114 PROGRESS TOWARDS 



1824. remained light, and small snow fell occasionally. 



Sept. The compasses in going about, gave our head 

 N.N.W., (supposed to be south-west, [true,] ) on 

 which -ourse we made two miles, when at one 

 A.M on the 17th, all the cards ran round, and 

 would afterwards remain at no fixed point. 1 

 was therefore obliged to heave to, until we 

 should see the moon, which at three A.M. ap- 

 peared, her true bearing being tht a s.E.b.E. ; 

 and steering by her s.w.b.s., we nov/ found 

 that the wind was west. At four A.M. we 

 had eighty-seven fathoms. I cannot but be 

 aware that these compass and celestial bearings 

 which are so often repeated, must fatigue many 

 of my readers, and render the narrative of a 

 very dull voyage doubly tedious, but I dwell 

 on them particularly as being facts which so 

 materially interested us at the moment, and by 

 attention to which, a ship in such a situation 

 as ours, could alone be navigated in safety. 



Having ran from three to seven A.M., about 

 eleven miles s,E.b.s, the water was observed to 

 have changed to a very light colour, and our 

 soundings had decreased to forty-three fa- 

 thoms. From the mast-head I saw low land, 

 distant and indistinctly to the eastward, and 

 bearing from E.b.N. to E.b.s., and therefore 

 hauled off to the southward by the sun's bear- 



