258 VOYAGE TO THE' 



ward to ascertain the position of the ice. At noon 

 Cape Thomson was seen N. 46° E. (true) three 

 leagues distant, hut was immediately ohscured again 

 hy fog. At midnight the temperature of hoth air 

 and sea fell from 43" to 39°, and rose again soon after- 

 wards to 44'^, occasioned prohahly by some patches of 

 ice ; but the weather was so thick that we could see 

 only a very short distance around us. We continued 

 to stand to the north-west, with very thick and rainy 

 weather, until half past one o'clock in the afternoon, 

 when I hauled to the wind, in consequence of the 

 temperature of the water having cooled down to 35", 

 and the weather being still very thick. In half an 

 hour afterwards we heard the ice to leeward, and had 

 but just room to get about to clear a small berg at its 

 edge. Our latitude at this time was 70" OT N., and 

 longitude 168' 50' W., or about 160 miles to the west- 

 ward of Icy Cape. The soundings in the last twelve 

 hours had been very variable, increasing at one time 

 to thirty fathoms, then shoaling to twenty-four, and 

 deepening again to thirty-two fathoms, muddi/ bot- 

 tom ; an hour after this we shoaled to twenty one 

 fathoms, stones, and at the edge of the ice to nineteen 

 fathoms, stones. The body of ice lying to the north- 

 ward prevented our pursuing this shallow water, to as- 

 certain whether it decreased so as to become danger- 

 ous to navigation. 



Shortly after we tacked, the wind fell very light, and 

 changed to west. We could hear the ice plainly ; but 

 the fog was so thick that we could not see thirty yards 

 distance ; and as we appeared to be in a bay, to avoid 

 being beset, we stood out by the way which we had 

 entered. At nine o'clock the fog cleared off, and we 

 returned toward the ice. At midnight, being close to 



