38 cruise OF THE NEPTUNE 
beset until the evening, at that time being about twenty-five 
miles to the eastward of Cape Wolstenholme, this distance hav- 
ing been made by the drift of the ice. The ice slackened again 
at eight o'clock in the evening, when after an hour's heavy work 
we got into a lead of open water under the land, and continued 
at full speed all night, steaming east in a lane from two to four 
miles wide. 
At five o'clock next morning we were off Deception bay and 
the western end of Charles island. The bold coast along which 
we had been passing all night now became less abrupt, and this 
change was accompanied by shallower water in the sea fronting 
it, so that when seven miles from the mouth of the bay, sound- 
ings taken at the edge of the ice only gave twelve fathoms, with 
indications of an uneven bottom, where it would be dangerous 
to be caught in the ice if the wind should change and force it 
upon the land. The ship was turned into the ice, and in an 
hour had reached a place of safety. In the afternoon, with 
clearing weather, the ice opened, and not much difficulty was 
experienced in forcing between the loose pans, first towards the 
east end of Charles island and later more easterly, so that when 
the ice again closed we were about ten miles northeast of Cape 
During the night and following morning we continued to 
drift rapidly to the eastward. Before noon we were opposite 
the mouth of Douglas harbour, having made fully twenty miles 
of drift during that interval. 
The ice began to slacken at ten o'clock, when we got under 
way, and forcing the ship towards the north at noon we were in 
open water, with a heavy northerly swell, which showed an open 
sea in that direction. Only a few small icebergs and broken 
pans of ice were seen during the remainder of the trip to Port 
Burwell, which we reached on the evening of the 25th, but in 
crossing ungava bay the lower temperature and an ice-glint to 
