1875 GOULD BAY. 93 



inboard and everything ready for a nip, the ships were 

 left entirely dependent on the icebergs for shelter 

 against direct pressure ; but any floe moving alongshore, 

 small enough to pass between the icebergs and the 

 land must necessarily have carried off the ship with it 

 as it forced its way past. 



Wishing to see what protection was to be expected 

 near Cape Frazer, Commander Markham, Feilden, and 

 I landed during the flood-tide, during which it was 

 impossible for the ice to open unless assisted by a fresh 

 wind, and walked three miles along the shore to the 

 northward. I found Gould Bay full of pack ice with 

 no protection whatever except what some grounded 

 icebergs might happen to afford. We obtained a few 

 fossils from the tains which fronts the cliffs to a height 

 of about 200 feet. Two ivory gulls were flying about 

 the cliffs, probably near their nests ; and on the ice- 

 foot we observed the tracks of a bear. 



With the afternoon ebb-tide the ice eased off 

 slightly. There being no prospect of our rounding 

 Cape Frazer for the present, and the icebergs having 

 afforded very poor protection, I decided to secure the 

 ships to a large floe about a mile to the westward, 

 which by resting against two large icebergs was held 

 nearly stationary. 



After waiting a short time while the ' Discovery ' 

 was effecting her escape, we succeeded in reaching the 

 floe and tried to cut docks. The saws, however, proved 

 to be quite powerless to cut through the ice, which was 

 from twelve to twenty feet in thickness and heavily 

 tongued to an unknown depth beneath. 



I therefore secured the ships in a bight in the edge 



