1.08 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. August 



Cape Morton, and took the ' Alert ' back to Hannah 

 Island, where we had noticed a fairly protected anchor- 

 age, On arriving off its entrance we shortened sail 

 and came to anchor in eight fathoms on a shallow 

 bank extending to the eastward of the island. Nearer 

 to the mainland there must be a deeper channel 

 through which the icebergs formed in Bessels Bay 

 escape to seaward. The precipitous cliffs on either 

 shore of the bay are cased in a mer de glace from 

 which glaciers push their way down each ravine into 

 the sea, and there discharge their icebergs. This bay 

 therefore contains a vast assemblage of bergs, and 

 many lie aground on the shallows near its mouth. 

 The tide ran with great rapidity over the shallow 

 bank, and we were obliged to keep our cables ready 

 for slipping in the event of any heavy piece of ice 

 being driven against us. 



The ' Discovery ' anchored near us in the evening, 

 having accomplished the task of landing a depot. 

 Hannah Island was visited and a cask containing a 

 notice was placed on the summit of the island, a 

 second notice being placed twenty feet magnetic north 

 of the cairn. From this position the difference between 

 the eastern and western shores of Kennedy Channel 

 was very striking. The summits of the Greenland 

 hills were buried beneath a nearly level ice-cap, with 

 each ravine extending from the shore completely filled 

 by a glacier ; on the other hand, the mountains of 

 Grinnell Land appeared to be entirely devoid of ice, 

 their tops only being snow-covered, while the lower 

 valleys were bared except in sheltered spots where a 



