The Arctic Expedition. 4 \ I 



which led them up to Disco Island, in which no appearance of 

 anv opening was discovered. In lat. 72. 30. N. they fell in with 

 a whaler, which reported that the ice was blocked against the 

 land in 74 N. wiiich determined the Commander of the Expedi- 

 tion to take the ice at the above spot. Accordingly they com- 

 menced, and persevered in warping and heaving through between 

 the floes, when, being aided by a strong easterly wind, which 

 opened the ice a little, they were enabled to force their way 

 through, with ail sail set. They were frequently stopped in their 

 arduous exertions, from which they liberated themselves by saw- 

 ing the ice. — This passage was never before attempted, and is a 

 circumstance of great importance to whalers. 



They were now in clear water, and saw no ice again until they 

 made Lancaster Sound, where it appeared in small ojien streams. 

 They made this Sound on the 1st of August, and, having a fair 

 wind, steered up the Sound with every vard of canvass set, but 

 in the greatest anxiety. At length, on the spot where Captain 

 Ross, the former navigator, had placed Croker Mountains, they 

 struck soundings, 200 fathoms, and passed it. Hopes now 

 again revived, especially as in proceeding the Strait was found 

 roomy. 



They now ran to the meridian of 90 W., when having lost 

 sight of the south shore, and having a long swell, they concluded 

 they had reached the Polar Basin; but in stretching across the 

 Strait, they v/ere stopped, just before night, by the ice. There 

 being an appearance of water to the Southward, they steered in 

 that direction, and discovered an inlet, which they called Prince 

 Regent's Itdet. The flood tide coming from the South, it was 

 considered probable that this inlet communicated with Hudson's 

 Bay; the ships, therefore (it not being the object of tlie Expedition 

 to trace to tliat source), returned to the spot where they had been 

 stopped by the ice. Finding on their return that the ice had in 

 some degree cleared away, they again proceeded West, but the 

 ice became so close as to leave only a narrow channel close along 

 the shore; and they were frequently stopped altogether; when 

 northerly winds generally opened it again. 



On the 4th of Scptcujber they reached Copper Mine Roads. 

 Previous to this the variation had changed from 124 W. to 166 E., 

 the ships having, as was supposed, crossed the magnetic me- 

 ridian in about 100 W. — As the comjiasses there showed the 

 ships' heads to be N. E. on all tacks, they judged themselves at 

 no great distance from the magnetic pole. The compas'-cs had 

 indeed been perfectly useless from the time of their passing Lan- 

 caster's Sound, which ol)ligcd them to steer by the sun, when it 

 was out, and how thev could when it was not ; often Iving-to 



Vol.oG. No. 272. Dk. 1S20. 8K 'when 



