66 KAMSGHATKA. [chap. 



On the afternoon of August 4th, we weighed and left the port 

 of Hakodadi in Yezo, northward -bound for Kamschatka. We 

 dipped our farewells to old friends of H.M.S. Champion and Zephyr, 

 and steamed out against a fresh easterly breeze. As we proceeded 

 the wind increased, and the weather became so thick that we 

 resolved on running in under the lee of Cape Siwokubi, and anchoring 

 for the night. Next morning it was clear, though still blowing 

 strong from E.S.E. ; but as we were anxious to lose no tune, we put 

 the ship under fore and aft canvas, and beat under steam and sail 

 past Cape Yerimo, the southern point of Yezo, into the open sea. 

 The Kurosiwo or Japanese current — the Pacific homologue of the 

 Gulf Stream — widening as it passes the eastern coast of Japan, 

 runs northward as far as Kamschatka, and it is to its warmth that 

 the comparative freedom from ice of that coast is supposed to be due. 

 Between it and the Kurile Islands is a narrow counter -current 

 of cold water, running to the S.W. With the intention of 

 avoiding the latter, and obtaining what advantages we could from 

 the Kurosiwo, we resolved on shaping our course so as to keep at 

 a uniform distance of about a hundred and fifty miles to the east- 

 ward of the Kuriles, where the current is supposed to be strongest. 

 The result, however, was a failure. Tor the first two days we 

 experienced a north-easterly set, but we had no sooner got fairly 

 out into the presumed middle of the Kurosiwo than we encountered 

 a southerly current. At the same time we entered the region of 

 fog, which, during the summer, is an almost constant phenomenon 

 of the northern part of the North Pacific. This fog apj^arently 

 formed a stratum of no great depth, for, although thick enough all 

 round us, it was often sufficiently clear overhead to enable us to get 

 a glimpse of the sky, and although morning sights were impossible, 

 we were always able to get a meridian or ex-meridian observation 

 for our latitude. 



iSTavigation in these lonely and misty seas presents but few 

 points of interest even to the sailor, and it was accordingly with no 

 little pleasure that, on the morning of the 13th of August, we 



