424 M'CLURE'S EXPLORATIONS. 



On the 21th of July they had nearly reached Point 

 Armstrong 1 , upon which the ice was resting. Here their 

 course was checked. There was much drift-wood on 

 the beach, of large dimensions, mostly American pine. 

 The cutter was consequently despatched for a load, and 

 some of the pieces appeared so fresh that the carpenter 

 was of opinion that two years was the extreme of their 

 quitting the forest. " The wind, veering to the west- 

 ward during the night," says M'Clure, "set large 

 bodies of ice into the water we occupied, which was 

 rapidly filling. To prevent being forced on shore, we 

 were obliged, at eight A. M. of the 25th, to run into the 

 pack, where we drifted, according to the tide, about a 

 mile and a half from the beach ; but, during the twenty- 

 four hours, made about two miles and a half to the 

 north-east, from which, when taken with the quantity 

 of drift-wood that is thickly strewed along the beach, I 

 am of opinion that on this side of the strait there is a 

 slight current to the north-east, while upon the opposite 

 one it sets to the southward, upon which there is 

 scarcely any wood, and our progress, while similarly 

 situated, was in a southern direction. We continued 

 drifting in the pack, without meeting any obstruction, 

 until ten A. M. of the 1st of August, when a sudden and 

 most unexpected motion of the ice swept us with much 

 velocity to the north-east, toward a low point, off which 

 were several shoals, having many heavy pieces of 

 grounded ice upon them, toward which we were directly 

 setting, decreasing the soundings from twenty-four to 

 nine and a half fathoms. Destruction was apparently 

 not far distant, when, most opportunely, the ice eased 

 a little, and, a fresh wind coming from the land, sail was 

 immediately made, which, assisted by warps, enabled 

 the ship to be forced ahead about two hundred yards, 

 which shot us clear of the ice and the point into sixteen 



