Deviation of Compass came of Loss of Ship. 9 



the plate, gave us sometimes an error of thirty miles even in a 

 short run. The deviation of this ship is greater than any of 

 those in the former voyages. We attribute this to the patent 

 capstan, which stands but eight feet from the compass, and has 

 an iron spindle. We have also two chain-cables, and both of 

 them present a surface that is perpendicular, which is consi- 

 dered to have more effect than a horizontal one, 



I am convinced upon serious reflection, that the loss of ships, 

 particularly in the North Seas, is more to be ascribed to the de- 

 viation of the compass, than to currents, tides, or other unusual 

 causes. All the Greenland traders acquire from experience the 

 knowledge that the same course steered going out will not take 

 them back again, and they therefore allow three-fourths, or a 

 point more. How far Mr Barlow's invention may come into 

 general use, I am not prepared to say ; the utility of it on board 

 this ship is incontestible, and must be proportionably so in all 

 vessels having patent capstans, iron-tanks, and chain-cables. 

 Within the tropics its effects are not so perceptible ; but, in 

 high latitudes, every man-of-war ought to be provided with 

 cme. 



II. From Hammerfest to Spitzhergen. 



We left Hammerfest on the evening of the 23d June, and had 

 scarcely cleared the land before a favourable gale sprung up, 

 and carried us rapidly towards Spitzbergen. We fell in with 

 the first ice on the 27th, when abreast of Cherry Island, in 

 Lat. 75° 5' N., being then scudding under a close-reefed main 

 topsail and foresail ; but as the sea was smooth, owing, I pre- 

 sume, to a considerable body of ice lying to windward, I did 

 not hesitate in continuing to run. It was principally a loose 

 open stream, extending for a distance of about sixty miles-. 

 We were obliged, although the gale still continued, to set the 

 close-reefed fore topsail, the ship requiring more head-sail, that 

 she might better answer the helm, it being necessary to keep 

 her under full command, to steer clear of the ice. 



At this time the gale was at its height. This being the first 

 introduction to the ice to most of us, the novelty of the scene 

 rendered it intensely interesting. The ship received several sc- 



