38 CKUISE 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 

 Weggs. 



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 



