1876 DRIFT PAST CAPE UNION. 121 



I knew that for the next five or six miles we should 

 meet with an unbroken line of ice-cliffs. Indepen- 

 dently of the chances of our being carried by the wind 

 or current towards the north-east out of Eobeson 

 Channel, there was, I considered, less danger to be 

 apprehended in the pack than if we continued to 

 navigate near the shore. 



Shortly after the ship was secured the whole pack 

 commenced drifting towards the south, the ice near 

 the land nipping against the ice-wall and showing how 

 fortunate it was that we had moved the ship out of the 

 way. The weather was calm, with a clear atmosphere 

 and only a few misty clouds flying above the hill-tops 

 from the westward. The land on either side of 

 Eobeson Channel was distinctly visible, and the change 

 of scenery as we drifted quickly along, close enough to 

 the western shore to distinguish every detail, afforded 

 contemplation for the minds of all during our forced 

 inactivity. As each man was now sufficiently ex- 

 perienced to know the great danger we were running, 

 this was perhaps a fortunate circumstance. 



Observations obtained showed that while the tem- 

 perature of the water at the surface was 30°, at a depth 

 of five fathoms it was 29°'5, and at the bottom in 

 forty fathoms 29°-0. An undercurrent was running 

 towards the south with the first part of the flood-tide 

 faster than the surface water was moving. 



As we were swept past Cape Union, and the land 

 in the neighbourhood of Lincoln Bay came into sight, 

 I observed a large water-pool near the shore at a 

 distance of about six miles from us. 



At 10.30 p.m., by which time we had been carried 



