Page:Aurora Australis.djvu/112

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AURORA AUSTRALIS.

On the fifteenth day we sighted the ice;

So the “Koonya” cast us free;

With ten of Boyle’s sheep aboard in a trice,

And another ten lost in the sea.


With all sail set and a following breeze

Toward that distant land we sped;

And crept through a field of a thousand bergs

Which guarded a virgin bed.


To the Great Ice Barrier’s edge we come

And search on that lonely shore,

For the spot we should make our winter home,

Which was known to be there of yore.


Not a sign was there of the Bight we sought,

But ten miles south sailed we

Of a place that was marked by a skipper named Scott,

In a ship called “Discovery”.


So east we turned to the land of our King,

For there we would plant our flag;

But the‘heavy ice pack on our starboard tack '

Prevented us landing our swag.