185:2.] CAPTURE A BEAR. 63 



be alone : indeed the companionship and ship-visiting 

 did not agree with my notions. 



On the 23rd, the lanes appeared to have been for 

 nearly sixty hours gradually widening ; at times the 

 sheets of water broad, and apparently free. Our progress, 

 however, just as we had almost calculated our hours to 

 Beechey Island, became suddenly arrested by fog. The 

 ice also closed in, compelling us to dock ; the ' Resolute,' 

 'North Star,' and 'Intrepid' were lost in fog, but not 

 far distant, as we could hear their return-guns plainly. 



July 24. In 75 36' N., 01 51' W. Toiling, tow- 

 ing, and blasting the ice, until eight P.M., when we made 

 fast for the night ; about midnight, on the fog clearing 

 off, we discovered the other vessels, about four miles dis- 

 tant to the southward. Being now so far asunder, and 

 the chances of their taking a different lead probable, I 

 made the several rendezvous, pointing out Capes York 

 and Dudley Digges as the two first. 



Juli/ 25, Sunday. Quiet as any Sunday could be 

 wished ; we distinctly heard the bells of our consorts 

 over the ice, and, having measured base by guns, found 

 tin- 'Resolute' to be four miles distant. 



On the 27th, about midnight, we lost sight of our con- 

 sorts behind some bergs ; they were, at the time, appa- 

 rently free, and proceeding rapidly by the in-shore lanes. 

 We ran alongside an iceberg, to water from a pool on 

 its summit, effecting our landing on the berg from the 

 foreyard ; but the floe threatening to close and press us 

 on the berg, we were compelled to haul off, before we 

 had completed. 



The 28th found us moving on cheerily; open water 

 and plenty of room. A bear was discovered on the floe, 



