continually beset by icebergs. Every rope and the deck, spars and
rigging were thickly coated with ice. Some days later the _Flying Fish_
was met and she reported that she had penetrated to the parallel of 70
degrees. There was imminent danger of being frozen in, and, as they were
short of provisions, they sailed northward. The _Flying Fish_ reached
Orange Harbor in April, while the _Peacock_ continued on to Valparaiso,
where the storeship _Relief_ was found. In May the other members of the
squadron arrived at the port, with the exception of the _Sea Gull_,
which was never heard of again.

The squadron now crossed the Pacific, reaching Sydney, New South Wales,
in the latter part of November. There, after consulting with his
officers, Lieutenant Wilkes decided to make another Antarctic cruise.
The _Flying Fish_ proved so unseaworthy that, after passing through a
violent storm, she was obliged to return to port and took no further
part in the enterprise.

Once more among the ice fields, the ships were menaced by danger from
every side. Some of the escapes were of the most thrilling nature. One
of the ships barely missed being crushed by hundreds of tons of ice
which fell from the top of an overhanging iceberg. The weather was
intensely cold and the snow and fine sleet which were whirled
horizontally through the air cut the face like bird shot.

The _Vincennes_ prowled along the edge of the Antarctic Continent as far
as 97 degrees east, when Lieutenant Wilkes headed northward and arrived
at Sydney in March, 1840, and found the _Peacock_ at anchor. The
_Porpoise_ reached 100 degrees east and 64 degrees 65 minutes south when
she turned her prow away from the inhospitable solitude and in March
arrived at Auckland Isle.