Nov. 9, 1876] 



NA TURE 



45 



ships fouled for a few moments, and the Discovery lost a 

 boat's davit, but by smart and skilful management saved 

 the boat. I may here add that such has been the skill 

 displayed by the officers of the watches of the Alert and 

 Discovery, although the two ships have frequently been 

 necessarily within touching distance of each other, and of 

 the ice-cliffs and bergs, this is the only accident of conse- 

 quence which occurred during the voyage. The ice 

 closing in ahead, the two ships were made fast inside 

 some grounded icebergs in Joiner Bay, one mile north of 

 Cape McClintock. 



In Rawlings Bay, south of Cape Lawrence, icebergs 

 are found for the first time on coming from the northward. 

 All to the northward may be considered as floe-bergs. 

 Few even of the initiated can distinguish one from the 

 other, so like are they ; and certainly any stranger would 

 be deceived, the floe-bergs being frequently larger than 

 the icebergs. The ice-foot is also totally different, being 

 formed by the pressure of lighter ice, it does not project 

 into such deep water ; consequently, whereas we could 

 secure the ship alongside the ice-foot in Robeson Channel 

 with confidence of her not grounding, in Kennedy Channel 

 and all parts to the South of it there is only one fathom 

 water alongside the icy cliff at low water. 



.Starting again in the evening, as an increasing south- 

 west wind gradually opened the ice to the southward, we 

 crossed Scoresby Bay, which, extending from fifteen to 

 twenty miles in a south-west direction, was perfectly clear 

 of ice, the fresh breeze blowing down it raising a sea 

 which caused the ships to pitch slightly, and materially 

 stopped their speed through the water. Approaching 

 Cape Frazer, the wind was blowing a whole gale, and I 

 was forced to expend much coal in reaching Maury Bay 

 immediately north of it, and in which the two ships were 

 anchored among a lot of grounded ice, but the squalls off 

 the land rendered it anything but a safe or comfortable 

 position. We were delayed three days rounding Cape 

 Frazer and Cape Hayes, the turning point of the channel, 

 and consequently a troublesome piece of navigation. On 

 the 25th, a'ter twice being driven back into Maury Bay, 

 we succeeded in securing the ships inside some grounded 

 icebergs near Cape Louis Napoleon, the same in all pro- 

 bability that sheltered us when bound to the northward 

 the previous spring. 



Much has been said concerning the expected difficulty 

 of passing Cape Frazer, on account of the two flood tides, 

 one coming south from the Polar Sea, and the other 

 north from the Atlantic, being supposed to meet there, 

 and by so doing collect a quantity of ice in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Were ice navigation dependent on tidal cur- 

 rents alone, then at the position of slack water, where 

 there is a minimum ebb and flow, a vast quantity of ice 

 might be collected by the two flood tides, but on the other 

 hand there would be an equal chance of the two tides 

 carrying it away in opposite directions ; however, as wind 

 is of far greater importance than tidal movement, the 

 case need not be considered. The two tides do meet at 

 Cape Frazer, the actual position varying a few miles north 

 or south according to the prevailing wind, and also the 

 ice is certainly accumulated immediately about and south 

 of the cape in great abundance. But this is owing to 

 the ending of Kennedy Channel, and the strait widening 

 considerably at that place into Smith's Sound proper. 

 While many causes tend to keep narrow channels clear, 

 enlarged seas with narrow outlets are naturally encum- 

 bered with ice. 



I found no greater danger or trouble in passing Cape 

 Frazer than in navigating elsewhere, except from what is 

 caused by that cape being the turning point of the coast 

 line, where no one wind blowing up or down the strait is 

 able to clear away the ice on the north and south sides of 

 the cape at the same time. Struggling slowly and patiently 

 along, gaining about one mile a day by moving forward 

 from the protection of one stranded iceberg to that of 



another, as slight movements in the ice during the calm 

 weather allowed, and although obliged to enter the pack 

 occasionally, always keeping as near the shore as prudent, 

 we rounded Cape Louis Napoleon, and on the 29th 

 arrived at Prince Imperial Island, in Dobbin Bay, every- 

 one heartily thankful to be out of the pack, clear of the 

 straggling icebergs, and for the ships to be secured to 

 fixed ice once more. 



During the previous week we had experienced much 

 misty weather with a heavy fall of snow, measuring 

 five inches, which changed the whole aspect of the 

 land by reclothing the richly-tinted stratified mountains 

 with their winter garb, from which they had only been 

 free for a short seven weeks ; afterwards the snow only 

 melted slightly in the low-lying valleys. A northerly wind 

 now set in, not strong enough to effect the movements of 

 the ice materially, but sufficiently so to clear the atmo- 

 sphere and lower the temperature considerably below 

 freezing-point ; after this date the young sea-ice formed 

 continually day and night. As the mist cleared away it 

 disclosed a fine panorama of lofty snow-clad mountains 

 with glacier-filled valleys intervening ; one large one ex- 

 tending to the shore discharges numerous icebergs into 

 Dobbin Bay. This, the largest discharging glacier on the 

 west shore of Smith Sound, was named after the Empress 

 Eugenie, who, besides taking a personal interest in the 

 expedition by her thoughtful present of a number of 

 homely but most useful articles, added considerably to 

 the comfort and amusement of each individual. 



On September i we crossed Dobbin Bay and succeeded 

 in securing the ships to an iceberg aground only a quarter 

 of a mile from the depot of provisions left by us the pre- 

 vious spring a few miles north of Cape Hawices, but such 

 was the thickness of the newly-formed ice that boat work 

 was nearly out of the question ; by working in the cracks 

 opened by the ebb tide some of the provisions were em- 

 barked, but there is still a boat and a large quantity of 

 biscuit left on shore there. The same reason prevented 

 my landing on Washington Irving Island and visiting 

 our own cairn until the third day, when the spring tide 

 having opened a water passage I found that our notice 

 had not been visited since we left it. The two old cairns 

 erected by former travellers were again visited ; the lichens 

 which had spread from stone to stone provin:? that they 

 are undoubtedly of very ancient date. They were pro- 

 bably erected to mark the farthest north point reached by 

 one < f our enterprising and gallant predecessors who 

 never returned home. 



On September 3 a lane of water opening along shore 

 to the westward of Cape Hawks, every exertion was made 

 to reach it, but owing to the newly made ice, which by 

 cementing together a number of loose pieces of old ice 

 formed a barrier between us and the water, we only suc- 

 ceef'ed, after long perseverance, in ramming our way 

 through it at a lar^^e expenditure of coal. Alter rounding 

 the Cape, the pack by drifting away from the land had 

 left unfrozen water and numerous detached small floes, 

 which forced us to make a very serpentine course, and 

 occasionally to pa^s within thirty yards or the \o^ ice- 

 foot on the shore, fortunately always findmg dt ep wat r. 

 The outer pack, consisting of heavy ice, was closely 

 cemented together by this year's frost ; it contained fewer 

 icebergs than we observed last year. 



We succeeded in reaching Allman Bay, half-way be- 

 tween Cape Hawks and Franklin Pierce Bay, but here 

 the water ended, and the new ice was so strong that 1 

 thought it better to wait for the chance of an opening 

 instead of forcing our way through it with full steam, 

 On the following day, no sign of an opening occurring, 

 and wishing to get to a more sheltered position on 

 the western side of the bay, the Discovery being 

 better adapted for the work than the Alert, led the 

 way under full steam forcing a canal through the 

 ice, which was i to 3 inches thick. She was jevera 



