30 STRIKE ON A ROCK. 



1834. knots through the water ; but was suddenly 

 August, aroused by her receiving a slight blow, imme- 

 diately followed by another heavy and conti- 

 nued shock, which heeled her so much that I 

 imagined she was turning over. Running on 

 deck, I found she must have struck on a rock, 

 or piece of ice attached to the bottom, but 

 she had forced her way over it ; and on imme- 

 diately sounding, had no bottom with twenty- 

 five fathoms. We were fortunately enabled 

 to set the known land, and lay down the po- 

 sition of the danger with accuracy. Running 

 amongst loose ice all the morning, we ultimately 

 came to very heavy floe pieces, amongst which 

 were numerous bergs. The thickness of the 

 weather prevented our seeing a '^ lead," but 

 in the afternoon we hauled into clear water, 

 which from our reckoning, was in the North 

 Bay, and a glimpse of the land in the evening 

 confirmed this. 



The deviation of our compasses was here 

 very great and irregular, although less so with 

 our head to the northward than otherwise. 

 Even Gilbert's excellent azimuth compass re- 

 quired constant tapping, although under the 

 influence of Professor Barlow's plate, w^hich 

 had hitherto corrected it with the greatest ac- 

 curacy. 



