PARRY'S FIRST VOYAGE. 101 



mined upon a desperate push to the westward. Favored 

 with a moderate breeze, the ships were run into the, 

 detached pieces and floes of ice, through which they 

 were heaved with hawsers ; but, the obstacles becoming 

 always more insuperable, they were at length completely 

 beset, and a heavy fog coming on, made them little able 

 to take advantage of any favorable change. Yet, in the 

 course of a week, though repeatedly and sometimes 

 dangerously surrounded, they warped their way from 

 lane to lane of open water, till only one lengthened floe 

 separated them from an open sea. By laboriously saw- 

 ing through this obstruction, they finally penetrated the 

 great barrier, and saw the shore, clear of ice, extending 

 before them. 



The navigators now bore directly for Lancaster Sound, 

 and on the 30th July found themselves at its entrance. 

 They felt an extraordinary emotion as they recognized 

 this magnificent channel, with the lofty cliffs by which it 

 was guarded, aware that a very short time would decide 

 the fate of their grand undertaking. They were tanta- 

 lized, however, by a fresh breeze coming directly down 

 the sound, which did not suffer them to make more than 

 a very slow progress. Still, there was no appearance 

 of obstruction either from ice or land, and even the heavy 

 swell which they had to encounter, driving the water 

 repeatedly in at the stern windows, was hailed as an 

 indication of open sea to the westward. 



The Hecla left the Griper behind, but still without 

 making any great way herself, till the 3d August, when 

 an easterly breeze sprang up, carrying both vessels 

 rapidly forward. A crowd of sail was set, and they pro- 

 ceeded triumphantly in their course. The minds of all 

 were filled with anxious hope and suspense. The mast- 

 heads were crowded with officers and men, and the suc- 

 cessive reports brought down from the highest pinnacle 



