18 OFF THE ENTRANCE 



1824. lying near them. The night was Hght and 

 August, calm, and I took advantage of this, to receive 

 some more of our stores from the Snap, by em- 

 ploying the watch on deck. I could indeed have 

 removed every thing ; but as the sea was per- 

 fectly clear of ice, and the weather had the 

 appearance of continuing fine, I determined 

 not to finish clearing her until we should ar- 

 rive off Cape Chidley, as I might have an op- 

 portunity of ascertaining its true position be- 

 fore she parted. The event, however, proved 

 that I had judged too hastily. 



A light breeze on the morning of the 2d, 

 enabled us to run along the land, and at noon 

 we were sui-prised to find ourselves only in 

 lat. 59° 24' 38", the longitude by the mean of 

 six chronometers being 62° 40' 9". 



Hence it was evident that during the 

 two preceding days and nights we had been 

 driven considerably to the southward, and 

 had been exposed to the united force of the 

 * strong currents from Hudson's as well as 



Davis' Straits. This is a strong argument 

 against any vessel which is intending for Hud- 

 son's Strait, making the land from the south- 

 ward ; bat as my instructions left this to my 

 optioif, and I was very anxious to establish 

 the position of Cape Chidley, I resolved to 



