CHAPTER XL 



ICE NAVIGATION AND WINTER QUARTERS 



WITH the northwest wind blowing there was occasion for 

 hurry but we could not get away from the Kellett base be- 

 fore the evening of September 3rd. Then we steamed about 

 ten miles west to the Cape proper and on rounding it found that the 

 ice was just beginning to come in to the land. The nights were 

 growing dark and we decided to wait for the morning in the shelter 

 of the Cape before deciding whether to try forcing our way up along 

 the west coast. The next morning the ice was massed so heavily 

 against the land that there was no hope of penetrating it. Offshore 

 it was more scattered to the west and we steamed about ten miles 

 beyond the Cape, but the moment we tried to turn northward we 

 found everything solid. 



The only chance of getting north now appeared to be to turn 

 east and try to reach Melville Island by means of Prince of Wales 

 Straits. This had been attempted vainly both by McClure and 

 Collinson in 1850 and 1851, but they had sailing ships, and with 

 our advantage of power we might be able to do better. Further- 

 more, there is always the element of chance, and we were as likely 

 to find a better season than they did as we were to find a worse one. 



We made great speed towards Nelson Head with a favoring 

 wind. Cape Lambton was passed about 7 P. M. and Nelson Head 

 a little later. On rounding Cape Lambton we noted that the com- 

 pass was unreliable. There seems to be a local magnetic pole 

 somewhere in that vicinity, a thing which ships will in future do 

 well to remember, for the water is so deep up to the sheer cliffs 

 that in foggy weather one might sail right into them unwarned 

 by the sounding lead upon which whalers rely in thick weather to 

 signify the approach of land. The lead is a reliable guide on most 

 parts of the mainland coast where the water shallows towards shore 

 at the rate of only a fathom or two per mile, but it becomes a frail 

 reed to lean upon in such places as this. 



About 9 o'clock the morning of the 4th we entered Prince of 



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