The sun had come up brightly; the snow was
swept off the decks, and ashes thrown upon them, so that we could
walk, for they had been as slippery as glass. It was, course, too cold
to carry on any ship's work, and we had only to walk the deck and keep
ourselves warm. The wind was still ahead, and the whole ocean, to
the eastward, covered with islands and field-ice. At four bells the
order was given to square away the yards; and the man who came from
the helm said that the captain had kept her off to N. N. E. What could
this mean? Some said that he was going to put into Valparaiso, and
winter, and others that he was going to run out of the ice and cross
the Pacific, and go home round the Cape of Good Hope. Soon, however,
it leaked out, and we found that we were running for the straits of
Magellan. The news soon spread through the ship, and all tongues
were at work, talking about it. No one on board had been through the
straits but I had in my chest an account of the passage of the ship A.
J. Donelson, of New York, through those straits, a few years before.
The account was given by the captain, and the representation was as
favorable as possible.
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