OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 115 



had to beat and cut it off to prevent its impeding their way. We then ran r^^^V' 

 along Avithout obstruction till we had passed Cape Edwards when, in ^>'v>J 

 hauling up for the south point of the island we were desirous of round- 

 ing, we found the sea covered with " pancake ice," which however being 

 thin and easily moved among its several component parts, does not offer 

 any considerable impediment. As we advanced along the south side of the 

 island, the young ice began to occur more in continuous sheets, and as 

 these had in many parts been broken, and overlaid each other in the 

 manner already described *, the obstruction soon became greater. To- 

 wards noon we had approached the south-east point of the island, where 

 we found the packed ice stretching close in with the shore. As the 

 management of the ships could no longer be depended on, hampered as 

 they were by the young ice, it was needless at present to attempt passing 

 the point : we therefore hauled up towards a bay which here very oppor- 

 tunely presented itself, and in which I determined to await some change if 

 anchorage could be met with. As soon as we had opened the bay, and a 

 passage could be found for the boats through the young ice, I went in to 

 sound it, accompanied by Captain Lyon, and finding the depth regular and 

 the ground good, anchored the ships at three P.M. in six to seven fathoms. 

 The water was here so clear that the man in the chains was somewhat 

 alarmed by seeing the bottom when in nine fathoms and a half, and at our 

 anchorage a shilling might have been easily seen upon the ground. The 

 soundings on the south side of this island we found remarkably regular, 

 presenting a striking contrast with the coast we had lately left. We had 

 above thirty fathoms at two miles' distance, and the water shoaled very 

 gradually as we approached the western point of the bay, where we had tey 

 fathoms within two ships' lengths of the grounded ice, which here as well 

 as all round the shores of the bay occurred in unusually heavy masses. 



Mr. Ross being sent on shore to examine the state of the ice on the other 

 side of the point, reported on his return that there was a narrow channel 

 between the floes and the land, but no anchoring-place in case of our being 

 stopped. There being now only an hour's daylight remaining, the young 

 ice fast increasing, and a strong tide running in the offing, I was obliged to 

 relinquish the idea of moving till the morning. 



At daylight on the 7th I despatched Mr. Crozier to the point, beyond Sun. 7. 



♦ Narrative of the Voyage of 1819-20, p. 90. 



Q 2 



