1876 CAPE BEECHEY. 123 



us to pass Lincoln Bay and Cape Frederick VII. in 

 perfectly clear water. This was so complete a change 

 of circumstances that amid our rejoicing few cared to 

 think of what would have been our fate had we not 

 fortunately escaped from the Polar pack before it com- 

 menced to drift to the northward with the change of 

 tide and increasing fair wind. 



At 6 a.m. we had passed Wrangel Bay, but found 

 the ice blocking a passage towards Cape Beechey ; 

 accordingly the ship was secured to a floe to give time 

 for a channel to open. After a delay of two hours we 

 again proceeded, and with little trouble succeeded 

 in reaching to within half a mile of Cape Beechey just 

 before hio-h-water. 



As at Cape Union, the north-running current 

 pressed the ice against the land south of the cape, but 

 immediately to the northward a small pool of water 

 remained clear ; in this pool, without any other pro- 

 tection, the ship was secured. 



In the afternoon, a sudden squall off the land en- 

 abled us to round the cape and to reach a cluster of 

 floebergs lying aground on the shallow beach to the 

 southward of it. These afforded a fair amount of pro- 

 tection, and the ship was secured amongst them close 

 to the shore in three fathoms water. 



At Cape Beechey the cliff-like ice- wall rising from 

 deep water, which is found throughout Eobeson Chan- 

 nel, comes to an end. South of this cape the land 

 slopes gently down to the sea, and is fronted by a 

 breast-work of floebergs similar to, but somewhat 

 smaller than, those which line the shallow pai ts of the 

 coast of the Polar Sea. 



