consequently afforded little nourishment, and we had been a long time
without refreshments. My people, indeed, were yet healthy, and would
have cheerfully gone wherever I had thought proper to lead them; but I
dreaded the scurvy laying hold of them at a time when we had nothing
left to remove it. I must say farther, that it would have been cruel in
me to have continued the fatigues and hardships they were continually
exposed to, longer than was absolutely necessary. Their behaviour,
throughout the whole voyage, merited every indulgence which it was in my
power to give them. Animated by the conduct of the officers, they shewed
themselves capable of surmounting every difficulty and danger which came
in their way, and never once looked either upon the one or the other, as
being at all heightened, by our separation from our consort the
Adventure.[13]

[Footnote 13: "The sour krout, that excellent anti-scorbutic food, of
which sixty large casks were put on board our ship, was now entirely
consumed, and the want of it was severely felt from the captain down to
the sailor. It enabled us to eat our portion of salt meat, of which it
corrected the septic quality. The wish for a speedy release from this
nauseous diet now became universal, and our continuance in the high
latitudes was disagreeable to all on board."--G.F.]

All these considerations induced me to lay aside looking for the French
discoveries, and to steer for the Cape of Good Hope; with a resolution,
however, of looking for the isles of Denia and Marseveen, which are laid
down in Dr Halley's variation chart in the latitude of 41° 1/2 S., and
about 4° of longitude to the east of the meridian of the Cape of Good
Hope. With this view I steered N.E., with a hard gale at N.W. and thick
weather; and on the 25th, at noon, we saw the last ice island, being at
this time in the latitude of 52° 52' S., longitude 26° 31' E.