Leave Spitzbergen for Old Greenland. 15 



Island in 5 fathoms, a shoal extending nearly half a-milc off the 

 point. The leading mark for hauling round the Danes' Island 

 is a small rock off BlufF-point, on with the middle of two others 

 to the S.W. of Wolf Island. This clears the shoal off the point. 

 At this time, though almost calm, the tide set up about 1^ knots 

 through the channel. 



We passed through the south gut, which is a passage |ths of a 

 mile broad. When passing Wolf Island, the soundings were 

 various, being from 5 to 6 fathoms in the middle, and deeper on 

 the sides. Very irregular, being from 3 to SO fathoms ; it is 

 however, a good and safe channel, and no dangers but what the 

 lead and eye may disceni. 



It being now our object to reach the coast of Greenland as 

 expeditiously as possible, I resolved to steer a course that would 

 take me clear of the ice, although, had I not been restricted in 

 time, and by the heavy sailing of the ship, I should have 

 deemed it desirable to have examined the margin of the main 

 body of the ice to the S. W. Being, however, determined not 

 to be detained by any researches however interesting, I made 

 a S. W. by S. course (true) from Hackluyts Head. A Dutch 

 chart, published at Amsterdam in 1664, placed Gael Hamke's 

 Bay in Latitude 74°. This I considered the best authority, for 

 Greenland being known so far to the north, 'and accordingly I 

 made for that part of the coast. 



We proceeded on our voyage with favourable winds, the 

 weather moderate, but foggy. When it cleared away, we fre- 

 quently saw the ice, and on the 29th passed much heavy ice 

 which obliged us to luff and bear away ; occasionally in the 

 evening, a heavy swell from the S. E. often caused it to close 

 the passages that but a few minutes before presented themselves 

 as easy for the ship to pass through. We were obliged to tack 

 and trace our way back for above a mile, when we hauled round 

 a floe and stood to the S. E., which brought us, after some trou- 

 ble, into a clear sea, when we found a heavy cross swell, as if it 

 had recently been blowing a gale. The weather, however, con- 

 tinued to favour us. On the 2d July, upon the fog partially 

 clearing, and the ice appearing to run into a deep bight to the 

 westward, in the Latitude of 75° 10', we hauled up with the in- 

 tention to penetrate through the barrier, and endeavour to make 



