310 DISCOVERIES OF 1773. 



the northward was very doubtful. On the 7th 

 they pushed away the launch to the westward, 

 and at the same time kept all sail on the ships to 

 force them through the ice; in this way they 

 worked to the westward, when on the 10th, the 

 wind, springing up to the N.N.E., forced the ships 

 through a great deal of very heavy ice and got 

 them into open water; and the following day 

 they reached Amsterdam Island, the westernmost 

 point of which is Hakluyfs Headland. 



They anchored the same day in Fair Haven, 

 where is one of the most remarkable ice-bergs in 

 Spitzbergen. " Ice-bergs," observes Captain Phipps, 

 " are large bodies of ice filling the valleys between 

 the huge mountains ; the face towards the sea is 

 nearly perpendicular, and of a very lively light 

 green colour. That represented in the engraving 

 was about three hundred feet high, with a cascade 

 of water issuing out of it. The black mountains, 

 white snow, and beautiful colour of the ice, make 

 a very romantic and uncommon picture. Large 

 pieces frequently break oif from the icebergs and 

 fall with great noise into the water ; we observed 

 one piece which had floated out into the bay and 

 grounded in twenty-four fathoms ; it was fifty feet 

 hio'h above the surface of the water, and of the 

 same beautiful colour as the ice-berg." *" 



On the 19th they weighed anchor and again 



* A Voyage towards the North Pole, p. 70. 



