After getting a good store of hogs, sheep, fowl, and various kinds of vegetables on board, we sailed on our voyage to the Antarctic. For a few days we had pleasant weather, when a gale struck us, which was the first of any magnitude that we had experienced since we left New York. This was tremendous. Every moment I expected to be engulfed in the ocean. Several times I was most violently thrown out of my berth by the surges of the sea. After blowing hard for two days, the gale abated on the first of December. We continued our course to the island of Desolation, with strong winds and now and then a storm of hail and snow. On the fifth of December, we were cheered by the sound of “Land ahead!” and soon came into smooth water. We entered the harbor which was discovered by Captain James Cook, the celebrated navigator, in 1776. No place in either hemisphere hitherto discovered affords a better field for a naturalist than this. The seabirds are numerous, including several kinds of albatross—a greater variety than I ever saw before. They were so thick around the vessel that they were in each other’s way. Seals and sea elephants were once numerous here also.