approached this space we took in sail by degrees, and having at

  length got clear, lay-to under a single. reefed foresail.

  January 2.- We had now tolerably pleasant weather. At noon we

  found ourselves in latitude 69 degrees 10' S, longitude 42 degrees

  20' W, having crossed the Antarctic circle. Very little ice was to be

  seen to the southward, although large fields of it lay behind us.

  This day we rigged some sounding gear, using a large iron pot capable

  of holding twenty gallons, and a line of two hundred fathoms. We

  found the current setting to the north, about a quarter of a mile per

  hour. The temperature of the air was now about thirty-three. Here we

  found the variation to be 14 degrees 28' easterly, per azimuth.

  January 5.- We had still held on to the southward without any

  very great impediments. On this morning, however, being in latitude

  73 degrees 15' E., longitude 42 degrees 10' W, we were again brought