114 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. JULY 



CHAPTER IV. 



LEAVE FLOEBERG BEACH NAVIGATION OF EOBESON CHANNEL ITS 



EXTREME DIFFICULTY CAPE UNION STOPPED AT CAPE BEECHEY 



ESKIMO REMAINS BRENT GEESE REJOIN THE 'DISCOVERY* 



KILLING A MUSK-OX RETURN OF BEAUMONT' S PARTY. 



THE gale which was experienced at Floeberg Beach on 

 the 31st of July, and which released the ' Alert ' from 

 her exposed position on the shore of the Polar Sea, was 

 merely felt at the sheltered position of Discovery Bay 

 as a light air from the southward. It is worthy of 

 note that at the same time, near the head of Baffin's 

 Bay, Sir Allen Young in the ' Pandora ' experienced a 

 very severe storm from the southward, evidently part 

 of the same disturbance as that which reached Floeberg 

 Beach. 



As the ' Alert ' cleared the barrier of grounded ice, 

 which had proved so excellent a protection to her 

 during the past eleven months, the Polar pack was 

 found to have drifted to a distance of a quarter of a 

 mile from the land, leaving a broad water-passage which 

 continued imtil Eobeson Channel was entered. ' From 

 that point the water-way gradually narrowed, until, at 

 a position about four miles north of Cape Union, the 

 pack pressed tightly against the shore, and formed an 

 effectual barrier to our farther progress. 



