4 SECOND VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 



18-21. turc of the sca->vatcr, at four hundird and sixty fathoms beloAV the sur- 

 ""^' face, was found, by Six's tlicrmomctcr, to be 40°.7, that of the surface 



being 453°, and of the air, 4()l°. A number of bottle-nose whales Avcrc 

 about the ships. 

 Sat. 9. On the 9th, we saw a bird miieh resembling a fulmar petrel in shape, but 

 differing in plumage from any we had before remarked, its general colour 

 being a dark-brown, with a white stripe extending completely across the 

 wings, along the tips of the wing-covers, both above and below. 



After entering Davis' Straits, we had for several days variable and un- 

 settled weather, the wind blowing principally from the southward, with a 



Thur. 14. heavy swell from the same quarter. On the 14th, we met with the first ice- 

 berg, being in lat. 60° 48', long. 53° 13'. On the following day, the tem- 

 perature of the sea, at the depth of four hundred and sixty fathoms, was 

 found, by Six's thermometer, to be 40°, that of the surface being 401°, jmd of 

 the air 41^°. While in the entrance of Davis' Strait, we met with two or three 

 small pieces of drift-wood on different days ; they appeared to be of fir, 

 and to have been a considerable time in the water, though not at all worm- 

 eaten. 



Mon. 18. Soon after daylight, on the 18th, we passed a quantity of loose ice, such as 

 usually occurs at a little distance from the main body. We came to the edge 

 of the " pack" in the course of the forenoon and, finding here a consider- 

 able swell, tacked off and on till the water should become smoother, being 

 at noon in lat. 60° 50' 12", long. 62° 08' 30". On the day before we made 

 the ice, we had observed a great number of looms as well as fulmar petrels 

 about the ships. On reaching its margin, we found, besides these, large 

 Hocks of phalaropes, (phcdaroints pluUjrinchus,) rotgcs, dovekies, and one or 

 two of snow-buntings, (emberiza niruUs,) the latter attended by their enemy 

 the hawk, ffalco peregriniisj. The temperature of the sea-water had de- 

 creased pretty gradually from 40° on the morning of the 17th, to 34° on that 

 of the 18th, previously to our making the ice ; after which it soon fell to 32° 

 and 30°, being its usual standard in the neighbourhood of a body of ice, 

 <luring the summer months. 



Having now reached the situation in which I was directed, by my instruc- 

 tions, to clear the Nautilus of ourj stores, I was desirous immediately to 

 commence this work, in order to be ready for the opening of the ice in 

 Hudson's Strait, which might be expected to occur in a few days. There 

 being a number of bergs in sight, I determined to anchor the ships to 



