as c<ytinccted zviih the late Disasters in Baffin'' s Bay. 143 



May ; it is the warmth of June, and especially of July and 

 August, that melts and breaks it up ; so that a vessel entering 

 Davis^ Straits early in July, will probably reach Lancaster 

 Sound as soon as if she had followed the present plan, and 

 started three or four months earlier. By such arrangement, the 

 tract through Melville Bay, by this time rendered much less 

 dangerous, might, in most seasons, be altogether avoided ; for, 

 at this advanced period of the year, much of the ice having been 

 drifted out into the Atlantic, and the remainder reduced by the 

 warmth of the atmosphere, and spread abroad upon the surface 

 of the sea, may very probably permit a passage across to the 

 west land in a lower latitude *. This arrangement evidently 

 possesses great advantages over that at present pursued. By 

 it the period of the voyage might be shortened one-third, pro- 

 ducing the saving of an equal proportion of wages and provi- 

 sions, and perhaps a reduction of premium of assurance would 

 be the consequence, because the gales, fogs, heavy ice, and long 

 dark nights of spring, would be avoided, much tear and wear 

 would be saved, and the risk of loosing the vessel much dimi- 

 nished. 



I am aware that there are arguments in favour of early voy- 

 ages of no trifling importance ; thus, there is a chance of falling 

 in with a few of the scattered fish which may sometimes haunt 

 the south-west fishery ground, and as these are to be met with 

 only in the beginning of spring, an early voyage becomes indis- 

 pensable. But it must be kept in view, that whales are ge- 

 nerally very scarce in that quarter ; that they often desert it 

 entirely, and are numerous only on rare occasions, or when the 

 sea to the northward is not open. This station is also disadvan- 

 tageous, by being exposed to the storms of the Atlantic, 

 with heavy and washed ice, circumstances unfavourable for the 



• Such a course was followed by Captain Parry with little opposition, 

 though it must be mentioned, that the Dundee of London three or four years 

 ago, attempting such in a still lower latitude, got endocked in a floe during a 

 gale, where she was frozen fast and detained through the winter ; the crew 

 were supplied with provision from the wreck of a Dutchman who, under si- 

 milar circumstances, had been abandoned. The Dundee was carried by the 

 drifting ice through Davis' Straits, and was not liberated till the spring of 

 the following year. 



