On the 9th, wind at N.E., attended with thick hazy weather; saw a seal,
and a piece of sea-weed. At noon, latitude 55° 12' S., longitude 50° 15'
W., the wind and weather continuing the same till towards midnight, when
the latter cleared up, and the former veered to west, and blew a gentle
gale. We continued to ply till two o'clock the next morning, when we
bore away east, and at eight E.N.E.; at noon, observed in latitude 54°
35' S., longitude 47° 56' W., a great many albatrosses and blue peterels
about the ship. I now steered east, and the next morning, in the
latitude of 54° 38', longitude 45° 10' W., the variation was 19° 25' E.
In the afternoon saw several penguins, and some pieces of weed.

Having spent the night lying-to, on the 12th, at day-break, we bore
away, and steered east northerly, with a fine fresh breeze at W.S.W.; at
noon observed in latitude 54° 28' S., longitude in 42° 8' W.; that is,
near 3° E. of the situation in which Mr Dalrymple places the N.E. point
of the gulph of St Sebastian; but we had no other signs of land than
seeing a seal and a few penguins; on the contrary, we had a swell from
E.S.E., which would hardly have been, if any extensive track of land lay
in that direction. In the evening the gale abated, and at midnight it
fell calm.

The calm, attended by a thick fog, continued till six next morning, when
we got a wind at east, but the fog still prevailed. We stood to the
south till noon, when, being in the latitude of 55° 7', we tacked and
stretched to the north with a fresh breeze at E. by S. and E.S.E.,
cloudy weather; saw several penguins and a snow-peterel, which we looked
on to be signs of the vicinity of ice. The air too was much colder than
we had felt it since we left New Zealand. In the afternoon the wind
veered to the S.E., and in the night to S.S.E., and blew fresh, with